Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007 - (Page 34)

DESIGN TOOLS data from the ECAD to MCAD environment, what is needed is a design tool that allows a bi-directional flow of comprehensive 3D data between those domains. In the ECAD world, this means an ability to import and seamlessly integrate 3D component data from an MCAD environment; then pass a full and accurate 3D representation of the board assembly back to the MCAD domain (FIGURE 2). This higher-level process also offers the opportunity of passing comprehensive, component-inclusive board data to the mechanical design environment earlier in the product development cycle, allowing ECAD-MCAD codesign. What’s more, the gain in design Electromechanical Design Flow As electronic products shrink in size, production deadlines shorten and the industry moves toward “soft” electronic design solutions, the ability to efficiently share information across all design processes is becoming crucial. A unified product development environment offers this capability at a fundamental level through its ability to complete all stages of electronic design – hardware, programmable hardware and embedded software – within a single environment. The natural extension of this unified data-sharing concept is to encompass the 3D modeling data that must The central control of design information and data ALLOWS ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS to work in a connected and collaborative way, all the way through to document handling, parts management and manufacturing. flow efficiency is further enhanced by the reduced need for a prototype board assembly to be on hand during the MCAD design stage. With comprehensive 3D data exchange, the mechanical designer can have full dimensional information on hand even if the board is still being routed in the ECAD environment. To harness this potential and prepare your design system for the ongoing convergence in the MCAD and ECAD worlds, the minimum requirement is for an electronics design system that allows 3D models to be imported and attached to components. Such a system should also allow you to view and export an accurate 3D rendition of a complete board design. Ultimately, this free exchange of 3D design data creates the opportunity for a high level of interaction between the mechanical and electrical design environments, promoting the productivity and innovation benefits of MCAD-ECAD design collaboration. 34 pass to and from the mechanical design domain. In practice, this means implementing ECAD and MCAD systems that support 3D data exchange at a high level, which draws the environments together to create a holistic design environment and more efficient product development workflow. This approach is gaining rapid momentum. Take, for example, R&D design-house 3G Engineering, which has embraced ECAD-MCAD integration to simplify the overall design process while reducing the company’s design turnaround times and product development costs. As a specialist in the development of custom-built turnkey electromechanical products for industry, 3G’s in-house electronic and mechanical design processes are highly interdependent and need to be approached as a single, cohesive task. 3G Engineering’s consolidated workflow is based on a unified ECAD system that supports both 3D modeling and the bi-directional exchange of 3D design data. The ECAD system can bring together the software, hardware and programmable hardware parts of the design process into a single application and has allowed the 3G engineers to draw the company’s MCAD system into the overall product development process. The result is a homogeneous workflow that allows a high level of interaction between the ECAD and MCAD design environments. The data exchange capability is used to good effect by 3G engineers who first develop and refine a new project’s physical properties in the MCAD environment, then determine the volumetric dimensions of the space available for its electronic subsystems. These preliminary dimensions are transferred to the ECAD environment – generally as a proposed 2D board shape – very early in the design cycle, so the board layout process can proceed in parallel with the MCAD design work. The board assembly is subsequently developed using components with matching 3D models that are sourced from the parts manufacturers or, if unavailable, created from scratch in an MCAD environment. These custom 3D representations are transferred to an ECAD system as STEP 3D data files, where they can be attached to the matching components in the system’s libraries. 3G Engineering is progressively building the 3D elements within the company’s ECAD libraries but sees this as a future investment that easily justifies the work involved in collecting and creating 3D component models. Ultimately the fruits of that labor become apparent when a board assembly has all components in place. At this point, the 3G engineers can create and view a meaningful 3D representation of the board assembly in the ECAD system, then transfer that rendered image into MCAD as a STEP 3D data file. The 3D representation is then checked for 3D dimensional accuracy in the MCAD environment where, almost literally, it can be fitted into the product’s enclosure or allocated cavity space. According to 3G, at this point, there is rarely a need for design revisions to correct for physical discrepancies between the electrical and NOVEMBER 2007 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB

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Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007

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