TOP PCB Design Rules For Beginners

A printed circuit board popularly known as PCB is the first thing you would require when you decide to build an electronic circuit. A proper PCB design ensure that various circuit components are interconnected as per the circuit diagrams once they have been placed on the PCB in their proper positions  and subsequently soldered. Simple circuits can sometimes assembles without PCB. However your collage project work may a little bit complicated and you will surely need to design and etch the pcb of your own circuit. This post will share some basic pcb layout design rules that you need to know before proceeding.

 LAYOUT DESIGN

Layout design is the first step of the PCB design and it is a rough design of the artwork which contains some proper information for preparing pcb artwork. For the preparation of layout, the pcb designer should have the following information.

1. Physical size of each component
2. Pin configuration details of components (Transistor, IC etc)
3. Design rule for particular application (Analog or Digital)
4. Preferable size of PCB
5. Termination of connection

LAYOUT SCALE

Depending upon the accuracy of the designed circuit board required, layout should be produced at 1:1, 2:1 or 4:1 scale. The 4:1 scale is used only when high precision is required. 2:1 scale is commonly used. After completing the layout, it should be reduced to 1:1 scale photographically.


LAYOUT PROCEDURE

1. Prepare component layout first as viewing from the component side.
2. Layout should be prepared in the direction of signal flow as far as possible
3. Among the electronic components, larger ones are placed first and the space in between them is filled with smaller components like resistors, small transistors, diodes.
4. Components that require input-output connection are placed near the connectors or pcb edge.
5. All components are placed in the printed circuit board in such a manner that desoldering of the other components is necessary if they have to be replaced.
6. The electronic circuit can be sub-divided into functional subunits and each subunit is realized on a defenite position of the board.
7. While preparing the layout, it is a common practice to draw conductor lines only on graph sheet.
8. Spacing between the components must be uniform and it must be checked when the conductor passes between pcb pads.
9. For critical signal parts, optimum precaution have to be taken such as minimum conductor length guard lines and clear separation of input and output lines etc.
10. Components producing considerable heat have to be identified on the circuit diagram so as to avoid concentrated heat on the circuit board.
11. To identify the conductor lines on layout for double sided PCB's, pencils of different colour's can be used. Another possibility is to draw all of them with an ordinary pencil, but to draw interrupted lines for conductors on one of the side.

How to Increase TDA2030 Amplifier Gain

TDA 2030 is a widely used 14W audio power amplifier monolithic integrated circuit in Pentawatt [ package, intended for use as a low frequency class AB amplifier. However some home theater prototype came with

TDA2030 design has a problem of low volume. There are two ways to increase the speaker volume that uses TDA 2030A design. 

Simple Music Bell Circuit Diagram

Here is a circuit which can be assembled easily with very few components. This DIY music bell can be used as door bell, cycle bell , car reverse horn and it only requires 3V battery. The core of this circuit is a 3 terminal IC chip which can produce music when properly biased. This IC may looks like a transistor but cant drive a loudspeaker by itself.

Calling Bell Circuit

Apart from the normal musical calling bell circuits, this special electronic calling bell has been created to identify the sound even if there is noisy atmosphere. This bell circuit is not a typical Ding-Dong bell but has the capability of producing different sound that is very useful in noisy surroundings. By pressing a far away switch can trigger this circuit to work as a bell.

Send Data Through Your Body

It's interesting to hear that we can use our body to send Emails if your internet connection is unavailable, right? I read this in a magazine first that  this has already been tested in Korea University, Seoul. They transmitted data through human arm at a speed of 10 Mbps while testing. This has been done by placing two electrodes 1 feet apart on his skin.While searching more about this, i understood that the electrodes that used to research is a thin silicon material that has a capability of bending 90 degree angle 700,000 times. yes, they can send electromagnetic waves by means of wireless transmission through our body.

Simple Telephone Timer Circuit

Telephones are reaching its death point all over the world. however there is more than 350 million mobile phone users in india, but there are tremendous number of telephone users are there also. Well, this telephone timer is designed to help saving by controlling unnecessary time taken during pone calls. This simple timer circuit is better in its accuracy because it is manually put on by the user when the call connects at the other end.

Subwoofer Protection Circuit

The home audio amplifiers such as subwoofer amplifier in our home audio system is usually powerful. The output of these amplifiers usually connected to a large power loudspeaker such as subwoofer. When we activates the power to the amplifier, the loudspeaker works with annoying "TTAP" sound and this will damage your loudspeaker. So this circuit keep the situation clear when you power up your home theater. It allows the sound to fade in to the speaker by activating a relay.