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 Author: Kunal Gupta

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 Author: Kunal Gupta

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! Author: Kunal Gupta