Electrical Design Software | Elecdes Design Suite by Scada Systems Ltd

Symbol File Naming


Symbol Files may NOT use long file names!

Symbol Orientation

H or V file name prefix

Elecdes uses the following convention for naming of horizontally and vertically aligned components for historical reasons.

Symbols beginning with 'H' are for drawings using horizontal ladder orientation. The symbol is vertically oriented to insert on the vertical rungs of a horizontal ladder. Three phase symbols beginning with 'H' are therefore also vertically oriented.

Symbols beginning with 'V' are oriented horizontally to insert on the rungs of vertical ladders.

Elecdes Symbol Naming System

The names of the symbols that are inserted into an Elecdes drawing must conform to the system outlined below. The naming is very important because it is the names of the symbols that Elecdes uses to determine what the symbols on the drawing are supposed to represent. If the correct symbol naming is not used then the circuit analysis, symbol insertion and cross referencing systems offered by Elecdes will not be able to be used for those symbols. Conversely, if you want to make a symbol that will not affect Elecdes, use a file name that does not match any of the Elecdes symbol naming rules.


Parts of a symbol name: HI3PCOS5.dwg   H, I, 3PCOS, 5

H   orientation

I    type

3PCOS  name

5    numerical suffix

Orientation

The first character of the name indicates the orientation of the symbol. This can be either H, V or O.

A 'H' symbol can be inserted into a vertical conductor line, and a 'V' symbol can be inserted into a horizontal conductor line. See the top of this page for an explanation about the line-to-symbol orientation.

An 'O' symbol can be inserted in any orientation. 'O' symbols can be used only for materials reports and graphical annotation but not for conductor connectivity analysis.

Type

The type is very important for Elecdes to determine what the symbol represents in the project drawings. This is always a single character in the second position.

Elecdes symbol types:

I  device symbol

T  discrete terminal symbol

W  wire marker symbol

C  cable marker symbol

L  instrument symbol

X  cross reference symbol

F  old ferrule or wire label symbol – no longer used

S  various "special use" symbols

E  extra parts table block

Name

This can be made up of any alphanumeric characters that you wish. A descriptive label may help to keep the symbol names unique. Any two symbols that have the same name are considered to represent the same component. The symbol name ends at the last letter or other character that is not a digit. Any digits at the end of the symbol name are considered to be a numerical suffix, which is described below.

For some functions Elecdes can obtain further information about a symbol from its name as follows:

Number of phases:

The first character of the name is used by the cross reference system to determine how much space to leave in a cross reference table. For this to happen the first character must be a number and the second character must not. This should be the number of phases that the symbol connects to. The amount of space allocated will be proportional to the indicated number of phases.

e.g. "HI3PCOS5" is considered to be a 3-phase symbol, whereas "HI32TC" is not.

Normally open / normally closed:

Elecdes provides a utility function to change a contact or switch symbol between normally open and normally closed, Swap NO/NC. Elecdes will attempt to identify the opposite symbol by changing an 'O' or 'C' letter in the file name.

e.g. If you choose a normally open contact, "VICRO2", then Elecdes will replace it with the matching normally closed contact, "VICRC2". If you choose a normally closed limit switch, "VILSC", then Elecdes will replace it with the matching normally open limit switch, "VILSO".

Panel symbols:

Any symbol file that has the type 'I' and the name "panel", i.e. "hiPanel", "viPanel" or "oiPanel", is considered to be a panel symbol. Panel symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Multi-Terminal Device tag:

Any symbol that has the type 'I' and the name "MTDT", i.e. "hiMTDT" or "viMTDT", is considered to be a multi-terminal device tag symbol. MTD tag symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Multi-Terminal Device terminal symbols:

Any symbol that has the type 'T' and the name "termP", i.e. "hTtermP" or "vTtermP", is considered to be a multi-terminal device terminal symbol. This is not a standard discrete terminal symbol. MTD terminal symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Polarised terminals:

Any symbol that has the type 'T' and the name starts with "2", i.e. "hT2" or "vT2", is considered to be a polarised terminal symbol. Polarised terminal symbols can have any name and optionally a numeric suffix following the "2", e.g. "ht2DIODE", "ht2TERM3".

