Design Accelerator Browser

Uses the Assembly browser to organize and manage component entities.

When you open any generator and calculator, a prompt is displayed with the option to save the design accelerator generator or calculator to the assembly before you continue. Change the assembly name and folder or accept the default, and click Save. An assembly node is added to the browser structure. The component is designed in this assembly.

Design Accelerator generators and calculators are saved as subassemblies. All inserted design accelerator components are stored together. For example, when you insert Spur Gears connection, Gear 1 and Gear 2 are placed together in one subassembly with a user-specified name. Use the Promote command to create another instance of a component and move it up within the assembly structure.

Browser structure of generators and calculators

	Machine Assembly - top level This is the new file created to manage the structure of the design accelerator assembly and its members.
		Component subassembly - one level below the machine assembly. Design Accelerator components are inserted as subassembly into your machine assembly. The components and calculations are inserted into subassembly so they can be grouped together as Design Accelerator components. So, if you insert gears using Spur Gears Generator, you can see both, Gear 1 and Gear 2 grouped together under Spur Gears Assembly. You can immediately recognize Design Accelerator generators and calculators. Right-click to edit the generators and calculators. See the Content Menu section below. This is the level under which solving of all components occurs. Created automatically when you insert the first design accelerator component or calculation. Then, you can change the solving option to disable solve or automatic solve. The Solver state is designated by an icon displayed before the name of the subassembly. See the Solver section. You can have unlimited number of Design Accelerator subassemblies in your machine assembly. You cannot change the order of Design Accelerator components within the subassembly. Promote and demote commands are available on the context menu within the component subassembly for some generators (for belts or gears, for example). To see the Promote, Demote Commands, select the component, right-click and select Component. See the Context Menu section.
		An icon displayed next to a node in the browser indicates the element is sick. When you pass the cursor over the node for the sick element, a tooltip explains the reason for the sickness.

Design Accelerator Context Menu

When editing Design Accelerator components, right-click to display the context menu. You can use following Design Accelerator functions:

	Edit using Design Accelerator	Click to open appropriate Design accelerator generator or calculator where you can change the desired values. Note: If a component was not created with the current version of the generator or calculator you are prompted to select if you want to generate a new component. The original component remains unchanged.
	Delete Design Accelerator component	Deletes selected Design Accelerator component.
	Calculate	In the context menu click Component Calculate. Available for Design Accelerator generators only. When you disable the calculation and open a Design Accelerator generator using Edit using Design Accelerator, Calculation tab (and Fatigue Calculation tab also, if applicable) is disabled and you can design component only. No calculation is available. Performance of generator is much faster and you can fully concentrate on your design.
	Promote Design Accelerator components	In the context menu click Component Promote Design Accelerator components. Available for some generators only: gears, shafts, belts, and cams. Use the command to move the Design Accelerator components up in the browser hierarchy. The original instance of the components remains in the original subassembly, only another instance is created. If you edit one of the instances, all of them within the assembly are updated. Use Demote Design Accelerator components command to demote the components in the subassembly.
	Demote Design Accelerator Components	In the context menu click Component Demote Design Accelerator components. Available for some generators only: gears, shafts, belts, and cams.

Context menu for Design Accelerator Update

Update option determines how the Design Accelerator components are updated within the assembly.

In the browser, right-click the component. In the context menu click Component to see Design Accelerator Update options.

Click here for more information about an assembly Update.

Note: Update options are available for generators only.

	Solve off	Disables Update. No components are automatically solved or updated during edit. For example, you change the dimension of one part where the bolted connection is placed. Bolted Connection is not updated automatically. Open Bolted Connection Generator and adjust bolted connection manually. No icon is displayed in front of the Design Accelerator component in the browser.
	Manual Solve	The icon is displayed in front of the name of the Design Accelerator component in the browser. It represents the selected option as well as state of Update. The icon does not represent an error - there is nothing wrong with Design Accelerator component. Manual Solve is the default state after the installation. Select this option to update the assembly manually. For example, if you change a part within your assembly that should affect the length of your bolted connection, open the bolted connection generator manually to update the bolted connection.
	Automatic Solve	The automatic update recognizes any changes made within the assembly that should affect the components inserted by Design Accelerator commands and such components are updated automatically. For example, if you change a part within your assembly that should affect the length of your bolted connection, the bolted connection is updated to reflect the changes in your assembly. If a strength check is not required, the generator updates the data. If a strength check of the design is performed, the calculation check is required and then the data is updated. If a check fails, the icon is displayed, and you must perform the change manually.