5 Effective Ways to Reduce PCB Prototype Spins

By | Date posted: | Last updated: September 21, 2021
pcb prototype

A big mantra of success in the fast paced, ultra-competitive world of today is to be the first to get your product to market without compromising on the quality of the product in terms of either performance or reliability. Getting it right the first time has become imperative in order to garner early mover advantage as also to bring down costs and time associated with manufacturing a product. Each physical PCB prototype has an average cost of $8000, with every PCB prototype spin and re-spin, the costs keep escalating along with delays in manufacturing. Each PCB prototype re-spin involves going back to the design board to correct a design or performance flaw which can derail the entire cost and time estimate for a project. The ability to be the best and first to market your product is limited how well you are able to structure your pcb layout and prototyping process to ensure manufacturability of the PCB at the design phase itself by identifying design issues early on in the design phase itself thereby eliminating the need for PCB prototyping re-spins.

Top 5 Ways to Reduce PCB Prototype Spins:

An optimized design can reduce cost and performance issues during PCB prototyping

It is not uncommon for design engineers to add in more complexity to the pcb layout than required for performance purposes which can sometimes cause issues to manufacturers, particularly if the design component requires a specialized process or machinery which might not be available with the manufacturer. Generally speaking, the fewer the components on the PCB, the greater are its chances of success and it is also less likely to require re-spins due to design issues. Also the lesser the number of components on the PCB the lesser is the time and cost involved which is why PCB specialists emphasize on the importance of optimizing the design for performance required rather than trying to fit in too many components and features which might increase the cost without adding corresponding value to the product.

Knowing your manufacturing partner and his capabilities and processes can help you avoid running into issues later

The best way to reduce the number of PCB prototype spins is to tie in with a PCB fabricator in the early stages of pcb layout itself. A good PCB fabricator can provide you valuable design inputs that can not only help improve the quality and performance of your product but can help you cut down time and cost involved in PCB iterations and re-spins. Each PCB manufacturer or fabricator has his own capabilities and strengths, for instance they can only manufacture PCB’s of specific dimensions or can only manufacture PCB’s of a certain level of complexity. Unless you have taken the time to understand the strengths and limitations of the PCB Partnering with a manufacturer during the design stage itself can help you avoid PCB prototyping re-spins by ensuring your PCB layout conforms to the design specifications required by the PCB Prototype manufacturer.

Ensure a successful Design for Manufacturing (DFM) test before releasing the PCB for fabrication and manufacturing

There is a way to ensure manufacturability before actually running the Gerber files. Partner with your PCB manufacturer to run the design through the DFM tool to ensure the design is error free and manufacturing ready. Verifiability for manufacturing is an important and necessary step that can help you save a lot of time and money on PCB Prototyping re-spins, so ensure you make it an integral part of your process step.

Don’t Skip the Schematic

It can be tempting to skip the schematic if your board is relatively simple, but it’s a bad idea. Building your layout from a complete schematic gives you a reference and helps make sure that all of your layout connections will be complete.The schematic is your visual representation of your circuit. It lets you arrange components near their functional counterparts, regardless of where they will be physically placed. When each pin on each component is depicted in the schematic symbols, a disconnect is easy to recognize. Schematics help you determine if the basic circuit design rules have been followed by visualizing the design.

Optimize budgeted and out of budget costs associated with prototyping by deriving cost to value ratio

Some costs appear big and incurring them might seem a waste of money but can add upto significant savings later. For instance, many organizations prefer working with a small design team to save manpower cost. But in some instances adding 1-2 more people to the team might lead to a quicker design turnaround and reduced PCB prototype spin offs due to greater quality checks resulting in significant savings of time and cost.

Technotronix is an ISO 9001-2015 certified with having RoHS compliance in providing of PCB prototype, PCB assembly and PCB fabrication services to all the dominant industries. Check out our PCB Prototyping services for more information. To get proper consultation or share your requirements to get a perfect PCB with cost effective strategy or to get a quote, drop an email to [email protected] or give a call 714/630-9200

Innovation Ploughing Into The Automotive Industry With The Help Of PCB Manufacturing

By | Date posted: | Last updated: February 14, 2022
automotive-industry-1
PCB-Infographics
To stake a claim in upcoming new technologies and increasing improved customer experience, it is now becoming a central point of consideration to bring out the new classy vehicle design, car manufacturing techniques, testing system in the global market. The current vehicle manufacturer’s also aim to maintain equilibrium between deep capital investment and long product cycle to make the car model a success story. With this, the type of printed circuit board to be used in the vehicle is decided with focusing more on the type of material used in the vehicle and the level of electronic manufacturing and design solution needed in the vehicle production. To go into the roots of the automotive industry, it is equally important to get insights into the PCB used in vehicles and the new innovations brought forward by researchers to create a dream vehicle of the series.

