Sunday 11 August 2013

A Brief Look At PCB Design Services

By Andrea Davidson


Life in the modern world would be more difficult were it not for technology. This technology is powered by electrical energy, which is conducted through electronic components to produce a desired end result. The mystery lies in what the electronic components do, and this baffles most people. A business with an idea for a new product knows what they want it to do, but to make it happen they call upon a firm offering PCB design services.

Deciding to operate in this way does come with several advantages. It means that a business doesn't have to set up such a department of their own. Using an external specialist firm takes away any need for this.

As with most projects there will be an initial consultation where many key issues will be discussed. This could be the company explaining how they see their new product functioning, to letting the specialists know how much room they have available to fit their circuit board. Maybe there are also weight issues.

If the space is limited then the printed circuit board will probably be of the type known as surface mount. The electronic components are mounted on the surface of the circuit board. The circuitry can either be single sided or dual sided. The components on this type of board are much smaller, and as a consequence take up less room and have less of a weight impact.

Another common form of Circuit board is called a through board. These are often bigger, as the components themselves are larger. The body of the electronic component is on one side of the board, the component legs are passed through the board, and soldered to the metal tracks on the opposing side. These types will need more room, and are a little heavier.

As mentioned earlier the dimensions that the populated circuit board has to fit into are very important. This effectively limits the size of the board that the specialists have to work with. They will begin to devise the circuit plan, one important factor being how will the required power get to this newly designed circuit.

The power supply is normally overcome in a couple of different ways. Often wires are used to link the power supply directly to the new circuit board. The other method is to connect the board into a socket, pads will connect the board itself with sprung pins within the socket body, and then on to the metal tracks. It travels via these tracks until it meets the soldered leg of a component, and it will then cause that component to operate.

The voltage itself might be limited, or increased, depending on the component and how it is connected. It could trigger an integrated circuit, or cause a relay to either open or close. As you can imagine the world of electronics can be difficult for the average person to understand.

Therefore it is not surprising that industry and businesses decide to make use of these specialised PCB design services. They are the experts in the field and know how to use these components to gain full advantage. They will even make sure that the costs are kept to a minimum for the business.




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