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- December 10, 2022
- PCB knowledge
- (0)
- 06 mins
PCB circuit – a complete guide in 2022
Are you tense about PCB circuit design and repair?
This article will be very useful for you to solve your problems. Being a professional PCB manufacturer, we will try to share our practical experiences with you so that you can upgrade your PCB-based applications.
Let’s make a move.
What does a PCB do in a circuit?
PCB, being a pivotal part of electronic applications, connects the components electrically and supports them mechanically through a conductive pathway or signal traces. It improves the functionality, durability, and most importantly, reliability in the signal transmission that ultimately upgrades the device quality to a large extent.
What is a PCB circuit breaker and how does it work?
PCB circuit breaker is an outstanding solution used in promoting the stability of electrical circuits. It acts to resist overloads in different printed circuit boards. A well-designed PCB mount circuit breaker effectively reduces the production of excessive heat.
Working procedure
PCB circuit breakers contain an operating coil and metallic contacts. Here, the metallic contacts can be fixed and dynamic both. These contacts remain connected to each other to allow current conduction in normal conditions.
But, They get separated when an overcurrent occurs. Usually, overcurrents increase the energy level of operating coils. It results in allowing the moving contacts to release energy. Then, these contacts become detached and disconnect the circuit.
Thus, a PCB circuit breaker protects the components of a circuit board from further damage. Besides, PCB mount circuit breakers control the arc to a specific limit. Arc occurs when excessive electrons flow from the energized part to a neutral portion.
A circuit breaker functions to prevent the production of an electric arc by disconnecting the current flow. That means its operating principle is highly effective in protecting PCBs and promoting electronic devices’ stability.
Types of PCB circuits
PCB circuits can be divided into many types according to different standards. Here are some common types:
●Single-sided circuit board
●Double-sided circuit board
●Multilayer circuit
●Green PCB
●Zero PCB
●Halogen-free PCB circuit
●Rigid PCB
●Flexible Circuit board
●Rigid-flex circuit board
What is PCB circuit design?
PCB circuit design involves rendering the circuit in a physical form. Usually, PCB design is related to component placement, trace routing, layer management, etc through dependable design software.
You can check the following video to get a detailed idea about PCB design.
Common PCB circuit design software
The most common and worthwhile PCB circuit design software includes-
●Altium Designer
●Cadence
●KiCAD
●Eagle
How to make a PCB circuit board?
Making a PCB circuit board is a brainstorming job and a combination of a series of works. Here, the basic steps of designing and making a PCB layout are explained for your convenience.
Schematic design
Schematic is almost like the blueprint of a PCB circuit. It delivers the idea about the components used on the circuit board and the process of component connections. In the case of complex circuits, the designers take the approach of using hierarchical schematics.
Making of blank PCB layout
The very next step is to make a layout of a blank circuit board. You need to predetermine the number of layers, the shape of the circuit boards, stackup, etc to perform this step. Altium Designer offers some useful tools to handle this making.
Linking of schematic to the circuit board
Now, it is required to interlink the PCB layout and schematic so that you can access them simultaneously. To do this, you need to transfer the SchDoc data to PCBDoc. If you are an Altium user, Click “Design>Update PCB”.
Then, a pop-up box will come to you from where you can link all the necessary networks and components from the schematic design.
PCB stackup design
In this stage, you have to define the PCB layers and layout. But how?
You can set the shape and layout stackup by using the layout stackup manager of the Altium Designer.
Set the design rules and DFM requirements
To set the design rules and DFM (Design For Manufacturer) requirements, you must consider the following factors-
●Copper traces or solder masks
●Clearances between trace and pads
●Board edge clearance
●Signal integrity
●Impedance control
●Trace width and length limit for routing
●PCB via placement
●Power rating
Component placement
Different PCB components can be placed on the board surface automatically or manually.
Drilling the holes
Now, place the drilled holes on the circuit board according to your design. This step includes both mounting and via placement.
Trace routing
PCB trace routing includes some specific networks, such as impedance-controlled nets, noise-sensitive nets, power nets, analog signals, etc. But you need to follow reliable guidelines while routing the PCB trace.
Labeling
After finishing all the steps mentioned above, you have come to the stage of adding labels, marking, logos, identifiers, etc on the PCB circuit.
Design files generation
Before delivering the PCB file to the manufacturer, it is necessary to run a design rule check so that you can correct the mistakes. Then, you need to generate the design files. Altium Designer, KiCAD, Cadence, Eagle, etc are dependable software to handle DRC of circuit board designs.
How to trace PCB circuit?
PCB trace refers to a combined network of fuses, insulation, and wirings. The most important things to trace the PCB circuit include the followings-
●Determine the trace width
●Control the impedance routing
●Route the analog signals
●Stripline
●Current and heat considerations for power integrity
●Use of wide traces
●Microstrip
●Use short and direct routing
●Calculation of PCB trace resistance and trace current
PCB circuit board repair
Usually, PCB circuits have gone through several failures while manufactured or used. For example, improper soldering, breakage of shields, damage of PCB traces, etc.
The repairing processes are slightly different in each case. That’s why you must be aware of PCB problems and then apply the correct repair. Here, we are going to share with you the repair of a broken trace and a crack. Let’s check.
How to repair a PCB crack?
The use of Overcoat Epoxy is a good way to repair a PCB crack because of its reliability. Epoxy helps in the quick recovery of cracked surfaces and makes them usable again.
But, you need to clean the cracked zone on the PCB circuit before using the overcoat Epoxy. At room temperature, the pot life should be around 20 minutes. Besides, the tac-free period is almost half an hour at the same temperature.
Then raise the temperature up to 100⁰C and keep the cracked PCB for almost 10 minutes. This time is sufficient to repair the damaged circuit board. After that, you must keep the board at room temperature for a couple of days. Thus, it will be ready to use again.
How to repair a broken PCB trace?
Extreme mechanical and thermal pressures are responsible for broken PCB traces. Nowadays, manufacturers prefer using conductive pens in the case of redrawing the PCB circuit trace.
These conductive pens contain a polymer that offers sufficient flexibility through silver and nickel. It is important to scrape away the broken area and clean it through a reliable solution like Isopropyl Alchohol before using the conductive pens.
Remover pens are also useful in this case. Then, shake the pen and put the ink on the broken space properly. If you want a visual demonstration of PCB circuit repair, check the following video
PCB improves the functionality, durability, and most importantly, reliability in the signal transmission that ultimately upgrades the device quality to a large extent.
PCB circuit breaker is an outstanding solution used in promoting the stability of electrical circuits. It acts to resist overloads in different printed circuit boards. A well-designed PCB mount circuit breaker effectively reduces the production of excessive heat.
●Altium Designer
●Cadence
●KiCAD
●Eagle
Conclusion
This is all about PCB circuits and their design. IBE, a China-based PCBA manufacturer, offers assembly services of various PCBs at affordable rates. Contact us to get your quote.
