Cable laying statistics

7.6 Cable laying statistics

After completing the drawing of "Cable route", the "Electrical connection", and the cable list calculation, the software can design cable laying based on the drawn cable routes.

After clicking on "Trench statistics", the software displays the results of dividing the power blocks, and at the same time, the bottom left corner of the screen prompts "Select power block". At this time, users need to click the left mouse button to select the block for cable laying.

After selecting the block, the software will display the electrical connection result of the selected block and the drawn cable route. Right clicking will bring up the main menu for cable laying design. Press "ESC" key to exit the currently selected power block and return to the power block selection interface.

The cable laying design mainly consists of seven functions: "Selecting laying type", "Material selection", "Create cable bridge, "Generate bridge supports", "Clear cable bridge", "Clear all laying settings", and "Material statistics".

7.6.1 Selecting laying type

Click the left mouse button on "Selecting laying type" in the right-click menu, which defaults to display the laying method of the "Share level". Press the "Tab" key to switch between displaying the laying type of the "Thick cable level" or the "Thin cable level". Users can set the laying type for each cable route at the relevant level.

There are two main methods for setting the laying type:

① Manual selection or box selection setting: User can use left mouse button to select a certain cable route (or hold down the "Crtl" key to select multiple routes), or hold down the left mouse button to box select multiple cable routes directly. After the selection, right-click to bring up the laying selection menu.

② "Set default laying type": Right click and click "Set default laying type" at any display level. In this mode, the software can uniformly set the laying type for "String Cable - Portrait" and "AC/DC big cables".

"Share bridge": After selecting this option, the DC and AC cables will share the cable bridge.

"Apply to all blocks": After selecting this option, the current settings will be applied to all blocks in the model.

After selecting the laying method, the software will color each cable route at each level according to different laying methods, and the legend will be displayed in the upper left corner of the screen.

Thin cable level	Thick cable level

Note: When using the "Share bridge" function, the laying result will be displayed in the "Share level", and routes in other levels that are the same as the shared bridge route will be displayed as "No settings" status; Similarly, when the "Share bridge" function is not used, the "Share level" will be displayed as "No settings" status.

After creating road, if a cable route passes through the created road, the software will automatically recognize this route as road-crossing conduit and display it in purple in the image.

After setting the laying method, click on "End laying type setting" to exit the "Select laying type" function.

7.6.2 Material selection

After completing the "Select laying type", click on "Material selection" in the right-click menu of cable laying design to enter the cable laying material selection interface.

In the selection of cable laying materials, users are required to set the "1.Tube type and filling rate", "2.Cable trench specifications", "3.Cable trench specifications", "4.Passing through pipe models and filling rates".

7.6.2.1 Set the outer diameter of the cable

Click on the button of "Set the outer diameter of the cable" to modify the outer diameter of the cable models used in this project.

7.6.2.2 Calc. filling rate

Click on the interface "Calc.filling rate" to calculate the number of cables based on the type of laying material and filling rate. The filling rate can also be calculated based on the type of laying material and the number of cables.

7.6.2.3 Set fill rate and Max.Nb. of cables per pipe

When using pipe for cable laying, users can simultaneously set the "Fill rate", "Max.Nb. Of cables per pipe", and "Applicable cable types". Only when the currently selected pipe model meets the values input by all three will it be applied.

The "Max.Nb. Of cables per pipe" refers to the number of cables allowed to pass through each pipe. When filled in with the value of "0", it indicates no limitation and can be separated by commas in English to correspond to multiple specifications.

"Applicable cable types": When setting only thin cables or thick cables, only the corresponding types of cables are allowed to be laid; When there are no limitation, both thick and thin cables can be used.

When using cable bridge, users can simultaneously set "Fill rate", "Max.Nb. Of cables per pipe", "Applicable cable types", "Set the outer diameter of the cable", etc. Only when the currently selected cable bridge model meets the input values will it be applied.

"Set the outer diameter of the cable": The outer diameter of the thickest cable allowed to be placed on the bridge frame; When it is set as "0", it means there is no limitation and the software selects cables based on their outer diameter not exceeding the height of the cable bridge.

7.6.2.4 Set laying type in parallel

The software supports setting laying type in parallel of multiple pipes or cable bridges:

When users plan to use multiple pipes in parallel, for example, using 2 pipes in parallel laying, please input "2*DN50".

