Tutorial: Getting started

HydroSym is a stand-alone software program to create hydraulic diagrams. Hydraulic schematics in HydroSym can be complete diagrams with motors, pumps, cylinders, valves etc. or schematics can be just a diagram of a manifold. The manifolds can be exported to HydroMan if it is desired to design the manifold.

This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a simple hydraulic diagram. The simple hydraulic diagram which will be created, is shown in the top figure below. First a complete tutorial of the simple hydraulic diagram is given in which the most used functions are explained. The second part of the tutorial is about creating a schematic in which slip-in cartridge valves and sandwich plates are used. The final schematic of this tutorial is shown in the lower figure below. The second tutorial starts at page 39, Tutorial: Slip-in cartridge valves and sandwich plates.

If there are any problems, feel free to contact us. For any question you have, we are happy to explain them and if necessary give a personal demonstration.

Interface

The HydroSym interface consists of various parts:

1. Diagram window, window to create drawings and hydraulic diagrams
2. Library, contains all Components and Symbols
3. Menu bar
4. Top bar, contains standard Windows commands and some HydroSym commands
5. Sidebar, for additional commands and drawing tools
6. Three tabs of the library: Components, Components+, Symbols
7. Content of the selected tab in the library window
8. Preview of the elements in the selected folder of the library
9. Information of the selected element in the preview
10. ‘Show Datasheet’-function, to see all the specifications of the selected component
11. ‘Find’-function, useful to search and find elements of the library
12. Favorites, shows folders with most used files

Library structure

It is essential to have a complete understanding of how the library is structured, for making a schematic with all the benefits that HydroSym has to offer (and to be able to use HydroMan as well). The library is sectioned into three parts: Components, Components+ and Symbols. For making schematics, it is possible to use components and symbols. It is highly recommended to use only components for schematics, because these files contain the information of a specific product. Therefore this tutorial mainly makes use of components. The information that is stored in components are: the manufacturer, product code, ordering code, specifications, dimensions and the symbol which will represent this component in a schematic. This shows that a symbol is a part of a component. This relationship is shown in the next figure.

So the component file stores the data of a certain product and the symbol is just a file with the coordinates of lines, arrows, dots, etc.. A symbol can be used in various components with the same function. The reason why you should mainly use components in schematics is because only then HydroSym is able to make a Bill Of Materials for you and is also able to attach all the datasheets of the components to the schematic. Another reason for the HydroMan users is that components contain information needed for the HydroMan export file. Only with this information the schematic can be exported.

Main features

Introduction to the main features.

The first step in creating your diagram is of course creating a new file. This is done as you would do in any other program.

• Go to: File → New
• Select: New Schematic Diagram (Or Ctrl+N and click the preferred template)

Note

For creating your own components or symbols go to the chapters ‘Create New Component’ or ‘Create New Symbol’ in the manual respectively.

Saving the diagram

To prevent data loss it is recommended to save your file regularly. Again this works like any other program.

• Go to: File → Save as F12 (Save [Ctrl+S]{.keycombo})
• Browse to the preferred folder
• Change file name into ‘Getting Started Schematic’
• Click save.

Insert a component

The first component that will be inserted is a 4 way 2 position directional control valve from Parker with the product code D3MW001E. To insert this component take the following steps:

• Make sure that the components tab of the library is selected:
• Browse to the component by making use of the folders in the library: Manufacturer → Parker → Directional Valves → Direct → 42 → NG10
• Look for the component D3MW001E and click once to select it
• Click on button marked in red to open the datasheet
• Close the datasheet
• Double click on the component to insert it
• A pop-up window for an item number will appear, click cancel for now

• A red representation of the component will appear at your mouse pointer to help placing it

• Left click in the Diagram Window to place the component

• Right-click to quit the ‘Insert Component’-function or press Esc.

Insert a component using the find bar

If you know the exact name of the component or a part of the name, then it is probably faster to use the ‘Find’-function to locate the component. For the next component we will use the ‘Find’-function in the library. Again, a 4 way 2 position directional control valve from Parker is used, but this time the component D3W020H.

• Type D3W020H in the search field and select ‘Title’, there can be searched for ‘Manufacturer’, ‘Article Code’, ‘Symbol File’ and ‘Description’ as well

• Drag the shown component into the diagram window to start inserting the component (Note: The first component was inserted by a double click on the component in the library. A third way of inserting a component is to right click on the preview and choose ‘Insert’)

• Insert the component with a left-click in the schematic as shown before to get the following diagram

• Quit the ‘Insert Component’-function with a right-click or press Esc.

Components and symbols for example holes can also be added from the online library. The online library includes components provided by Paro. To make use of this library, select the “Online” bar, next to the default selected “Local” bar.

• Now you can use the online library. Searching through this online library is exactly the same as searching through the local library.

How to move a component

While drawing a hydraulic diagram it is likely that you need to move a component. Next we will move the second component.

• Left-click and hold the item you want to move (Click as close to a line as possible or on a text box)

• Drag the item to the desired location and release the mouse button to finalize the move, or press Esc to cancel.

Note

Also the whole drawing canvas can be moved. This can be done by holding the shift-key while you hold the left mouse button and drag. For a mouse with a middle button or a scroll wheel which can be clicked, only this button has to be pressed to move the canvas).

Select item(s)

There are several ways to select an item. The simplest one is just left-click on a line or text box of a component you want to select one-by-one. Selected items will become blue. If you want to select many items, this can be time consuming. Therefore, you can make a selection box by dragging your mouse when there are no drawing functions active. If you draw a selection box from the right to the left, all partially touched items are selected. If you draw the same box from left to right, only the items, which are completely in the box, are selected. Selected items can be moved just like a single component. Another option to move selected items is by pressing [Space] once, defining an anchor point with a left-click and confirming the new location with another left-click. The last option to move a selected item is by using the arrow keys. Try these different options to get a feeling of moving components and find the most intuitive way for you.

Personalize your work sheet

HydroSym has a large work sheet on which schematics can be constructed. There are a few functions by which this work sheet can be personalized to make the design of schematics more intuitive. In the top bar and bottom bar the following series of functions are shown.

Here you can choose a paper size.

Toggle the grid on or off.

Toggle snap on or off. With snap on you will be drawing or moving on the grid size.

Toggle on or off moving with endpoint, midpoint or centerpoint.

Toggle on or off moving a cross the schematic or only horizontal and vertical in the schematic.

Toggle on or off join. With join selected components can be joined automatically.

Toggle between dv none, dv top and dv bottom when an directional valve is placed in the schematic.

Toggle between main groups, sub groups and none in the schematic.

Toggle on or off text borders in the schematic.

Align components

Ports can be aligned manually by moving the components as shown in the previous step. Another possibility is to align the ports by selecting them and using an align function. After placing the desired valves, the port components have to be inserted. In this step the port components P and T will be placed. Inserting these components is done the same way as the two valves were inserted.

• Insert two ‘BSP 3/4" ' ports (located in the Components tab→ Ports → BSP)

• Double click the port name (the box with the *) of the first inserted BSP port or click once on this port and press [T], to open the ‘Change port’-dialog

• Change the portname to ‘P’ in the dialog

• Click ‘OK’ to submit your change

• Do the same for the second BSP port, but name it ‘T’

• In order to align the two ports, select them by clicking on the port names (P and T in this case).

Note

The first selected item is used as reference. So if you select the P first, then the T port will move to the same x-coordinate as the P port

• Right click to open the context menu and select ‘Align X [X]’ to align the two BSP ports

Note

By aligning ports of different components, you can align the components

Match text properties