The Types of Automotive Printed Circuit Boards:

Most of the automotive innovation, car and truck manufacturing needs highly durable, reliable and tough PCB application. A high tech PCB requirement is marked that can withstand harsh driving conditions and can be a catalyst to the new innovation exposing the automotive electronics. The high power copper plated PCB is the most widely used PCB by the automakers. Furthermore, the automotive PCB prototype and PCB automotive sensors are the prime source of electronic development, especially for the Engine Management System (EMS), Dashboard, fuel regulator, power supplies and for V2V communication. The flexible PCB and other automotive electronic circuits are a prime time trend for the installation of highly compact and multi feature technology applications in vehicles. Also for unique electronic solution, PCB box Build and Cable harness PCB assembly are in hot demand. In case of limited PCB editions, PCB prototypes with cost effective techniques of production is in the mainstream to shop for innovation for most of the automotive researchers. The other technology advancement in the current times is as under with the vibe of development in PCB assembly and PCB fabrication. Check out the guide on PCB Fabrication for Automotive Electronics.

The so called intelligent car has highly advanced features that sound futuristic, but is one of a kind in current times. A relinquishing vehicle control with automatic cruise control, self breaking, automatic accident avoidance system, self parking, computerized steering and electronic engine control had broken the bar of Digitalized automotive innovation. Also a notion of driverless cars is the next predicted series of exciting transformation. Well! On the other hand, further modification is seen in the alternative powered vehicle, safety system, navigation and ergonomic vehicle set new trends in the market. The long range battery powered cars in the USA is one of the echo friendly models of innovation having multiple functionalities to get a user friendly experience. Going green and target the green thinking consumers, hydrogen powered car are also gearing up in California, Japan and Germany. The new in-vehicle standard includes embedded wireless connectivity, parallel parking system and head up display screen to catch the constant focus of the driver. All these innovations also have to go through various testing system like crashing test, durability test and many more to get a top model in the automotive market.

The other automotive PCB board application includes DC/AC power converter, Digital Display, Audio and Video equipment, Anti lock brake system, Electronic Computer Unit (ECU), Automatic dimming and electronic mirror control system, interior LED lighting, Power relay, engine timing system and remote diagnostic system. These automotive applications also hunt for the new concepts in PCB engineering that can raise the bar of the vehicle production to the next level.

Thus, the use of the printed circuit board is driving the automotive market in the fast moving world of technology, making the traditional vehicle pretty transparent and bringing new innovation every other day.

TechnoTronix is an ISO 9001-2015 certified with having 4 decades of experience in PCB manufacturing and PCB prototyping. Offering range of PCB customization to the automaker and suppliers, we have experience in PCB Making, co-engineering the PCB, rigorous testing system and on time order delivery process. In case if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via email at [email protected]

Increasing need of the fabrication and build out of PCB prototypes

By | Date posted: | Last updated: May 28, 2021
PCB Fabrication

A prototype is a sample, template or an initial testing release for any new idea to be worked into for providing the electronic solutions. The brainchild to printed circuit board concept into the market was in the early 1900’s. With regards to the backward integration sensed in major dominant businesses, there is a mark of growing demand and need of PCB Prototypes in all the major industries. The differentiating factor from that of other PCB fabricators are the varied kinds of PCB manufacturing services, time critical delivery of prototype and high quality assurance.

Apart from working on new concepts for prototyping, a complete turnkey with providing end to end solutions and a personalized approach to each PCB project acts as one of the significant drivers to generating a good customer base across the globe. Technology is at the heart of almost all the industries worldwide. The PCB Prototype demand is addressed in the dominant industries like aerospace, defense, telecommunication, medical, pharmaceutical and chemical.

