Insulators

Insulators are the direct contact point for conductors and cables in a span. Assembly Creator's Components tab is where you view, create, edit, and delete insulators. Select Insulator in the left pane to populate the middle pane with a list of available components. The right pane provides details for the currently selected insulator.

The results of creating, deleting, or editing components are not permanently saved until you select File > Save from the main menu.

Create

Follow these steps to create a new insulator:

Select the Components tab.
Select the Insulator category.
Click the Create New button to open the Create Insulator form.
Enter the desired values for each field. The specifications are defined below.
Click Create to add the new insulator to the component list.

Edit

Follow these steps to edit insulators:

Double-click the insulator you want to edit. This opens the cross arm edit form.
Enter the desired values for each field. The specifications are defined below.
Click the appropriate button:
- Delete - delete the insulator from the component list.
- Update - apply edits to the insulator.
- Cancel - exit the form without making changes to the insulator.

Delete

There are two ways to delete insulators:

In the middle pane of the Components tab, click the red X next to the insulator to delete.
Double-click the insulator to open the edit form. Click Delete.

An asterisks after "Assembly Creator" in the title bar denotes unsaved changes. If you close Assembly Creator without saving, a popup window will alert you that unsaved changes exist.

Create Insulator form.

Specifications

In Assembly Creator, insulators are defined with five parameters: Name, Type, Length, Diameter, and Rated Breaking Strength.

Name

Unique identifier for the insulator. If you attempt to create an insulator with a name that already exists, a popup will warn of the issue when you click Create. You must provide a unique name before Assembly Creator will create the insulator.

Type

The drop-down list is populated with the types of insulators available: Post, Pin, Suspension, or Spool.

The insulator type cannot be changed once the insulator is created.

Length

The length of the insulator.

Diameter or Outer Diameter

The diameter of the insulator. For spools, the field becomes Outer Diameter.

Rated Breaking Strength

The rated amount of force the component can withstand before failing.

Any values you enter that are out of the acceptable range for that item will be outlined in red. Hover the cursor over the caution triangle to see the range of acceptable values.

Insulator XML

Assembly Creator saves insulator specifications for each unit in its own XML file in the Bin\InsulatorAssemblies directory. The name of the file is the name of the insulator (e.g., Suspension.xml).

XML Structure for Cylinders

Tag	Definition
<InsulatorSpec>	Root element.
<Name>	Name of the insulator. This name will display in the Assembly Creator UI.
<Diameter>	Diameter of the insulator in feet.
<Length>	Length of the insulator.
<Type>	Type of insulator: suspension, spool, pin, or post.
<RatedBreakingStrength>	Rated breaking strength of the insulator in ft-lbs.
<SpecUid>	Assembly Creator creates and records a unique id for the insulator.

Insulator XML Example	Copy Code
<InsulatorSpec> <Name>Suspension</Name> <Diameter>0.5</Diameter> <Length>False</Length> <Type>Suspension</Type> <RatedBreakingStrength>8000</RatedBreakingStrength> <SpecUid>56e09ec6-e7a3-47e3-9b3b-85a290222e89</SpecUid> </InsulatorSpec>

Insulator XML Example

Copy Code

<InsulatorSpec>
   <Name>Suspension</Name>
   <Diameter>0.5</Diameter>
   <Length>False</Length>
   <Type>Suspension</Type>
   <RatedBreakingStrength>8000</RatedBreakingStrength>
   <SpecUid>56e09ec6-e7a3-47e3-9b3b-85a290222e89</SpecUid>
</InsulatorSpec>