When users plan to use multiple cable bridges in parallel, for example, using 2 cable bridges in parallel, please input "2*50x50mm" ; At this point, the separation ratio between thin and thick cables only applies to one of them. When the bridge is set to share both thin and thick cables, if only thin or thick cables pass through a certain section of the bridge, the separation ratio does not work.

7.6.2.5 Set multiple models

The software supports setting up multiple models of pipet, road-crossing conduit, and cable bridge, with each model separated by the English comma ",". For example, "DN32,DN50"; users can also use formats such as "DN32-4*DN32", where "-" can be replaced with "~".

As shown in the above figure, the software will first sort according to the model size: DN32, 2*DN32, DN50, 3*DN32, 2*DN50. Then, based on the users's input of "Fill rate", "Max.Nb. Of cables per pipe", and "Applicable cable types", the appropriate material model will be selected. When the maximum model size (in this example, 2*DN50) entered by the users still does not meet the input values of "Fill rate" and "Max.Nb. Of cables per pipe", the software will take model corresponding to the maximum section entered by the users as the final result.

Click the "OK" button, and the software will automatically calculate the number of cables for each route and select the laying model that meets the filling rate based on the set parameters.

The software can color each cable route, with different colors representing different cable laying types, and the same color representing different thicknesses representing different types of pipe or bridge used under the same laying type.

The corresponding color legend will be displayed in the upper left corner of the screen, and pressing the "Tab" key can switch the displayed level.

Thin cable level	Thick cable level

When the mouse is placed on a certain cable route, the software will display the level, "Segment length", "Laying type"，"Meterial", "Number of cables" , "Sum of cable sections" and "Filling rate/material upper limit".

The same information will be displayed in the lower left corner of the screen.

When the left mouse button is clicked to select a certain route and the right mouse button is clicked, the following dialog box will pop up, where users can set the pipe type or bridge type separately for the selected route.

Thin cable level	Thick cable level

The software supports the material normalization function, which is designed for situations where the cable route models of different segments on the same straight line are different. If this function is used, all segmented cable route models on the same line can be set to a unified model, which is the maximum model of segmented cable routes on that line.

Before material normalization	After material normalization

After using the material normalization function, the software will prompt if to apply it to all blocks, and users can choose according to their actual situation.

After completing the material selection, click the "End laying material model setting" to exit the current function. When entering the material selection function prompt again, the software will pop up the following prompt box. If "Yes" is selected, the software will clear the previous laying selection result; If "No" is selected, the software will display the previous laying selection result.

7.6.2.6 Set specification for side by side

Click the "Setting" button to check the specifications of bridges that can be used in parallel.

According to the specifications, the parameters of the bridge used in parallel (including: "Fill rate", "Max.Nb. Of cables per pipe", and "Applicable cable types", "Set the outer diameter of cable", "Thin:Thic"k, etc.) are set according to the main interface settings.

When the bridge type is set to "Share" and the "Thin:Thick" separation ratio is configured, the thin and thick cables will occupy the bridge space according to the following table:

No.	Bridge type	Select applicable cable types	Condition	Principle of separating In trays
1	Single brideg	Unlimit	/	1. Allocate thin and thick cable space according to the ratio. 2. Thin cables are allowed to occupy thick cable space. 3. Thick cables cannot occupy thin cable space.
2	Two bridges of the same model	Unlimit	/	1. One bridge: Allocate space for thick and thin cables according to the principle of "Single bridge". 2. Another bridge: The split ratio has no effect.
3	Two bridges of different model	Unlimit + Unlimit	/	1. Small bridge: Allocate space for thick and thin cables according to the principle of "Single bridge". 2. Large brideg: The separation ratio does not apply.
4	Two bridges of different model	Thin cables + Unlimit	Only thin cables can be placed in all thin cable bridges	1. Thin cables only in tray: Only thin cables are placed. 2. Unlimited bridge: The separation ratio has no effect
			Only thin cables cannot be placed in all thin cable bridges	1. Thin cables only: Only thin cables are allowed. 2. Unlimited bridge: The space for thick and thin cables is allocated according to the principle of "Single bridge".
5	Two bridges of different model	Thick cables + Unlimit	Only thick cables can be placed in all thin cable bridges	1. Thick cables only: Only the thick cables are allowed. 2. Unlimited bridges: The separation ratio has no effect.
			Only thick cables cannot be placed in all thin cable bridges	1. Thick cables only: Only the thick cables are allowed. 2. Unlimited bridge: The space for thick and thin cables is allocated according to the principle of "Single bridge"

7.6.2.7 Create cable trench when buried or through pipe

When the cable laying type of a certain section is "Buried" or "In pipe", a cable trench can be created. CAD drawings can be exported, and the length of the cable trench can be counted based on its width and models.

