Representing a bus bar on schematics


 Product(s):Promis.e, Bentley Substation
 Version(s):through 08.11.13.140
 Environment:N/A
 Area:Wiring Features
 Subarea:N/A

How to represent bus bars on schematics in Promis.e?

Background

A bus bar is a metal bar or plate that conducts electricity, distributing it to devices. Therefore it serves the same purpose as a wire, and like a wires it is often represented by a line on a schematic. However, if Draw Wire is used to draw a wire to represent the bus, devices will appear as connected to each other instead of the bus bar on various dialogs and wire list reports. In that respect, bus bars would be better represented as devices than wires. This article describes some options for representing bus bars in this manner.

Steps to Accomplish

Option 1: Use Symbol On The Fly

Pros: Simple and flexible. Less manual hiding/displaying device IDs and cross reference text than Option 2.
Cons: Cannot share potential via potential group in symbol or family.

  1. Select [[Symbol On The Fly]] and draw a box representing the bus bar.
  2. Select Symbol On The Fly > Insert Connection Point and place a connection point where a wire will connect to the bus bar. The drawn wire may represent a direct connection rather than an actual wire.
  3. Repeat step 2 as necessary. Connection points can be added as needed as the design progresses, they do not have to be added all at once.

The green rectangle in the above screen shot is the Symbol On The Fly box. Two connection points have been inserted into the symbol on the fly.

Option 2: Use individual bus bar connection symbols

Pros: Flexibility, can share potential via potential group in a family.
Cons: May need to hide cross references.

  1. Use [[Create Symbol]] to create a bus bar connection symbol. The symbol should be an All Others type symbol and contain an insertion point and one connection point at a minimum. The symbol could contain multiple connection points. For example, it could contain three staggered connection points for use with a three-phase bus bar configuration.
  2. On the Specify Device ID step, set the Suppress Display of ID check box.
  3. [Optional] Add graphics for the bus bar, width equal to the intended spacing of the symbols. This would typically only be done if the symbol will be placed at regular intervals so that the graphics of adjacent symbols appear to be continuous.
  4. Finish symbol creation to save the symbol.
  5. If potential is to be shared between the bus bar connection symbols, create a Standard family that specifies the new symbol for several child roles. Share potential between the child roles by specifying the same value in the Group Name column in the Potential Groups pane on the [[Create Family|New/Modify Family]] dialog.
  6. On the schematic page, [[Insert Symbol By Name|insert]] the bus bar connection symbol and assign the family, if applicable.
  7. Repeat previous step as necessary.
  8. Right-click symbol graphics or the insertion point arrow and select Device ID to access the "Suppress Device ID" check box.
  9. If unwanted cross reference text appears, right-click the symbol and de-select Show Cross-Reference. Alternatively, clear the "Display duplicate ID cross-referencing" check box in [[Options]] > Project Options > Display Formats > Device Cross Reference or consider using a family.
  10. If the bus bar graphics are not included in the bus bar connection symbol, Drawing tools such as Place Line with a thick line weight or Place Block can be used to draw the bus bar on the page.


    The vertical line in the above screen shot was drawn using Place Line with an Active Line Weight of 10. It is transparent for illustration purposes only. Two bus bar connection symbols that contain no graphics of their own can be seen "within" this line. One of these symbols has their device ID displayed, the other has it suppressed.

Wire links can be used to continue the potential to other pages.

Option 3: Use bus bar symbols

Pros: Ease of use after upfront work, can share potential via potential group in symbol or family.
Cons: Not flexible, requires more upfront work

Similar to the individual connection symbol method above, symbols that span sections of pages or the entire page and include several connection points and the bus bar graphics can be created. For example, a symbol representing three phases of bus bar and spanning the entire schematic page could be created. Potential can be shared within the symbol definition, or across symbols via a family (specify the same value in the Group Name column in the Potential Groups pane on the [[Create Family|New/Modify Family]] dialog).

Wire links can be used to continue the potential to bus bar symbols on other pages.

 Original Author:Matt_P

Keywords: busbar, buss bar, bussbar, TFS 6304