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Intro
Report reviews and comments by Technicom.
Author: Raymond Kurland, TechniCom.
Our impressions of Solid Edge Version 20 derive from discussions and demonstrations with Solid Edge Field Support Engineers and executives.
We were able to interact closely during demonstrations and discussions of the key functions discussed below.
Since this is a very visual business, a few screen images are included below to expand on the text. This should enable the reader of this paper to obtain an introductory "feel" for the functions.
In case these descriptions whet your appetite for seeing more details of the software, contact your appropriate Solid Edge representative or reseller. Solid Edge contact information is at the end of this paper.
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Solid Edge V20: Assembly auto(mated) constraints allow rapid constraining of imported assemblies for motion studies
The assembly auto constraining capability (also called the relationship assistant) would be used to add constraints to imported geometry for the purpose of possible motion studies.
Solid Edge V20 built geometry would already contain assembly constraints.
Usually this would be a tedious process. However, using the relationship on the imported geometry model shown below within approximately 5 minutes, we were able to add in the 48+ relationships
rather than at least an hour or more building relationships by manually mating and align parts in the assembly.
By appropriately grouping and asking the system to automatically compute the possible mating relationships, the system proposed, using a series of dialogue boxes, the relationships that it found.
 The user could choose to accept or not accept specific relationships.
In our case, we accepted most of them. In the case of the piston rods we chose not to accept the proposed mates because we wanted to allow them to move.
The sequence we followed was to remove the grounded parts (ones that would not move), then ask the system to suggest axial alignments, then to suggest mate and planar alignments.
The system has excellent capabilities for automating this function. We have not found this capability in any other system, and it has proves to be very effective in migrating legacy data or working with imported assemblies.
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Dynamic preview of direct edits offers a complete visualization of the proposed change in Solid Edge V20
 The next capability is dynamic preview in direct editing. Direct editing has been in Solid Edge since Version 18.
The new capability in V20 is the dynamic preview, allowing a complete visualization of the change during the process, rather than inputting a numeric change value and then observing the result. This is very slick.
Using the ball valve, selecting a small portion of the part, we initiated a significant angular change on one of the faces.
All related fillets and other portions of the geometry stayed connected, as expected.
When we reached a geometric condition that wasn’t possible, the system presented us with a warning. This is much more effective in making reliable edits.
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Zones (Modeling within) in Solid Edge V20 – provides performance improvements by allowing users to define and work within small defined areas of large assemblies
In this portion of the demonstration, we focused on some of the massive assembly design tools by looking at some common workflows found in plant equipment design and layout.
These include zone modeling, tools to copy, move and rotate an array of existing subassemblies within an assembly, and component grouping.
Zone modeling enhances interactive performance when working with extremely large assemblies.
When opening an assembly, it can be opened in full mode, lightweight mode, or simplified mode.
The zone modeling capability goes a step further to improve performance by allowing the user to define geographic areas (zones) that contain components or subassemblies.
When opening an assembly, the user has the capability to specify a number of options for the assembly.
Users can create a zone by selecting parts to define the zone. In this case, the outer limits of the parts define the zone box, which is a 3D box showing the geographic space of the zone.
When viewing a zone, parts can be viewed depending on whether they’re inside the zone or partially inside the zone giving the user more display control.
What’s important here is that by being able to define zones, each user only needs to open the zone they are responsible for,
hence speeding overall system performance when working with extremely large assemblies.
By defining a zone, every time the zone is opened, Solid Edge V20 knows which parts are in the zone and therefore does not have to open additional component not in the zone.
This powerful capability will save design time. Additionally, zones can easily be switched when users decide to work on different portions of a massive assembly.
As a result, working with massive assemblies becomes much more manageable and easy to do.
Image 9 shows the new zone capability in the File Open dialog for opening a large assembly by predefined Zones.
Other types of zone definitions are possible. Another is a zone definition that includes everything either fully or partly within the zone box.
Users can change the size of the zone box by selecting a face of the box and moving it to a new keypoint of a model.
A zone can also be defined by selecting components that are to be at the extreme edges of the zone box in all 6 directions (to define height, width, and length).
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Solid Edge V20: Component grouping allows better design control, yet does not effect how the assembly is physically constructed
The ability to group components further improves massive assembly design.
This technique allows the user to group components under a single convenient node while leaving the bill of material and assembly structure intact.
Component grouping has several advantages such as compacting large trees, simplifying inputs to pattern operations composed of multiple parts, and organizing common parts such as bolts into a single node for quick show and hide.
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Component positioning eases machine and factory layouts in Solid Edge V20
To improve the modeling of machine and factory layouts, component groups in Solid Edge V20 can be selected for operations such as move, copy,
or rotate while maintaining internal mating relationships.
Internal relationships can optionally be deleted. Building digital versions of very large machines, frequently requires duplicating many subassemblies to form the final configurations and assemblies.
Using this well thought out method for replicating and building groups of assemblies should save an enormous amount of design time.
The position of the select set can be defined by dragging, Coordinates, Vectors, or by point-to-point selection. In this case we copy the Group from one center point to another.
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Drawing review mode in Solid Edge V20 - uses Solid Edge’s independent (of the 3D master model) drawing view to quickly view drawings of large assemblies
Solid Edge V20 2D Drafting is architected differently than most other systems and for some very good reasons.
The system is designed to store an independent copy of the 2D drawing that was derived from a 3D model.
This important fact allows drawings to be retained and opened even if the 3D model is not found or worse, inadvertently deleted.
