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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
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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