Thick cables are calculated based on the clear distance between cables, while thin cables are calculated based on the clear distance in the pipe; when thin cables are buried directly, the software calculates the models of the virtual pipe for the thin cable according to "1.Tube type and filling rate", and then calculates the width of the cable trench.

When thick and thin cables are laid in two separate layers the width of the cable trench L = max(2×L1+n1×d1+(n1-1)×D1, 2×L1+n2×d2+(n2-1)×D2);

when thick and thin cables are laid in the same layer, the width of the cable trench L = 2×L1+n1×d1+n1×D1+n2×d2+(n2-1)×D2;

In the equation,

L1 represents the clear distance from the cable to the edge of the trench,

n1 represents the quantity of thick cables,

d1 represents the outer diameter of thick cables,

D1 represents the clear distance between thick cables,

n2 represents the quantity of thin cable pipes (or virtual pipes),

d2 represents the outer diameter of the thin cable pipes (or virtual pipes),

D2 represents the clear distance of the thin cable pipes (or virtual pipes),

H1 represents the burial depth of a single-layer cable in a cable trench,

H2 represents the buried depth of double-layer or a single-layer cable in a cable trench.

7.6.3 Create cable bridge

After completing "Select laying type" and "Material selection", users can click "Create cable bridge", and the software can create a bridge model based on the bridge model in the model. (This step can be skipped)

Select "Create this block" or "Create all blocks", and the software will prompt for "Height above ground", which is the distance from the ground surface to the bottom of the created bridge model. The marked layers of the created bridge in SU are "CableBridge" and "CableBridgeCrossSection".

Note: The software only creates bridge models and cannot create pipe models.

7.6.4 Clean cable bridge

This function can clear the created bridge models in the selected block or all blocks.

7.6.5 Clear all laying settings

This function can clear all laying settings in the selected block or all blocks.

7.6.6 Material statistics

After completing the "Select laying type" and "Material selection", click on "Material statistics", and the software will count the materials used for cable laying.

After clicking on "Material statistics", the following dialog box will pop up, where users can set the length of the vertical section in cable laying. Users can separately set the length margin for "Horizontal threading of adjacent racks pipes" and the length margin for "Pipes cross road". The margin coefficient for each laying type can be set separately. Taking the "Pipe cross road" as an example, the final calculation result is equal to the sum of the length of the pipe route and the length margin in the software multiplied by the margin coefficient.

The exported table is shown in the following figure, which can separately count the material quantity of each power block, the "Material calculate table", and the "Summary" table and "Total" table of all block’s material quantities.

7.6.7 Generate bridge support

When the cable laying type is cable bridge, cable brideg support can be created. It can be used to create bridge pile positions for fishery PV projects, and is also suitable for creating bridge supports of other types.

After setting the cable laying type, enter this function through the right-click menu "Generate bridge Supports". The pop-up window is as follows:

"Bridge support spacing": The maximum distance between bridge supports. The software prioritizes the use of the PV bracket's own pile foundation as the bridge support pile, and then places support piles at the starting, ending, intersection and turning points of the route. Finally, support piles are evenly placed in areas where the distance between supports is still not sufficient.

"Pile deviation from path threshold": When the distance between the PV support pile foundation and the route is less than this value, it is considered to be on the route, and the bridge can use this pile position.

"Distance from transformer": The distance from the created support to the outer contour of the transformer.

"Distance from combine devices": When the distance from the endpoint, intersection or inflection point of the route to the outer contour of the combine device is less than the set value, no bridge support will be created.

"Distance from road": The distance from the created support to the road.

"Distance type": Two forms can be selected: 2D or 3D.

"Inflection point angle threshold": When the angle of the turning point is less than the set value, the bridge support is created by default.

Click "OK" to create the bridge support diagram as follows:

Creation completed, right-click menu:

"Delete the selected bridge support": After selecting the green support point, it can be deleted. At the same time, users can double-click on the bridge route to add support.

"Recalculate this block/Recalculate all blocks": Parameters can be reset to create bridge supports.

"Clear the bridge support of this block/Clear the bridge support of all blocks": Clear the bridge support.

"Export support point coordinates": The exported table is as shown below.

After creating the bridge support, the support points will be created in CAD by using the "GDWG" command, and the layer name will be "Pole_bridge".