PCB prototyping and PCB fabrication process

By using the Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), the OEM’s or PCB Manufacturer can commence smoothly for the PCB Fabrication process. The selection of the material meld or the fusion of different components to be made as per the requirement of the customers also reflects the success of the pcb layout and layout made by the technical experts. The advanced tools used at the time of prototyping are mainly for automated design analysis, algorithms and custom technical specimens.

After the copper coating is applied to the circuit board, the layout of the circuit will be printed on it and the unwanted copper will be ejected from the circuit. This will connect the circuit tracks on the board. On the board the holes are then drilled with a laser or a hard driller machine to connect the circuit tracks and hollow rivets are ejected into those holes to create an electrical flow in the layers of the circuit board. Different tactics and processes used to get a custom PCB prototyping are surface mount technique, reverse engineering of the electronic components, direct metallization, through-hole-technique and chip-on board technique.

The solder mask technique is then used for coating on complete circuit board. After the PCB is fabricated, its quality is being inspected to know the toughness and reliability of the prototype. The testing with regards to knowing the temperature profiling, issues pertaining to highly complex assemblies and to keep a check on resistance and density level at different nodes of the circuit board, there are many inspection techniques like thermal profiling, flying probe testing and functional testing.

TechnoTronix , one of the kingpins in offering tailor-made PCB prototypes has a flexible approach to use technical expertise and machines with moderate technologies which proves the reliability to load the project at the right time and economy. We have adopted flexibility to provide prototyping services with full or partial turnkey assembly as well as providing of prototyping service with consigned PCB assembly.

We strive to tender to a varied customization with optimal cost effective inventory management, effective procurement process of the components used in the PCB production, PCB Manufacturing with 2, 4 and 6 layered engineering, testing, and shipping PCB prototype’s for small run production. Thus our capabilities have outreached to expertise in PCB fabrication, prototyping, assembling, Layout and testing with high circuitry velocity, multi layering PCB and many features in a compact space.

Get a quick quote for PCB Prototype Fabrication!

Significance of Electric Cars for Rebirth in Trends of Eco Transportation with Advanced Technologies!

By | Date posted: | Last updated: September 5, 2024
ECO Transportation

Electric cars have come a long way since their inception in the 19th century. A few years ago, the range of electric vehicle (EV) models was limited, but the market now offers a diverse selection with advanced features. Early EV systems focused on basics like launch control, brake-based traction control, and limited-slip differentials.

In 2024, technological advancements have propelled EV innovation to new heights. The latest models offer customizations in size, power, style, efficiency, and fuel economy. Hybrid designs that combine electric motors with traditional engines provide unique solutions for eco-friendly transportation. As the global demand for environmentally conscious vehicles grows, EVs are increasingly popular for their zero tailpipe emissions, reducing environmental impacts like freshwater eco-toxicity, human toxicity, freshwater eutrophication, and metal depletion.

In addition to electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell technology is gaining traction in the USA. Hydrogen-based cars offer a clean alternative to traditional fuel sources, emitting only water vapor as a by-product. These vehicles use hydrogen to generate electricity through a chemical reaction, providing a high-energy-density solution with quick refuelling times and longer ranges compared to battery-electric vehicles. The growth of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and advancements in fuel cell technology are making hydrogen vehicles a viable option for sustainable transportation.

The automotive industry’s latest innovations, including EVs and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, are facilitated by advancements in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing. Modern hybrid electric cars incorporate cutting-edge technologies such as electric motor assistance for enhanced power during hill climbs and acceleration, energy-saving features like power buttons that shut off the engine at stops and restart it upon acceleration, and regenerative braking systems that capture energy from the wheels and store it in the battery.

Today’s technological landscape includes ground breaking concepts like electricity-generating tires, 3D-printed cars with customizable designs, and the use of carbon nanotubes in electricity production. Advances in alternating-current (AC) and direct-current (DC) motors, along with other emerging technologies, are setting new standards for efficiency and performance. Hybrid models seamlessly integrate electric motors and conventional engines, offering user-friendly systems and easy installations.

At Technotronix, we leverage state-of-the-art technology and advanced engineering to deliver unparalleled quality and service in PCB manufacturing. Our expertise in fast printed circuit board prototyping and consistent delivery of high-quality PCBs provides a competitive advantage to our clients. With over four decades of experience, we are well-versed in industry best practices and committed to keeping our clients ahead of the curve. To learn more about our PCB prototyping services, please visit our website or contact us at [email protected] or 714/630-9200.