“From a pure design standpoint, the key tool lies in integration of the mechanical and electrical CAD designs. This is one of the most common engineering complaints I hear in electronic design. It is impossible for PCB engineers to get at the mechanical design drawings, or if they do have access, they are not updated to current specs. One engineer I talked to stated that over half of his ECOs are because he didn’t have access to current mechanical designs.”
“PCB Design: A Guide To Optimizing Design Engineers”, Kevin Prouty, Aberdeen Group, March 2014
Electrical and mechanical design are two sides of the same coin, and both are equally important in modern product design. Yet you’re often challenged with having to master both domains and understand how to effectively collaborate between them. What happens when this doesn’t go as planned? Communication breakdowns and designs that fail to meet those critical deadlines. You can work smarter.
Disconnected Design Workflows
While most electronics design may start with the Schematic or PCB, the product design itself often starts from within the mechanical realm. You not only have to worry about your board’s circuit design and layout, but also how it will fit into the final product design. How do you easily integrate your mechanical design workflow into your electrical design tool, while efficiently collaborating with designers from different domains?
Native 3D PCB Editing
Take your design off the page and into the real world
- Visualize and edit your board in 3D to see how it will look in the real world.
Learn More about 3D Visualization - Integrate mechanical design data seamlessly into your workflow, then perform real-time clearance checking for components and mechanical enclosures.
Learn More about Real-Time 3D component Clearance Checking - Virtually prototype complex design elements like rigid-flex sections that may have otherwise required a physical board prototype.
Learn More about Rigid-Flex Design
Communicating With Mechanical Designers
If you’re working with different CAD tools for your electrical and mechanical designs, then you know how frustrating it can be to transfer accurate design data back and forth. There’s also the time-consuming task of keeping your data organized, while ensuring everyone on your design team is using the latest design revision. Managing this process with manual ECOs, e-mails, and voicemails just adds to the confusion, leaving you to sort out the details while attempting to keep your project on track. There is an easier way to do this.
Seamless ECAD/MCAD Design Data Integration
Keep your design data flowing seamlessly between ECAD and MCAD environments.
- Keep your entire design team on the same page with a managed ECAD to MCAD change process for board shape, component placement, and mounting holes.
Learn More about managed ECO's in MCAD Co-Designer: SOLIDWORKS® - Intelligently link 3D component bodies with your electrical component data together, creating a unified component model that accurately reflects design intent from both design domains.
Learn More about unified component models with MCAD Co-Designer: SOLIDWORKS® - Access a new level of design analysis - open board designs in SolidWorks® with included copper information and take advantage of advanced analysis and simulation options.
Learn More about PCB copper geometries with MCAD Co-Designer: SOLIDWORKS®
Communicating With Manufacturers
Effectively communicating your design intent to a manufacturer can often be a painful and time-consuming process. Continuous cycles of data translations often leads to ambiguity about the most critical elements of your design. How can you ensure that your manufacturer knows exactly what you want?
Create Output Documentation for the Entire Product Design
Easily convey your intent to a manufacturer for all phases of your design
- Provide your manufacturer with the clearest perspective of how your PCB and components fit into the overall product design with 3D prints of your PCB.
Learn More about PCB 3D Prints - Easily communicate the complexity of your design intent with detailed videos of your PCB design in 3D, including rigid-flex areas.
Learn More about Native 3D PCB - Ensure that the components you’ve placed on your board will be available and at the best possible price when it comes time to manufacture with Supplier Links.
Learn more about Supplier Links in Altium Designer