An additional advantage of this architecture and a new feature in Solid Edge Solid Edge V20 is the ability to open 2D drawings instantly.
Because the 2D geometry is saved with the drawing, Solid Edge designers were able to optimize the open times significantly by opening drawings in inactive mode.
In our test case, we measured drawing opening times at approximately 6 seconds. This speed is expected to be about the same, even for drawings of massive assemblies.
When comparing drawing open times of active versus in active, it might take 20 minutes to open a drawing of a multi-thousand part assembly in active mode as compared to 6 seconds for opening up a drawing in inactive mode.
Are drawings opened in inactive mode useful for production work? Very much so. You can add dimensions and annotations, add and remove balloons associated with the bill of material, view and print. In essence, users can print, review, annotate, and dimension.
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Massive assemblies Solid Edge V20 can automatically unload "unused" components
Massive assemblies, as defined by the executives at V20 of Solid Edge, are assemblies of over 100,000 parts.
Solid Edge V20 has the capability to work with assemblies of much larger size. Pushing the ability to work with such large assemblies beyond that formerly thought feasible, resulted in creative thinking on the part of the Solid Edge software developers.
Assemblies with large parts counts are typically dependent on the available amount of physical memory.
Users can always add more memory, but now can also set an option in Solid Edge V20 to automatically unload "unused" components, which turns active parts into lightweight parts automatically, and frees precious system resources.
 Unused components are those that have not been used in any way.
Should the user need to perform an operation that requires an active part, users can activate parts on demand.
Other operational alternatives also impact performance when working with massive assembly modeling.
Zones improve open times by working within design envelopes; automatic unloading restores system resources; component grouping and positioning commands simplify massive assembly modeling; opening drawings of massive assemblies, for detailing,
reviewing and printing all expand on Solid Edge’s unique ability in massive assembly modeling.
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Tabulated drawings introduce in Solid Edge V20 a unique ability to gather and connect master model data to generate automatic tabulated drawing views for families of parts
New for V20, tabulated drawings allow the ready placement of a family of parts table onto a drawing as a tabulated drawing.
The family of parts table that exists on the master model facilitates this.
To build a tabulated drawing we create a drawing by selecting the family of parts master model or any one of the members from one of the families.
Once the views were generated, the new command "family of parts table" stepped us through the process.
The resulting table placed on the drawing could be easily modified in terms of size and location.
A common dimensioning scheme is to overwrite critical dimension values with the actual variable name.
 Typically dimensions would be listed
as "A", "B", or any convenient notation, and to facilitate this workflow, Solid Edge V20 has options allowing selected dimensions to show the variable name.
This technique is unique in the industry. Any other approach, such as manually placing the table on the drawing, would be more work and error-prone.
The real value is that the table is fully associative with the family of parts model. Changing the family of parts table in the master model, automatically updates the tabulation on the drawing.
A very impressive approach to building tabulated drawings, we particularly liked the ease of connecting to the master model variable table, how the drawing dimensions become the appropriate variable names, and the associativity with the model.
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Goal seek Solid Edge V20, feature grouping, feature library helpers, and the variable rule editor all act to improve the usability
Goal seek allows performing two-dimensional what-if engineering calculations with a combination of 2D parametric geometry, mathematical formulas, variables and part properties.
Using a sketch layout, users can let the system compute any one of the dimensions while varying (or Goal Seeking) another parameter.
Some common uses are to determine pulley locations with fixed belt lengths, solving for areas when varying a boundary dimension and a host of other practical engineering scenarios.
 While calculations can be made by hand or done in a spreadsheet,
Solid Edge V20 allows users to graphically layout and solve complex scenarios.
2D sketch geometry can be used to drive both the size and position of 3D components.
The Goal Seek command allows the user to select a Goal Variable (such as Belt Length) which is a driven dimension, and set a target value for that variable.
Feature grouping allows grouping part and sheetmetal features together as a way to organize and simplify a model history tree.
In the history tree, each group can be contracted into its name only (similar to a subassembly) or expanded into its elements.
Grouping multiple features into a feature group allows the group to act as a single detail to speed up other commands that can use multiple features as inputs.
For example, users can create a group of features and pattern, mirror, or create a feature library from the group. During group creation, the system does some validation checking to assure the grouped features maintain their child/parent rules.
Feature library helpers guide a user on how to place a feature from the Feature Library, thus improving the ability to understand what references or constraints a library feature needs when being placed.
During feature library creation, the author can define the prompts used to guide users as to how to use the library feature.
After a library feature is created, it’s easy to forget how to use it--especially complex libraries, but the new feature helper removes the burden of remembering how to place a library feature.
Such a simple enhancement should make feature libraries many times more useful.
 A new variable rule editor allows the user to set either a range or a discrete list of valid dimensional parameters.
Often models that are to undergo changes have limits on hole positions, overall sizes, or unique values.
By adding ranges to the variable table Solid Edge V20 now limits the size a user could make a part.
Attempting to enter values outside the range prompts a message that lists the valid range.
Upon dismissing the message, the part went back to the last valid size. Discrete values worked in a similar manner.
After establishing a list of values (10mm, 15mm, and 20mm) only those values could be used for dimensional edits.
To help users choose only those values, the list was presented on the actual dimensional value key-in field.
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Le altre pagine in lingua inglese dedicate a Solid Edge 20:
Ulteriori informazioni in lingua italiana su Solid Edge 20:
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Description of the new functionality of Solid Edge V20
Tutte le novità di