One of the most frequent inquiries that comes my way is where to find inexpensive software for drawing hydraulic and pneumatic schematics. I've seen many good ones come and go through the years, and it's hard to keep track of what's currently available.
Many programs have some fantastic features. Unfortunately, they are accompanied by fantastic price tags. Most of this high-end software has simulation capabilities, and if that's not something you need, you won't want to pay for it.
How does FREE sound? I know, you get what you pay for, so if software is free, it probably won't do much. Either that, or it's so commercial that you can only use it with the vendor's products.
However, I recently learned of a free computer-aided drafting program called DraftSight, from Dassault Systèmes.
Go to www.draftsight.com to read about it. DraftSight was developed by Graebert GmbH for Dassault Systèmes (www.3ds.com), and Graebert also markets plugins for DraftSight.
DraftSight lets you construct drawings that can be saved and exported or converted into a variety of formats. I didn't see anything about a library of common fluid power symbols, but once you've drawn a valve or group of components (such as a hydraulic power unit), you could save it and make your own fluid power library. You could probably even go to a users group and share symbols with others.
- Kalypso is an open source application for geospatial modelling and simulation. It is primarily developed to be a user friendly tool for GIS-based modelling and simulation of hydrological and hydraulic numerical models.Features: Hydrological model Water surface profile model Unsteady coupled 1D/2D finite element model Module for flood depth determination Module for flood risk determination.
- Eaton calls it 'Circuit Design Software Studio' but again it based on Automation Studio software from Famic Tech. Right now, the symbol library is limited by Eaton products. But because Danfoss, Eaton, and Comatrol is technically the one brand now, I expect some merging of their products and increasing symbol library, but in reality, it can.
One feature most potential users want is an automatic bill of materials. I haven't dug deep enough to find out if DraftSight offers this, and it may be an add-on feature or part of an add-on package. (I have since learned that a plug-in features an automatic bill of materials. Click here to learn more.
Hydraulic Simulation Software CWSNet v.1.0.2 Revision 767 Beta CWSNet was specially designed as a handy and Open Source library for hydraulic simulation of pressurized pipe networks.
But don't take my word for it. Click here to go to a page of reviews.
Let APT take the guesswork out of it for you.
Complex hydraulic circuits can be hard to understand and interpret –it is not always obvious what issues might occur once a circuit has been assembled – even experienced hydraulic designers can miss small issues that might lead to reliability, operational and safety issues which then flow on to be very costly to rectify.
Equipment owners, users and legislation now require more supporting documentation than ever before – to demonstrate the safety and integrity of all systems.
Simulation of hydraulic systems allows for design verification for functionality – particularly in the area of sequence, power and hosing. Additional use of the software is to input errors into a circuit, to prove 'what if' analysis to determine what will occur should a component fail.
A picture speaks a thousand words.
Circuit Simulation Freeware
APT's use of the Automation Studio™ simulation system enables complex designs to be closely modelled for movement, flow, pressure and temperature to identify design constraints before the system is built.
Your circuit operation can be demonstrated at our Toronto facility, or at your worksite – just let us know what you prefer.
Hydraulic Circuit Simulation Software
Once completed, the completed Automation Studio™ circuit can easily be integrated into any training session or presentation that you may need to deliver to your workforce or customers – ask us how we can do this for you.
