Category: Electronics

Table of Contents These tests are conducted on all electronic/electrical devices and equipment, to make sure they do not make devices next to them malfunction. These tests are those which are conducted to measure the power and frequency of RF emissions from devices and equipment. These emissions are categorized as those under 30MHz and over 30MHz, because of the two primary methods of EM emission from equipment, conducted and radiated. Emission Measuring Instruments Measuring Receiver Conformance tests are taken with receivers which are optimized for the purpose of taking EMC measurements. The average cost of measuring a receiver system between 10kHz to 1GHz range is between $15,000-$60,000. Spot Frequency Receiver- These are hand-held receivers that the operator uses to take readings of emissions of individual frequencies from the EUT. FFT/time Domain Receiver- Fast Fourier Transform is an algorithmic implementation of Fourier Transform that enables the measuring device to take time-domain readings and convert them into real-time frequency spectrum plots. Spectrum Analyzer- This is used to record emissions from the EUT in the full frequency spectrum, within the device’s capability. This is used to confirm the frequency range in which sport frequency reception will be required because due to their full spectrum measurement capability these devices have a small amount of error. Receiver Specifications Figure 1 The new R&S®ESR EMI test receiver uses an FFT-based time domain scan to perform stan-dard-compliant dis-turbance measure-ments up to 6000 times faster than con-ventional EMI test receivers. These are the parameters on which these devices evaluate, emission performance of the equipment under test. These parameters are defined in CISPR 16-1-1, and MIL-STD-461G, and DEFSTAN 59-411 for military tests. Transducers These devices are used to convert the emissions to be measured from the EUT into something which can be displayed onto the screen of the measuring device. These devices are able to convert the four important parameters, Radiated electric field Radiated magnetic field Conducted cable voltage, and Conducted cable current Into readings which can be displayed on the screen on the receiver. CISPR 16-1-4 is referenced while choosing transducers/antennas for EMC emission testing. LISNs and probes for cable measurements Artificial Mains Network.  These devices are used to conduct voltage emissions tests on the main port. These are required to provide a defined impedance at RF across the measuring point, to test the instrument, and isolate the test circuit from unwanted interference signals on the mains supply. Artificial Hand The requirements for this are specified in CISPR 16-1-2. This accessory is used to simulate those devices which are designed for hand-held usage. This accessory is a strip of metal foil, 6cm wide and normally wrapped around that part of the EUT which will be touched by the user’s hand. Absorbing clamp and CMAD These devices are used to measure emissions above 30MHz as radiated fields. The standards used to get this apparatus is CISPR 14-1/EN 55014-1. Current Probe This is a clamp-on device that is used to measure the amount of current flowing in a cable. The standard used for this is CISPR 22/EN 55022. Near Field Probes These probes are used to detect emissions near to culprit device. These devices can be around cylindrical rod or a loop that needs to be taken near the culprit devices to take readings

Altium Circuit Studio is an entry-level but professional PCB design suite. Which offers interactive automated routing, intuitive ECAD-MCAD collaboration, integrated SPICE simulations, and unparalleled design efficiency at an affordable price point. Often compared to KiCad because of the small difference in price point. Altium CircuitStudio comes with a perpetual licence fee of $495. With its native 3D, version control and over 300,00 component library and the Altium promise. This software will definitely prove to be better than others in its class. Opening up this software showcases a deliberately minimal interface that requires lesser resources to run on your computer. This showcases the demographic this product is aimed towards. Exactly as it says on the box entry-level professionals or freelancers or undergraduate students. This is not a full-professional product which is made evident by some things like, not being able to multi-object drag and drop, remapping hotkeys (this is a very mouse-heavy program), and no.DbLib support. CircuitStudio is unable to define its place, for a perpetual license fee of $495 you get 90% of the features of Altium Designer but those last 10% are the real challenge, this means that software is limited to designing low-level PCBs, which can be good for a freelance, but the price at which you get this software may just be too high for a graduate student willing to pay $120 per year for the Altium Designer student version, but without the ability to sell your designs, which CircuitStudio offers. The best thing which circuit studio offers at this price point is the Altium component library. This software is a good investment to start your PCB design and schematic journey while getting hands-on lessons and tutorials straight from the Altium community.

What is Altium? Altium is a PCB design tool,  PCB stands for Printed Circuit Boards and the designing process for a PCB include: Schematic capture, Layout, SPICE simulations, Library and footprint creation, Part tracking, sourcing and revision tracking of both the components used in the design and design itself. It is like git for PCBs and Altium provides tools and resources for all parts of the PCB design workflow.The Altium designer comes with an easy-to-use interface that has lots of features for the PCB designer, like revision control and hot-keys. Altium has 4 SoftwareAltium DesignerAltium NexusAltium Circuit StudioAltium Circuit Maker Previous Next All these software provide a robust framework for the PCB designer to acquire skills of a cross-function multidisciplinary role, because PCB design requires understanding and knowledge of electronic, electrical, and mechanical theory and implementation mechanisms like testing equipment used, designing equipment, and of course manufacturing. Altium software offers the user the ability to interact and collaborate with the mechanical, electronic, and electrical designer through various tools integrated into the software which provide a seamless and robust framework for the designer. Figure 1 Altium 3D mechanical rendering. With the increase in remote working Altium software also offer cloud storage for saving projects, rendering projects, and even saving and running SPICE simulations!

