May 3, 2022, Littleton, CO.
SBS has launched Substation Design Suite Protection & Control (SDS-P&C) version 8.2. New commands and product enhancements have been added to improve usability and flexibility.
SDS-P&C extends the power of AutoCAD® Electrical to provide advanced electrical substation design capabilities necessary to fully lay out and specify an electric substation. With the latest enhancements in version 8.2, you can now more efficiently produce quality substation protection and control designs. Here are our top five favorite updates:
Surf wiring diagram annotations (SDS_ANNOSURF)
- Easily jump from a picked wiring diagram annotation text string to its listed far-end connection (the remote end of the wire) even if it leads to a different drawing. This new command also lets you surf straight to the wiring diagram annotation’s far-end schematic connection. If there is a related panel front-view or rear-view layout symbol tied to the annotation’s connection, the new tool gives you the option to instantly surf to that too.
Zoom to block troubleshooting tool (SDS_Z2B)
- Troubleshoot block issues more effortlessly with this great new tool. Type in a block name (wildcards supported) to be navigated around the active drawing to find and check every instance of that block used in the active drawing.
Find files (ACEFINDFILE)
- Run this new ACEFINDFILE command and search for the dialog filename that AutoCAD Electrical or SDS is using (e.g., sdtools.dcl) if there are issues finding the correct files (either program support or reference files), or if you’re checking to ensure the program is finding the right block or library symbol. If the search finds the old filename instead of the new one in the new install’s folder, you’ve identified the problem.
Clean up Master/Reference-Only copies (SDS_UTIL_REFONLY_CLEAN)
- Use this tool to assign a new GUID to a copied set of symbols if you have standards or standard circuits with embedded Master/Reference-Only links in them that you want to copy or instantiate. Simply window and copy a linked set of symbols and then run this tool and window-select the newly copied symbols. The tool assigns a new, shared GUID to the copied Master and Reference-Only pair, preserving the integrity of both the original pair and the copied pair. This tool can also help clean up any Master/Reference-Only linkages created by mistake.
Enhanced flexibility with 1-Line Relay Editor tool, Wiring Diagram Annotation, Rollover tool, Job/WO Toolset
- Find enhanced support for transformer internal protection bubble option display in the 1-Line Relay Editor tool.
- View cleaner wiring diagram annotations with the new Wiring Diagram Annotation update. A checkbox at the bottom of the dialog box also allows companies to automatically run their own custom, post-process lisp file. This optional file will run automatically right before wiring diagram annotations are pushed to symbols.
- View graphical “chicken tracks” between a rolled-over schematic cable fan-in label and its linked schematic wires with the Rollover tool. It more clearly displays links between on-drawing Source/Destination arrows and provides an option for users to add additional attribute/value combinations in the Surfer display. The Rollover tool has also been improved to assist troubleshooting by highlighting any overridden annotation strings.
- Manually draw a revcloud and assign it a Job/WO and status combination, allowing manually drawn or selected revclouds to be used within the rest of the Job/WO toolset.
