Harness Processing > Processing Actions

Composite Breakdown

This routine creates derivative designs from a composite harness, regenerating harness objects in the derivatives based on the option expressions applied to them in the composite.

Note

Composite Breakdown will not run if there are any bundle or node insulations (spot tape), or multi-location node components on the design that do not have library part numbers assigned. In such cases, a design consistency error message is displayed giving details of the affected components.

You can configure the Allow Breakdown without all part numbers selected project preference, to enable Composite Breakdown to bypass such consistency errors and run on designs where not all components have library part numbers assigned.

This option is only available if a composite harness has been selected for processing. If derivative designs already exist for the composite, any content in those derivatives is deleted and regenerated. If no derivative designs exist, they will be created automatically based on the option expressions present in the composite harness data.

Note

See “Part Revision” for how part selection during composite breakdown is affected by part revision status.

Composite Breakdown Options

In addition to the core actions required to run composite breakdown, the following options are available on the Composite Breakdown Screen in the Harness Processing Dialog Box:

Remove Breakout Tape from Non-Junctions? Removes unnecessary breakout tape. For example, a composite harness may have a junction with three or more branches, and a derivative might only two because of component distribution, and might not require breakout tape.
Merge Bundles and Identical Insulations If a junction is removed on a derivative so that there are only two bundles remaining, the system deletes the junction node and merges the bundles together, replacing the node with a grip point. If the bundles have identical insulation runs these also will be merged into one. Project Preference Settings Use the following Project Preference settings to configure additional actions. “Check Properties and Values when Merging Bundles” enables you to specify if bundles that have properties defined against them can be merged. See Automatic Bundle Merging for usage examples. You can refine the preference further using the following project preferences: “Properties Excluded from Bundle Merge Property Check” — Use to specify properties that, if present on bundles, will be excluded from the “Check Properties and Values when Merging Bundles” check.

“Properties that Block Bundle Merge” — Use to specify properties that, if present on bundles, will prevent bundles being merged.

“Check Properties and Values when merging Insulation Runs” enables you to specify if insulation runs that have properties defined against them can be merged. See Automatic Bundle Merging for usage examples. You can refine the preference further using the following project preferences: “Properties Excluded from Insulation Run Merge Property Check” — Use to specify properties that, if present on insulation runs, will be excluded from the “Check Properties and Values when Merging Insulation Runs” check.

“Properties that Block Insulation Run Merge” — Use to specify properties that, if present on insulation runs, will prevent the runs being merged.

“Merge Bundles and Insulation Runs if Dimension Exists at Optional Node” controls whether or not to merge bundles and insulation runs where a dimension start or end point exists at a node that could potentially be removed.

“Merge insulation run within specified distance from junction” — enables you to configure a tolerance, to allow insulation runs that are offset from a junction to also be considered for merging. If two insulation run ends are offset at a distance equal to or less than the defined tolerance, the composite / modular breakdown process considers them as merge candidates, and merges them if all other conditions are satisfied.

“Delete spot tapes within a certain distance from junctions of merged insulation” — enables you to configure a tolerance to control spot tape deletion. Where insulation runs are merged, any spot tapes that are placed at a distance from the junction node that is equal to or less than the defined tolerance are removed by the composite / modular breakdown process. Note Spot Tapes within the tolerance, that are placed on other objects, are not deleted. Spot tapes that are within the tolerance, but beyond the ends of the merged insulation run, are not deleted.

Remove Splices With 2 Identical Wires? Removes any splice where only two wires remain and the wires are identical in color, material, and spec. The splice is replaced with one single wire with that color, material, and spec.
Generate Replacement Wire Names? Renames any wires inserted as a result of the “Remove splices with 2 identical wires?” option, using the prefix SPL, followed by a n incrementing number.
Select Cavity Components Reselects cavity component part numbers for each derivative, overriding any automatic selections made on the composite.
Optimize Splice Positions Performs splice repositioning on each derivative being processed. Analyzes each splice on the derivative that is marked as “Repositionable” and relocates it, subject to any rules and constraints associated to the design, to its optimal position.
Ignore Diagram Protection Cleared by default. Selected, composite breakdown deletes all the diagrams of each selected child design (regardless of their protection status), and recreates them from your chosen parent “Reference Diagrams”. Any manual layout modifications you have made are lost. See Preserving Changes Made to Derivative and Module Diagrams. The protected status of the diagram is not changed.
Apply Skeletal Styling Cleared by default. Applies a minimal, skeletal style to the diagrams produced during harness processing. This is useful where you are not concerned with the appearance of the child diagrams, and it can significantly reduce the time taken to process the design where complex style sets are used. See Skeletal Styling.
Use Component Driven Breakdown If selected, the system uses component-driven composite breakdown, which considers the option expressions on harness components; diagram objects (clips, grommets, symbols, and so on); and components that are not directly connected to the harness. If cleared, the system uses wire-driven composite breakdown, which considers the option expressions on the wires, to populate the derivative designs with wires and any connected components only. Populating Non-Wired Objects During Wire-Driven Breakdown Using wire-driven composite breakdown, you can also control the availability on derivative designs of components that are not directly connected to the harness: Components placed in “free space” on a diagram (not connected or passed through by wires).

