WORKSHOP

IEEE student chapter of Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida organized one day workshop on “PCB Designing” conducted by R S Components & Controls India Ltd on 22nd September, 2015. Mr. Ashish Kumar (Assistant Manager, Technical) was the resource person for the workshop which was attended by 48 students from EEE and ECE department of Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida.

The objective of PCB Workshop

1. To create awareness among the students in designing and manufacturing of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) using open source PCB design software (KI-CAD) along with various active and passive components such as Regulators, Diodes, Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, and Switches etc.

2. To make every student an expert in designing their own PCB board which would be very useful for developing their own projects.

Mr. Ashish Kumar (Assistant Manager, Technical) R S Components & Control India Ltd. started the workshop by describing the PCB designing process which include Basic PCB Concepts, Editing & Routing, Creation of library and Components & Report Generation, Toner Transfer Method, Drilling Technique, and Soldering Technique. A basic PCB starts with copper-clad fiberglass material or thin copper sheets attached to either side of the board. It consists of Copper Foil, Copper Plating, Solder Flow, Solder Mask, Trace and Slots and Cut-outs. He gave an idea about active and passive electronic components used in PCB. He further explained about KI-CAD software and its use for further practical implementation in PCB designing.

KiCad Software is a free software suite for Electronic Design Automation (EDA). It facilitates the design of schematics for electronic circuits and their conversion to PCB designs. KiCad was originally developed by Jean-Pierre Charras, and features an integrated environment for schematic capture and PCB layout design. Tools exist within the package to create a bill of materials, artwork, Gerber files, and 3D views of the PCB and its components. KiCad uses an integrated environment for all of the stages of the design process: Schematic capture, PCB layout, Gerber file, generation/visualization, and library editing.

Editing and Routing is next basic important steps used for designing a PCB. . In electronic design, wire routing, commonly called simply routing, is a step in the design of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and integrated circuits (ICs). It builds on a preceding step, called placement, which determines the location of each active element of an IC or component on a PCB. Editing and Routing gives the circuit layout from one component to the other components.

He further discussed Creation of Library and Components & Report Generation using KI-CAD tools. In this step, he emphasized that components in the circuit and the respective libraries are selected in this software. The required circuit will be designed in the software and print will be preserved for further process.

Mr. Ashish Kumar next explained the Toner Transfer Method to students. A common way to create a custom PCB is to do what is called the Toner Transfer Method. In this process, the trace layout of the board is printed out on a piece of special toner transfer paper that allows the ink to come off in the following step. The toner transfer paper is then put print-side-down on a copper clad PCB blank, heated and pressed with an iron. The heat and pressure from the iron transfers the toner from the paper to the copper. The exposed copper then is chemically removed, the previously applied toner protects the copper in the pad and trace areas. The toner is then removed using paint thinner.

After this Mr. Ashish Kumar explained the Drilling technique in which board is drilled with holes where the components have to be placed. Holes through a PCB are typically drilled with small-diameter drill bits made of solid coated tungsten carbide. The drilling is performed by automated drilling machines with placement controlled by a drill tape or drill file.

In the last step Soldering technique, Mr. Ashish said, PCBs are plated with solder, tin, or gold over nickel as a resist for etching away the unneeded underlying copper. Matte solder is usually fused to provide a better bonding surface or stripped to bare copper. After PCBs are etched and then rinsed with water, the solder mask is applied, and then any exposed copper is coated with solder, nickel/gold, or some other anti-corrosion coating.

In the end there was question and answer session in which students cleared their doubts. Dr. B.K. Bagga presented memento to Mr. Ashish Kumar and concluded the workshop. Vote of thanks was given by Prof. Vinod Kumar (Head of Department, EEE).

The workshop was highly informative as students learnt about the PCB designing by using Design Spark Software.

Some Glimpses: