# US 2022/0035985 A1 · Method of determining a three-dimensional layout of electrical connections of an electric component > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2022/0035985 A1 - Document ID: US20220035985A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/311,785 - Filed: 2019-12-09 - Published: 2022-02-03 - Earliest claimed: 2018-12-10 - Assignees: ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG - Applicants: ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG - Inventors: Alessandro Zanarini; Jan Poland; Philippe Stefanutti; Harry Zueger; Thomas Hertwig; Raphael Kegelin; Ming Zhang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20220035985A1 ## CPC - G06F 30/36: Circuit design at the analogue level - G06F 30/394: Routing (G06F30/396 takes precedence) - G06F 30/392: Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement - G06F 30/398: Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] (optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract To determine a three-dimensional layout of electrical connections of an electric component, a processor executes a path optimization routine to determine three-dimensional routes for a plurality of electrical connections of the electric component. A conflict management is performed to generate conflict-free three-dimensional routes for the plurality of electrical connections. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of determining a three-dimensional layout of electrical connections of an electric component, in particular of a power network component, the method comprising: executing, by at least one processor, a path optimization routine to determine three-dimensional routes for a plurality of electrical connections of the electric component, the path optimization routine comprising an A* or Dijkstra algorithm, a bi-directional optimum path search routine, dynamic programming or mathematical programming; performing, by the at least one processor, a conflict management to generate conflict-free three-dimensional routes for the plurality of electrical connections in which the electrical connections do not interfere with each other; determining, by the at least one processor, a three-dimensional layout of the electrical connections of the electric component based on the conflict-free three-dimensional routes; and automatically determining, by the at least one processor, a three-dimensional layout of framework structures for the plurality of electrical connections based on the conflict-free three-dimensional routes. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the path optimization routine and the conflict management takes into account one or several of thermal constraints, mechanical constraints, and electrical constraints. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: defining a virtual connection that represents a group of at least two of the plurality of electrical connections or portions of at least two of the plurality of electrical connections, wherein the path optimization routine and conflict management are performed for the virtual connection to ensure that the group is jointly routed. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the path optimization routine and conflict management are first performed for connections that include at least one virtual connection, and wherein subsequently routing and conflict management are performed for end portions of the at least two electrical connections grouped together in the at least one virtual connection. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the virtual connection represents only portions of the at least two of the plurality of electrical connections and the at least two of the plurality of electrical connections further comprise further portions, wherein the virtual connection and the further portions are routed separately. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the path optimization routine has an objective function that encourages the group of at least two of the plurality of electrical connections or portions of at least two of the plurality of electrical connections to be jointly routed in the virtual connection. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein performing the conflict management comprises: executing the path optimization routine so that that the three-dimensional routes are conflict-free, but not optimum routes, and modifying one or several of the three-dimensional routes when performing a path exploration to move from conflict-free first three-dimensional routes to conflict-free second three-dimensional routes. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the path optimization routine is performed for the plurality of electrical connections, the path optimization routine for one of the electrical connections being performed independently from the path optimization routine for another one of the electrical connections; and wherein the conflict management comprises a conflict resolution in which cost penalties are computationally imposed for conflicting three-dimensional routes to ensure convergence towards conflict-free three-dimensional routes. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the path optimization routine comprises an exploration step. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the path optimization routine is performed on at least one grid, optionally wherein the at least one grid is a hierarchical gridding. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: processing the determined three-dimensional layout of the electrical connections to generate control commands for a manufacturing equipment used to manufacture the electrical connections. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: processing the determined three-dimensional layout of the framework structures to generate further control commands for a further manufacturing equipment used to manufacture the framework structures. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the electric component is selected from a group consisting of a transformer, a power converter, a semi-conductor, an inductor, a capacitor, a battery, a circuit breaker, a power resistors, a transducer. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) Computer-readable instruction code comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the processor to perform the method according to claim 1. ### Claim 15 A system comprising at least one integrated semiconductor circuit programmed to: execute a path optimization routine to determine three-dimensional routes for a plurality of electrical connections of an electric component, the path optimization routine comprising an A* or Dijkstra algorithm, a bi-directional optimum path search routine, dynamic programming or mathematical programming; perform a conflict management to generate conflict-free three-dimensional routes for the plurality of electrical connections in which the electrical connections do not interfere with each other; determine a three-dimensional layout of the electrical connections of the electric component based on the conflict-free three-dimensional routes; and automatically determine a three-dimensional layout of framework structures for the plurality of electrical connections based on the conflict-free three-dimensional routes. ### Claim 16 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the path optimization routine uses a heuristic that encourages the group of at least two of the plurality of electrical connections or portions of at least two of the plurality of electrical connections to be routed as the virtual connection. ### Claim 17 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a virtual terminal of the virtual connection, wherein at least one constraint is locally relaxed in a neighborhood of the virtual terminal when executing the path optimization routine and conflict management for the virtual connection.