Modular child connectors without connecting wires.

You must apply an option expression to the components required, and enable the Consider non-wired objects during breakdown project preference, to populate all components with the matching option expression into the derivative designs. In this example, the option expression “B” is specified on the child connector, to populate a non-wired connector into a derivative that has option “B” in its applicable options. Figure 290: Example Composite Design Once composite breakdown is complete, all wires with option “B” and any connected components, as well as non-wired components with option “B”, are populated in the derivative design. Figure 291: Example Derivative Design “B”

Evaluate blank option expression as ALL If selected, any components with no option expression defined appear on all derivatives. If cleared, those components are not included on any derivatives (unless the wire beneath it is included).

Composite Breakdown Actions

During the breakdown of a composite harness design into its derivatives, the following actions are performed:

Caution

Composite breakdown actions may remove or replace nodes with a new node. Any properties configured on such removed or replaced nodes are not saved or copied to the new node.

Splices that only have a single center-stripped wire are optionally deleted during composite breakdown. You configure the scope of this action using these project preferences: Delete single wire center-strip splice during breakdown “Yes” — all such splices are removed. “No” — all such splices are retained.

Retain center-strip splice with property name Use if you want do retain certain splices that only have a single center-stripped wire If a property name is specified here, any such splices with a matching property name are retained when “Delete single wire center-strip splice during breakdown” is set to “Yes”.

Center strips belonging to deleted wires / nodes are removed.
Nodes and cavities to be deleted are determined.
Components at nodes that are not part of the derivative harness bundle configuration, that do not have an option, are deleted.
Wires remaining in multicores are counted; if there are less than two, the multicore is deleted.
The bundle configuration is trimmed according to the remaining components and wires.
The initial start node is checked if available on the derivative. If it no longer exists, a new start node is selected.
Nodes at which no activity remains (placed components have been removed) are deleted.
Insulation layers that do not belong on the derivative (as defined by their option expressions) are deleted.
Insulation layers are cut back and the layer incremented. If this results in the modified layer being identical to an existing layer, a warning is issued in the log.
Breakout tape is removed from non-junction nodes if requested (see “Composite Breakdown Options”).
The number of wires left in each splice is counted. If there are less than three, the splice is replaced with a single wire.
Components placed at nodes that have been removed are deleted.
The Option Expression of Additional Components is checked and only those having valid option expressions for a derivative are copied, the rest are deleted.
Components placed in cavities that contained wires on the composite, but not on the derivative, are deleted.
Components placed at removed wire ends are deleted.
Multi-location components placed at locations that have all been removed are deleted.
Multi-location components that do not belong on the derivative (as defined by their option expressions) are deleted.
A check is performed for variant bundles where both variants remain in the derivative, and a warning is issued, if found.
Unselected tubes are identified.
Splices, ultrasonic welds, and solder sleeves are selected.
Mandatory items are selected.
Overbraids are removed where none of the overbraid’s content remains in the derivative.
Terminals and cavity seals are selected (where the wires terminated differ from those on the composite).
Any mismatches in terminal material drivers are deleted.
The terminal material drivers are copied from the composite.
Splices are automatically repositioned to optimize wire lengths.
Splice wires are re-routed.
Cavity plugs are selected.
Heat shrink sleeves are selected.
Customer part numbers are selected for all components.
Assembly items are copied into the new derivatives.
Wire markers are copied into the new derivatives.
Non-wired components are copied into the new derivatives during wire‑driven composite breakdown, if requested (see “Composite Breakdown Options”).
BOM IDs are generated.

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Processing Actions