Design
Contents:
  • Full Project design
  • Firmware design
  • Circuit design
  • Mechanical design
    • See also:
  • PCB Layout
  • PCB Manufacture
  • PCB Assembly
  • Design your own PCB

    • Full Project design

    Full design entails working from a customers specification, and creating from this a complete design of a project. This design would incorporate aspects of mechanical construction, front panel layout, design of the electronic circuitry, selection of appropriate components, design of pcb's and sub assemblies, design of firmware and/or software. 

    Firmware design

    Almost all digital designs incorporate PLD's, Micro-controllers or EEPROM's. To minimise inventory we standardise on a few product types:

    Circuit design

    The art of turning a  specification into a schematic which describes the electronic components required, and how to interconnect them. The actual design method used varies according to whether the project is a one off or a proof of concept or production prototype. Typically  a block diagram is drawn up to breakdown the design into manageable blocks. This is a good time to review the design with the customer to ensure the designer has captured the required functionality. It is then required to convert  each of the block diagrams into a schematic circuit. Generally there are several ways of achieving the desired function, by using a combination of standard components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors, op-amps) or by using a few special purpose components. Factors that influence the choice of components are availability, cost, and ease of integration. Often the designer has a "cookbook" of tried and proven circuit functions.  For one off designs it is generally more cost effective to use existing modules and re-programming or rewiring the modules to achieve the desired effect.

    Mechanical design

    Generally a project consists of more than just a printed circuit board loaded with components. Typically the project will need to mounted in some form of enclosure, complete with power supply , panel connectors, keyboards, displays, heatsinks etc. Whereas electronic components are all of standard size with bendable leads , and have only to be fitted to a dimensioal PC board; mechanical components on the other hand are rarely in standard sizes and need to be fitted in three dimensions. Manufacture of mechanical components is labour intensive and expensive, and for one off projects standard size boxes are almost exclusively used.
    For robotics applications , motors and/or hydraulic cylinders need to specified and the mechanical details drawn up.

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