Why do we need a rectifier Circuit? Whenever DC power is needed that time, we need to convert an AC Power to DC Power and that process is known as Rectification. A simple PN junction diode acts as a rectifier. The forward biassing and reverse biassing conditions of the diode makes the rectification. Types of Rectifier circuits There are two main types of rectifier circuits, depending upon their output. They are Half-wave Rectifier Full-wave Rectifier A Half-wave rectifier circuit rectifies only positive half cycles of the input supply whereas a Full-wave rectifier circuit rectifies both positive and negative half cycles of the input supply.   Half-wave Rectifier Disadvantages of a half-wave rectifier Power is delivered only during the one-half cycle of the input alternating voltage. Ripple factor is high, therefore required to give steady dc output. They only allow a half cycle through per sine wave, and the other half cycle is wasted. This leads to power loss. Full-wave rectifier FWR has two types as follows: Centre tapped full wave rectifier Bridge full-wave Rectifier 1) Centre tapped full wave rectifier Advantages of a center-tapped full-wave rectifier: The ripple factor is much less than that of a half-wave rectifier. DC load current values are twice those of a half-wave rectifier. The rectification efficiency of the full-wave rectifier is double that of a half-wave rectifier. Disadvantages of center-tapped full-wave rectifier  Location of center-tapping is difficult. The dc output voltage is small. The PIV of the diodes should be high. 2) Full-wave bridge rectifier Advantages of bridge rectifier: The need for the center-tapped transformer is eliminated. It can be used in application floating output terminals; no output terminal is grounded. The transformer utilization factor, in the case of the bridge rectifier, is higher than that of a center tap rectifier. Disadvantages of Bridge Rectifiers over center tap rectifiers. It requires four diodes for operation, thus, circuit components requirements in the case of the bridge rectifier are more than that of center tap rectifiers. The voltage drop across diodes increases four times that of a center tap full-wave rectifier. Types of Components and Its Symbol used in circuit Schematic of bridge rectifier PCB Layout of bridge rectifier Track Width – 1.00 mm Bill of material During the PCB assembly process, a BOM provides information about the components under a single roof such as their quantity, reference designators, footprints, etc. Designers will save lots of time and effort during PCB design by preparing a bill of materials with all the updated parts list. Every line of the bill of materials (BOM) includes the product code, part name, part number, part revision, description, quantity, unit of measure, size, length, weight, and specifications or features of the product. Go to fabrication bar in Easyeda online tool Download BOM Gerber File Each artwork layer, copper circuitry, power, or ground must have a corresponding Gerber file to create the required pattern. The outermost layers, referenced as “top” and “bottom,” component and solder or by layer count will also have a conforming layer for solder mask and silkscreen to be applied. Summary In this second blog, we have created a schematic of bridge rectifier and pcb layout also and learnt about bill of material and Gerber file. Apart from that we have seen that type of rectifier and understood which one is suitable for industry. Reference https://www.powerelectronicsnews.com/power-supply-design-notes-rectifier-circuits/ https://www.tutorialspoint.com/electronic_circuits/electronic_circuits_full_wave_rectifier.htm https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/semiconductors/chpt-3/rectifier-circuits/

Hello Friends, This is the second blog of the series of PCB designing. Today we are discussing Steps for PCB Designing, Types of Component and methods for mounting components onto a PCB and designing steps. So before discussing the Method for Mounting Components on PCB, first we will discuss the process or different stages of PCB designing. In order to design a PCB, one has to follow below steps : 1. Create the schematic 2. Link footprints to the components in the schematic 3. Generate a netlist 4. Create desired PCB shape in PCB editor 5. Import the netlist in PCB editor 6. Define design rules 7. Place the footprint of the component at desired location 8. Route the tracks to form electrical connections       between various components 9. Add labels and identifiers on PCB 10. Generate design file Types of Components and Its Symbol :- So these are some symbols that are used to prepare the schematic. Methods for mounting components onto a PCB. 1. Through Hole: Through-hole components are best used for high-reliability products that require stronger connections between layers. Through-hole component leads run through the board, allowing the components to withstand more environmental stress. This is why through-hole technology is commonly used in military, automobile, and aerospace products that may experience extreme accelerations, collisions, or high temperatures. Through-hole technology is also useful in test and prototyping applications that sometimes require manual adjustment and replacement. 2. SMD (surface-mount devices): SMD components are much smaller than THM components. This will increase the overall density of the board tremendously. Using a Pick and Place machine for placing the components will reduce production time.SMD components are mostly cheaper compared to THM components. surface-mount devices (SMDs) are secured only by solder on the surface of the board SMD components are not suitable for prototyping or testing of small circuits. SMDs cannot be used directly with breadboards SMD solder connections may be damaged by potting compounds going through thermal cycling. EasyEDA Online Tool We will start from EasyEDA, a great web-based EDA(Electronics Design Automation) tool for electronics engineers, educators, students, makers, and enthusiasts. There is no need to install any software. Just open EasyEDA in Browser. EasyEDA Provides: Simple, Easy, Friendly, and Powerful drawing capabilities Works Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device Real-time Team Cooperation Sharing Online Thousands of open-source projects Integrated PCB fabrication and Components purchase workflow API provided Script support Schematic Capture PCB Layout: Design Rules Checking(DRC) Multi-Layer, 6 copper layer supported Document export(PDF, PNG, SVG) Altium Designer format export BOM export 3D View Generate fabrication file(Gerber) Export Pick and Place file Auto Router Designing Steps Open EasyEDA Tool On Browser Register in EasyEDA Create New Project Draw Schematic Convert that file into BoARD FILE Track the air wire Select needed layers Print the Document Summary In this second blog, we introduced designing steps. Then we discussed the method of mounting components. Introduced the Easyeda Online tool. Reference : https://payatu.com/blog/rupesh/PCB%20Designing%20-%20Basics https://blog.thedigisource.com/through-hole-smt https://www.vishay.com/docs/45242/throughholevssmdcomponents.pdf https://eprpartner.com/through-hole-vs-surface-mounted https://docs.easyeda.com/en/Introduction/Introduction-to-EasyEDA/index.html https://circuitdigest.com/article/design-electronic-circuits-online-with-easyeda

