Control cabinets in 3D: better overviews for service and maintenance
More functions in EPLAN eVIEW Free
A viewer isn’t anything special in everyday manufacturing and design work. But if it has integrated augmented reality (AR) functionality and can thus project the control cabinet into the virtual world, then that’s quite extraordinary. With the latest version of EPLAN eVIEW Free, this AR functionality is now directly accessible via a 3D visualisation. The new 3D engine also provides more convenience for service and maintenance: individual areas of a control cabinet can now be displayed or hidden – and the cabinet can be freely rotated in the physical space. Navigation within a project is now also much easier.
Nuremberg/Monheim, Germany, 9 November 2022: At the SPS in Nuremberg, Germany, EPLAN will be presenting improvements to EPLAN eVIEW Free that provide service technicians in particular with far more flexibility. Tobias Kratz, Business Owner Rapid Design at EPLAN explains: “EPLAN eVIEW Free supports the service team during maintenance by providing a visualisation of the digital twin with the full depth of information. With the new 3D graphics engine, entire sections of a control cabinet can be displayed or hidden, and individual components can even be highlighted in the visualisation.” The benefits are clear: if a service technician hides a side panel or doors, as examples, all the components within are freely accessible – meaning she has a complete view of the cabinet’s interior. And this view is available at any time and independent of location – simply by using an internet browser.
At the SPS in Nuremberg, Germany, EPLAN will be presenting improvements to EPLAN eVIEW Free that provide service technicians in particular with far more flexibility.
Projects can easily be visualised with the new 3D view in EPLAN eVIEW Free.
"With the new 3D graphics engine, entire sections of a control cabinet can be displayed or hidden, and individual components can even be highlighted in the visualisation,” says Tobias Kratz, Business Owner Rapid Design at EPLAN.
Log in, register, get started
How does it work? Users register at www.eplan.com and can upload their current projects there. With the eVIEW Free application, project documentation can be displayed in 2D as a schematic or in 3D as a virtual visualisation of the control cabinet. The new integrated split-screen technology provides more freedom in choosing viewing options: the schematics and the AR model of the control cabinet can now be displayed next to each other. In the case that the machine shuts down, as an example, the fault can quickly be traced back to its source and the faulty component or components can be highlighted. If the service technicians need more information, they can open the 3D model of a component directly from the schematics. Another practical advantage is access to cross-references to the device lists, bills of mateirals, cable overviews and other analyses including topologies.
Great collaboration between engineering and service departments
Using the redlining function, service technicians can note the changes directly on the schematics, which are then automatically forwarded to the engineering department. This results in documentation that is always up to date, including for any upcoming maintenance or servicing. Furthermore, setpoints can be recorded directly in the schematics using the greenlining function as another example. Documentation stored in the EPLAN Cloud is available to view at any time from anywhere in the world, making interdepartmental collaboration even easier.
AR: freely project a control cabinet into the physical environment
The new version of EPLAN eVIEW Free has also made the possibility of virtually projecting control cabinets into a physical space easier. A control cabinet can be freely positioned in a physical space using the camera of a tablet computer or smartphone. It can be virtually projected as an overlay into any space using the integrated AR technology, for instance into a machine shop. Access to the AR functionality through PTC’s Vuforia app has also been simplified. Users of this free app can now call up the AR function directly in the viewer with a click. The software then generates a QR code or a link that can be shared with other project participants. If the Vuforia app isn’t installed on the device, eVIEW Free automatically suggests installing it.