Hybrid Terminals:

Any symbol that has the type 'T' and the name "HT" or "HD", i.e. "htHT", "vtHT", "htHD" or "vtHD", is considered to be a hybrid terminal symbol that represents equipment that is external to the project. Hybrid terminal symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Termination and crimp block:

Any symbol that has the type 'S' and the name "conx", i.e. "hsConx" or "vsConx", is considered to be a conductor termination and crimp block. Termination blocks can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Wire connect dot:

Any symbol that has the type 'S' and the name "wc", i.e. "hsWC", is considered to be a wire connect dot symbol. Wire connect dot symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Wire and cable-core/conductor symbols that insert into the line:

Any symbol that has the type 'W' and the name "gap", i.e. "hwgap" or "vwgap", is considered to be a wire gap marker. Wire gap markers can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Any symbol that has the type 'C' and the name "gap", i.e. "hcgap" or "vcgap", is considered to be a cable gap marker. Cable gap markers can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Wire and cable-core/conductor symbols that extend a conductor to another drawing:

Any symbol that has the type 'W' and the name "extn", i.e. "hwextn" or "vwextn", is considered to be a wire extension symbol. Wire extension symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

Any symbol that has the type 'C' and the name "extn", i.e. "hcextn" or "vcextn", is considered to be a cable core extension symbol. Cable core extension symbols can have a numeric suffix, described below, but no other variation to the symbol file name.

2D Panel layout component Symbols

Elecdes allows you to insert 2D Panel layout component Symbols which can be a 2D representation of schematic symbols.

Any symbol that has type 'I' and the name "P2D" i.e. "VIP2D" is considered to be a 2D Panel, Device, Mounting Plate, or Accessory.

Any symbol that has type 'T' and the name "P2D" i.e. "VTP2D" is considered to be a terminal in a 2D Terminal Strip.

Any symbol that has type 'W' and the name "P2D" i.e. "VWP2D" is considered to be a 2D Bar link.

Note: Elecdes does not use the "H" orientation of symbols for 2D panel layout components.

Numerical Suffix

The suffix is used to differentiate between symbols that represent the same component but have different graphical representations. Symbols that represent the same component should have the same name but a different numerical suffix. The numerical suffix can contain more than one digit. A suffix representing a symbol style is often used in a symbol library.

Generally you can use any numerical suffix desired, however some numbers have been used as follows:

The numerical suffix is used in the default installation to differentiate between the symbols of the different symbol sets. It can also be left blank indicating the default (IEC) symbol set. See the examples below.

The numerical suffix is used to indicate if the symbol is in either the forward or reversed orientation. A value of 9 at the start of the suffix indicates that the symbol is reversed. See the examples below.


Elecdes standard symbol sets:

<blank>   IEC standard symbol set.

2    IEEE/ANSI standard symbol set

5    AS1102 standard symbol set


When inserting a catalog item configured to use the 3PCOS block, the following symbols would be inserted into a vertical conductor line:

HI3PCOS if configured as IEC (metric) user.

HI3PCOS2 if configured as IEEE/ANSI (imperial) user.

HI3PCOS5 if configured as AS1102 (Australian) user.


Reversed symbols:

If the symbol is reversed in the drawing then the name of the symbol to use will be:

HI3PCOS9 if configured as IEC (metric) user.

HI3PCOS92 if configured as IEEE/ANSI (imperial) user.

HI3PCOS95 if configured as AS1102 (Australian) user.


Invalid suffix:

The symbol name "HI3PCOS92A .dwg" does not have an Elecdes numerical suffix. The letter 'A' at the end of the file name is the last letter, so the symbol name determined by Elecdes is "3PCOS92A". It has no suffix. The file name is valid, but it may not be as you intended.