PCB Tech - Practical tips for pcb circuit design

PCB design The product development process of printed circuit components is highly dependent on a complete bill of materials. The complete bill of materials lists the PCB and all components soldered or adhered to the circuit board for assembly. Early in the product development cycle, components are not available because when the circuit designer draws the schematic, the EDA library is outdated and lacks current part information. In order to maintain the development schedule, placeholders in the EDA library are used to complete the schematic, so PCB designers can lay out the circuit board.

1. The complete bill of materials is located in the back seat of the PCB layout to keep the product development going smoothly. The task of putting the completed schematic into the layout is to interfere with the time required for the circuit designer to find the device before the design is in the PCB layout stage. In order to keep product development on track, first check the bill of materials so that the purchasing department that purchases the actual parts order. Circuit designers are eager to manually select parts and leave their footprints on the library and bill of materials. The EDA library containing dynamically updated supplier parts can be used to complete the selection of parts in the schematic capture.

Parts procurement consumes many resources in the product development life cycle of printed circuit assemblies. Researching parts from multiple suppliers requires multiple clicks. Compiling the manual list in a spreadsheet program requires computer time. Check availability and cost accounting in the purchasing department that employs multiple employees in the company. Pulling them all together while adhering to the product development plan requires repeated iterations to collect and include component information in the product documentation. Coordinating the procurement of parts will benefit from the dynamic EDA library in the early development of procurement and cost calculation.

2. The EDA library is full of placeholders

When trying to pass the production process for any project or electronic product, you need to ensure that any part of the process, whether it is prototyping, prototype development, new product development, or manufacturability, is reasonable. Usually, the first place you want to check, your library, may be troublesome or cause a slower development process.

Placeholders for expected parts lead to multiple feedback loops in the product development process. Incorporating the design into the layout in the early stages of the product development process requires the use of placeholder sections. The placeholder component contains best guess size and 3D size to allow layout planning of the PCB.

3. Use vendor links to build actual components from placeholders

Once the supplier part is identified and added to the component library, the document needs to be revised. Each volume of the document needs to include the same steps in the document. By purchasing supplier parts comments, you can identify obsolete parts that need to be modified and change the document again. This cycle slows down product development and puts delivery at risk.

Placeholders promote layout while frustrating development

The placeholder component receives the reference mark on the PCB layout and lists the placeholder component on the early bill of materials. This reminds the purchase of expected parts, but does not provide supplier information, such as part numbers, in order to purchase quantities at a reasonable price.

The design engineer works in parallel with the PCB layout to determine the actual supplier parts that are suitable for consolidation in the circuit. The details of the parts need to be kept intricately recorded with the spreadsheet. Parts suitable for design may be recognized as obsolete after their footprint is added to the library, layout and bill of materials. When this happens, usually, all files need to be modified and development time disappears.

4. The actual components currently in the EDA library

If component information is available during schematic capture, you can avoid multiple revisions to the document. Circuit engineers can choose components with available inventory. Having a library that lists all component type selections as well as procurement and costing will eliminate the need for design iterations throughout the product development life cycle.

Accessing available components in one location during schematic capture will eliminate the need for iterative design drawings. Having electrical parameters, floor space, 3D dimensions, simulation models, purchases and quantities, and cost accounting in one place can move the design faster. From early stage to production BoM does not require continuous bill of materials release.

Separate libraries reserved for schematics, PCB layouts and corporate inventory systems will be merged and made available to all product partners. The life cycle of the development process, to achieve cross-functional team product design. The design process is as simple as computer-aided design, supplier selection is easier, manufacturability design and prototyping requirements are easier. Separate libraries have always been the norm, slowing down the development process, while separate inventory systems are catching up with each other.

AltiumVault® generates a complete first-look bill of materials

5. Altium Vault is an integrated component library shared by AltiumDesigner® in schematics and PCB layouts. When the circuit designer selects the parts of the schematic, all the information about the parts can be obtained in the tool. Component information can be obtained before BoM is shown for the first time, and wise choices are made early in the product development cycle, without the need to iterate BoM as complete information about component details into a separate enterprise database.

6. No enterprise needs to develop a component library for layout. Footprint and landing modes are provided in the Altium Vault released with the tool. Circuit engineers can make comparison shopping when placing circuits in their designs. The available information about circuit design components can not only provide the best choice for circuit design, but also provide the best choice for the company’s internal management information system. The product development process no longer requires iterations of bill of materials development, because Altium is in the early stages of product design. All the information is provided in the Designer.

The PCB factory manages the product life cycle in the circuit board, and computer-aided design software will help you manage any part of the design process. Circuit Studio is Altium Designer's answer to the inventor of the small workshop. It can also access Altium Vault and capture the circuit into the schematic at the same time. This helps small developers with tight budgets to choose the best cost parts that are easily available.