Create Equipment Association

Equipment

Equipment : Equipment Spatial Associations : Create Equipment Association

Use the Equipment Associations window to create, modify, delete an association or change a member of an association. An association comprises a primary and partner element, a geometric constraint and two reference planes.

To pick the primary member of the association in the graphical view, click Pick Association Item, the ‘Pick an Element to associate with :’ prompt is displayed.

Select the type of geometric association required from the Create a New Association list, refer to Association Types for further information.

To pick the partner element of the association in the graphical view, the Pick an Element to associate with :’ prompt is displayed.

The Association Details part of the Equipment Associations window displays a list of current associations that the primary member participates in. The Associations can be modified, changed or deleted by selecting a row in this list.

Association Types

Use the Association Type part of the Equipment Associations window to define a geometric constraint.


	Mate	Two faces are touching (coplanar) or separated by a given distance. Directions defined by the two face normals are parallel and in the opposite direction.
	Align	Two faces are aligned (coplanar) or separated by a given distance. Directions defined by the two face normals are parallel and in the same direction.
	Parallel	Two directions are parallel, pointing in the same direction or in opposed directions.
	Parallel Offset	Two lines are parallel and separated by a given distance.
	True Distance	Two points are coincident or separated by a given distance.
	Elevation	The elevation of two points is separated by a given distance.
	Horizontal Distance	One point is vertically above the other point, or separated in the horizontal plane by a given distance.
	Point above line	A point is vertically above or below a line within a given tolerance.

Identify Reference Geometry

When both the primary member and the partner member for the association have been selected. The Equipment Associations window display changes by default, use the available functionality to define details of the geometrical relationship between the primary and partner element.

The top of the Equipment Associations window displays the type of constraint being defined.

Association Reference Planes

Use the Source Element part of the Equipment Associations window to select a geometrical feature on the primary item which is used in the constraint. Select from the Use Reference Plane drop-down list. Alternatively, click Pick Reference Plane to select a P-point using a cursor pick in the graphical view, the ‘Pick Reference P-point :’ is displayed.

Use the Partner Element part of the Equipment Associations window to select a geometrical feature on the partner item which is used in the constraint. Select from the Use Reference Plane drop-down list. Alternatively, click Pick Reference Plane to select a P-point using a cursor pick in the graphical view, the ‘Pick Reference P-point :’ is displayed.

Set Association Parameters

Some of the geometrical relationships can be parameterised to test for separation distance between items, separation can be specified as:

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a minimum separation between the primary and partner elements must be at least a given distance apart

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a maximum separation between the primary and secondary partner must be at most a given distance apart

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The primary and secondary elements must be a precise separation distance.

The separation arguments are specified using the Separation drop-down list numeric entry box. These are only active if parameters are required.

Click Create Association to create the Association element in the current association storage area. Refer to Management of Stored Associations for further information.

The EQUIPMENT discipline tests the equipment association against the constraint and the result is displayed in the Associations Between These Objects table.

Select an association displayed in the Associations Between These Object table, right-click to activate the following functionality:


Navigate To	The selected Association becomes the current element.
Test this Association	Tests the Association and refreshes the display in the Test Result column.
Association Details	Displays the Association Detail window, which provides details of the Association elements and geometry. Click Dismiss to close the Association Detail window

If required, select the association in the list of associations and modify if necessary. Click Apply Changes to apply the update, click Refresh to refresh the graphical view or click Back to restore the previous window.