AutoCAD Electrical 2021 – Modular Terminal Blocks

By Miles Nicholson

A symbol such as a terminal with multiple levels and electronic components can be quite complex. As an example a modular terminal block such as the following part from Phoenix Contact has multiple levels with one of the levels a terminal with terminal number (continuous equipotential) connection and the other level a terminal with wire number change (change in equipotential):

Fuse modular terminal block - PTTB 4-HESILED 24 (5X20) - 3211888

In effect you have to treat each deck of the terminal as a “level” when creating a new part, thus meaning the above part, as an example, will have 2 “levels” defined.

Rather than using the IEC standard for a terminal, which is a circle, have a custom terminal symbol representing specifically a fuse terminal and associate a 2^nd level terminal with terminal number.

If you don’t wish to create your own terminal, you can use one that Cadline have made available. Please see the article:

Terminal Blocks with Electronic Components

With regards to the part, create a new part within the parts database e.g.:

CATALOG                                            3211888

MFG                                                      PHOENIX CONTACT

DESCRIPTION                                     FUSE MODULAR TERMINAL BLOCK - PTTB 4-HESILED 24 (5X20)

TYPE                                                      MULTI-LEVEL         

RATING                                                6.3A/28A

MISCELLANEOUS1                           6kV

MISCELLANEOUS2                           BLACK

WEBLINK                                             https://www.phoenixcontact.com/online/portal/gb/?uri=pxc-oc-itemdetail:pid=3211888&library=gben&pcck=P-15-02-09-01&tab=1&selectedCategory=ALL

LEVELS                                                  2

LEVELDESCRIPTION                         TOP,BOTTOM

TPINL                                                    1,2

TPINR                                                3,4

WIRESPERCONNECTION                2,2

You can also refer to the following article:

Adding a Terminal into the Parts Database & Associating a Footprint

Assign the manufacturer and part to the 1^st “fuse” terminal within the schematic and associate the “continuous” terminal to the 1^st terminal:

Creating a Multi Deck Terminal

You can also assign optional accessories for the respective fuses and other accessories:

Assigning Mandatory & Optional Accessories

A fuse terminal was created:

A continuous terminal was created:

Level descriptors can be added: L01PINL, L01PINR, L02PINL & L02PINR. The TPINL & TPINR values defined in the part are automatically annotated into the schematic symbols.

It’s easier to understand the schematics if you assign terminal numbers with a level descriptor suffix such as 1T, 1B etc. It’s also probably better not to use “A” for the top level of each terminal as this is a fuse terminal and the value could be misunderstood as being a fuse rating.

Jumpers can be shown in the schematic using a wire layer prefixed with JUMPER. Please refer to the following article for more information:

Wire Jumpers / Links