Connections

Connections define the relationship and interaction between components.

Signal Connections and Physical Connections

Signals are drawn with green lines ending with an arrow head. They represent a directed flow of values from the signal output of one component to the signal input of one or several other components. Values can be either scalars or vectors. The width of a signal is determined when the simulation is started.

Physical connections represent energy flow between two points and do not have an inherent direction. They are drawn in separate colors for the different physical domains: black for electrical, red for magnetic, blue for thermal and violet for mechanical. Physical connections can be created between physical terminals of the same domain.

Creating Connections

To create a new connection, move the mouse pointer over an unconnected terminal, press the mouse button, and drag the mouse pointer to the desired destination. If you drag the mouse pointer near a matching terminal, the pointer shape changes to a double cross, and the two terminals will be connected when you release the mouse button. If you drag the mouse pointer over a component, the connection will be routed to the nearest matching terminal (if any) of that component.

Creating Branches

Branches are used to connect more than two terminals. To create a branch connection, place the mouse pointer on an existing connection or node where you want the branch to start. Press the right mouse button and drag the mouse pointer to the desired destination. Instead of the right mouse button you can also use the left mouse button while holding down the Ctrl (on macOS: Cmd) key.

Alternatively, you can also create a branch by clicking on an unconnected terminal and dragging the mouse pointer to a matching connection or node.

Automatic Creation of Connections

If you select a component and hold the Alt (on macOS: Option) key while hovering the mouse pointer over another component, the schematic editor suggests connections between matching terminals or terminal groups of the two components. A terminal group in this context is a contiguous set of terminals of the same kind along one edge of a component. To create the connection(s), press the mouse button. Only one pair of matching terminals or terminal groups is connected at one time. If there are multiple candidates, the connection with the shortest path is chosen.

This is illustrated in the figures below. First, the starting component, a voltage source, is selected. Next, the mouse pointer is moved to the destination component, a resistor, while holding down the Alt (on macOS: Option) key. The editor suggests a connection between the closest two electrical terminals. Last, after a mouse click, the connection is created, and the editor suggests another connection between the remaining two terminals.

You can also let the schematic editor create connections from multiple starting components to a single destination component at once. This is useful e.g. to combine the signal outputs of multiple meters into one Signal Multiplexer. First, select the many components, then move the mouse pointer to the destination while holding down the Alt (on macOS: Option) key. Press the mouse button to create all connections at once.

Editing Connections

After a connection has been created, you can change its path by moving individual segments. To move a connection segment, click it with the left mouse button, then drag it to the desired destination.

You can also move parallel segments of different connections simultaneously. To do so, select the connections, then click on any one of the parallel segments and drag it to the desired destination. The other segments will be shifted simultaneously while maintaining their relative distances.