AutoCrear

In the basic Version, AutoCrear can import STEP files. An interface extension allows for a direct import of all common native formats.

Electronic data can be directly imported in the format ODB++, whereas a clean 3D model of the PCB is automatically generated and the material- and network-information is automatically assigned to the data.

For Creo users, e-laborate Innovations offers free plug-ins, which allow to start an AutoCrear session directly from Creo. The current working assembly is thereby automatically imported.

• CTI Values
• Special Part Types
• Cementations

The CTI value is an essential material property for a creepage and clearance analysis. AutoCrear allows to set these values with a few mouse clicks for entire parts or individual surfaces. In the default color mode, the user gets immediate visual feedback of the specified material properties.

Some types of parts such as springs or screws have strong degree of freedom with respect to a rotation around their main axis which significantly influences an analysis. AutoCrear can automatically pre-process such parts in order to make the analysis more robust.

Whether or not two adjacent insulators are cemented or not has a significant influence on the analysis. In AutoCrear, cementations can be explicitly specified in order to automatically take care of this fact.

The analysis engine of AutoCrear must know which distances have to be fulfilled between the net pairs and which groove width should be applied for creepage. This information can be handed to the computation in two ways:

Using Standard Tables

The distance values are usually defined by industry standards and depend on the voltage difference, the used insulation class and the degree of pollution. AutoCrear offers the possibility to define and to apply such standard tables.

Custom Parameters

Alternatively, the distance values can be specified directly between each net pair. This allows to check for individual distances apart from any industry standard.

After the previous steps have been processed, an automatic creepage and/or clearance analysis can be started for a single source net or for all sources at once.

The time for a full analysis depends on the size of the assembly and can vary from a few seconds for small or moderate assemblies (< 10MB) up to a few hours for extremely huge assemblies (> 200 MB).

The computation considers all relevant aspects about creepage and clearance paths:

• Shortcuts through Potential-free Nets
• Groove Width for Creepage

Creepage and clearance currents can take shortcuts through potential-free conductors (e.g screws). This aspect is automatically considered in AutoCrear.

According to industry regulations, the creepage is allowed to jump for a certain distance. This allows a creepage path to pass a groove if the groove width parameter is sufficient.

Example: creepage over a 1.0mm groove with different groove width parameters

The groove width parameter is not only applied to jump over a groove, but also to foreshorten a path at each possible occasion (e.g. non-convex edges). This aspect makes an exact creepage computation highly complex and is fully considered in AutoCrear.

• Violations
• Path Info
• Path Features

After the analysis, all paths between the net pairs which fall below the specified distance can be browsed and visualized.
Icons provide immediate visual feedback of the type of violation between each source/target net pairs:

• Major violation
• Minor violation
• No violation

For each possible source-target pair, all paths can be listed in ascending order. On selection, the path is visualized in the 3D viewer and further options are available.

Tags can be manually set for each path to explicitly confirm a violation , to overrule a violation or to set a question mark .

Comments can be added to a path which are automatically equipped with the date and user name. This allows for a communication about individual paths with other team members.

In many cases, paths are located deep inside the assembly, covered by several components. AutoCrear offers various features in order to quickly identify such paths. This includes moving the camera position to the start/end point of the path, setting a highlight around the path, automatically hiding components which are not involved in the path or activating a "Path Window".

Camera positions can be permanently stored for each path in order to ease the repeated browsing of results. Also the stored camera positions are used for the automatic screenshot generation in the documentation feature.

Example of a Path Window. A certain section around the displayed path is automatically cut out of the assembly to see through occluding components.

You can automatically create a customizable analysis report from the results, either as pdf or as html document. Beside custom items, the following contents can be automatically included:

•   A title page including a company logo and general information about the assembly and the analysis
•   A list of all components of the assembly including a screenshot and the specified meta data
•   A list of all defined nets with screenshots and assigned properties
•   An analysis summary listing the analysis parameters for each net pair along with the worst violation
•   A detailed list of all paths between each net pair including screenshots (based on pre-defined camera positions) and the specified user comments and tags for each path

At any stage of the workflow, an AutoCrear Session file (.acs) can be saved. This file includes all required information to restore and continue the session at any time:

•   The pre-processed geometry of the assembly
•   The specified meta data
•   The electric nets
•   The analysis parameters
•   The results

In the end, the session file can be seen as a digital 3D document of the analysis and can be loaded and viewed by any other team member using the free AutoCrear Viewer. The Original CAD data is not required as the geometry is stored in the session file. The cost-efficient AutoCrear Extended Viewer additionally allows to edit the results.

If the assembly is changed and re-loaded into a new AutoCrear Session, all the user input from a previous session can be automatically restored and must not be edited again.