Hello Friends, I’m Taral Mehta. I\’m an Electronics Engineer, This is the first blog of the series to discuss and learn the basics of PCB designing. In this blog, we will discuss, Introduction of PCB and its designing techniques. As well as we will discuss various software that are used for designing the PCB. Table of Contents Starting with Basics of ELectricity Before going to start with PCB designing, we will understand the basic components required: Current – Current is the rate of flow of electric charge. at all points in a series circuit, the current has the same value. If a circuit has a branch, the current flowing into the junction must equal the current flowing out of it.   Voltage – Voltage is also known as potential difference.In a circuit loop, the sum of the voltages across the power supplies is always equal to the sum of the voltages across the rest of the components. RESISTOR – Resistance is a measure of the opposition to current flow in an electrical circuit. Resistance is measured in ohms CAPACITOR – A capacitor is an electronic component that stores and releases electricity in a circuit. It also passes alternating current without passing direct current. Introduction to PCB (Printed Circuit Board) As an Engineer, whether is Mechanical Engineer, Computer Engineer, or IT Engineer, now and then everybody comes across one of the vital parts of the respective industry i.e. Electronic Circuit. This electronic circuit is made or created on a special type of board, which is called PCB (Printed Circuit Board). As you can see in the above image, PCB has electronic components which are connected through conductive pathways, which are usually called Tracks. A PCB is a thin board made of Fiberglass, composite epoxy or other laminate material. Tracks are etched or printed onto a board, which connects different components on PCB, such as Diode, Resistors, Capacitors and Integrated Circuits (IC). These blue and red lines going criss-cross are the Tracks, which form electrical connections between components. And these Yellow and grey objects are actually footprints or pads of components. I Know that tracks, via and Pads are new parameters for you but don’t worry I will give you a simple answer for your understanding. Traces or Tracks: A trace is a piece of copper, think of a wire, that makes an electrical connection between 2 or more points on a pcb. Traces carry current between these two points on the printed circuit board. You can see an image where RED and BLUE are tracked. Pads: Pads are small areas of copper in predetermined shapes normally used to make a connection to a component pin. Vias: A via is a physical piece of metal that makes electrical connections between layers on the printed circuit board. Vias can carry signals or power between layers using plated through holes. Using this technology a via is formed by drilling a hole through the layers to be connected and then plating the inner surface of the drilled hole. Vias should be sized according to the traces connecting between layers and ultimately how much power it must carry. I think You got a basic idea about what exactly a PCB is… correct? So let’s move further and discuss, What are the designing tools of PCB? PCB Designing Software 1) Eagle 2) OrCAD 3) Proteus 4) KiCad 5) Altium Designer 6) EasyEDA These are some of the famous EDA software presently available in the market. One can use any one of the above lists as per their convenience of use. These are some of the famous EDA software presently available in the market. One can use any one of the above lists as per their convenience of use.EagleorCadProteusKiCadAltium DesignerEasyEDA Previous Next Application: Medical and Healthcare Industry Illumination and Lighting Industry Consumer Electronics Industry Industrial Equipment Industry Aerospace Industry Automotive Industry Safety and Security Equipment Industry Telecommunications Industry Military and Defense Summary To summarize, in this blog first, we did an introduction of PCB. Then we discussed the basics of Electronics. We introduce the Basic Concepts of PCB like Schematic, PCB layers, etc. We discuss some of the PCB designing software and applications currently used in the market. References 1.http://www.pic-control.com/pcb-design-service/ 2.https://qualityinspection.org/electronics-videos-basics-pcb-pcba-smt-process/ 3.https://kitflix.com/how-to-study-pcb-design-getting-started-with-printed-circuit-boards/ 4.https://usa.pcbpower.com/application-and-use-of-pcbs.html  5.https://www.goldphoenixpcb.com/html/Support_Resource/arc_177.html