How to Guide a Conductor Using a "Virtual" Route
Virtual Raceway
Virtual raceway can be used to specify a route, for route optimisation, for a conductor where there is no real raceway to carry the conductor. For example connecting a wire from a duct up and around the back of a device, or providing slack in cables connected from inside a panel to the door of the panel.
Virtual raceway will not appear in the Ebase Bill of Materials. The virtual raceway is required only to guide a conductor during route optimisation. It is not a real item that must be purchased and installed.
Virtual raceway is standard raceway, ideally conduit, that has been assigned the property: "virtual". This property is assigned in the AUX4 attribute of the raceway segment. The AUX4 attribute should contain the text "PROPERTIES : VIRTUAL".
By default, a layer named "VIRTUAL" will be used for all virtual raceway. The VIRTUAL layer can be hidden when plotting. The virtual raceway layering can be further subdivided into power layers if desired by modifying the Paneldes layer definitions.
Conduit is a good choice for virtual raceway. Its snug fitting properties ensure that the conductors will not deviate from the virtual route that is placed.
Virtual raceway is removed from a cables route before the route is placed in the ISSUED reports.
Procedure
-
To place a virtual raceway segment, use the Place Raceway entry in the Construction menu.
This will begin the standard procedure for placing a raceway segment.
-
Choose Conduit as the type of raceway that you want to construct.
NOTE: This is a recommendation only. You can choose other raceway types if required.
-
Enter the text "PROPERTIES: VIRTUAL" into the AUX4 attribute, as shown below.
-
Choose other parameters for the conduit and continue the raceway placement procedure as described in the standard procedure for placing a raceway segment.
Modifying Existing Raceway
-
Using the Global Editor, set the AUX4 attribute of one or more existing raceway segments to the text "PROPERTIES: VIRTUAL".
See also
How to override the length of a raceway segment
How to tune your model for wire and cable routing