To pick up on what George Patrick stated (below), my initial thought was
to use a CAM tool and dissect a real "board".
I think this will enable students to quickly grasp the concepts.
Craig Cullum, Engineering Technologist, AMTELCO
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Visit us at www.amtelco.com
----Original Message-----
From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
George Patrick
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 3:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DC] Design Software to use as a teaching tool???
For something completely different :)
An idea would be to teach off a board -- a PC Board, not a white board.
Any tool does things in a different way then any other tool, but the one
common denominator is the finished product, the circuit board itself.
Maybe this is kind of radical, but I think the students first need to
learn basic electronics, so they know how a circuit functions and why
certain parts need to be near (or far) from other parts. It doesn't
need to be on an engineering level, just enough to understand crosstalk,
impedance, RLC and such. The care and feeding of engineers and their
schematics would be a logical part of this phase. Hands on might be
constructing the circuits on a schematic and running it thru simulation.
They next need to learn how a board is assembled, so they understand the
limitations of the process and the reasons behind assembly restrictions
and constraints. An introduction to the hassles the average assembly
worker goes through each day, things that help and things that drive
them crazy. Soldering processes, pitfalls, problems, and solutions.
Processes used to test the boards, and how the designer can aid this.
Hands on might be soldering parts on example boards using manual
pick/place, or could be tours or videos of assembly shops. The IPC
makes a number of these, don't they?
Then they need to understand the actual boards, how parts are connected,
the mechanics behind a PCB, how signals are connected (vias, etc), how
the boards are manufactured, the limitations of the boards (crosstalk
and such). Physical problems that can crop up such as bow/twist, and
what to do to prevent it. Again, IPC training materials could be used
here.
Now, basic design theory. Trace widths, spacing, impedance. Planes. All
the guts of a design that need to be done on ANY design tool.
Placement, routing, busses, length matching, IPC standards. Hands on
could be introducing one of the simple, cheep design tools that could be
taken home so the student can "play" with them on their own.
Finally, the students should have hands on, intensive training on a
higher level tool, preferably one that is used in their area. Ideally,
this phase could be repeated for additional tools, so the student could
get a broad exposure to more than one.
Just a thought.
--
George Patrick
Tektronix, Inc.
Central Engineering, Engineering Design Services P.O. Box 500, M/S
39-512 Beaverton, OR 97077-0001
Phone: 503-627-5272 Fax: 503-627-5587
http://www.tektronix.com http://www.pcb-designer.com
It's my opinion, not Tektronix'
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