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Hardware Circuit Design Ideas

Inverter control PCB schematic diagram

PCB schematic diagram–Hardware circuit design ideas

Hardware Circuit Design Requirements Analysis

Before initiating any product project, it is crucial to analyze the product to determine its positioning and functional subdivisions. This analysis helps in refining and classifying the requirements, leading to a requirements list that serves as the foundation for the product design and task division.

Once the requirements list is clarified, engineers must decide which functions will be implemented in hardware and which in software. The hardware implementation requirements are then further refined to specify the circuits that will implement these functions.

Requirements analysis and refinement are central to hardware circuit design, as all hardware circuits are designed based on these requirements. This analysis clarifies the selection of hardware solutions, and during this process, the hardware solution can typically be determined.

Hardware Circuit Solution Selection

When multiple solutions can achieve the same function, a comparison and analysis of these solutions are necessary:

  • Cost difference comparison of solutions: This involves comparing the cost of materials, R&D costs, costs of using complementary circuits, and processing costs.
  • Maturity comparison of solutions: Choosing between new and mature solutions is crucial, especially when project schedules are tight.
  • Performance advantages comparison of solutions: Understanding which performance aspects to focus on is important to highlight the product’s advantages and focus on key indicators.
  • Other support aspects of the solution: For solutions dependent on suppliers, cooperation with suppliers should be considered when choosing the solution.

Solution selection significantly impacts the performance and quality of the product and is a key aspect of hardware design. For products with new functions, selecting product solutions can refer to prototypes of similar products on the market, saving time and helping to find corresponding mature solutions more accurately.

Hardware Circuit Design Schematic

The hardware circuit design schematic organizes the logic of the circuit. Through this schematic, the logic of the product, signal flow, and functional board interconnections can be analyzed in detail.

For complex projects, the schematic design is crucial. It allows checking for missing product functions, correct signal flow, and accurate logical selection. Additionally, it lays the groundwork for the schematic design, ensuring a clear understanding during the design process.

The power tree design, an invisible schematic in the circuit, is also essential. Many problems arise from insufficient design margins of the power supply, leading to abnormal power supply. Understanding the power requirements of each module, summarizing them, and designing them as a whole is crucial.

Schematic and PCB Design of Hardware Circuits

Schematic design is the foundation and key of the entire hardware product design. To ensure the correctness of the schematic design, the following points should be ensured:

  • Standardization of schematic drawing: When drawing symbols for new devices, they should be drawn according to the application circuit, and it is not recommended to arrange them according to PIN sequences. It is recommended to classify the modules in the symbol during drawing, so that the signal flow can be clear when drawing the schematic.
  • Standardization of schematic network naming: Schematic signal network naming needs to be standardized. For example, the power module indicates the power supply voltage, and the control signal indicates the direction of signal flow.
  • Self-check and mutual check of schematics: After completing the schematic, self-check first:
    • Check network connectivity to see if there are single-point networks, network leaks, etc.
    • Whether the circuit design margin meets the design requirements, such as whether the current-carrying voltage of resistors, capacitors, and inductors meets the conditions.
    • Check the design specification, that is, whether the network naming is standardized and whether the signal flow direction is correctly marked.
    • Check for some basic errors, such as network connection errors, missing connections, missing components, etc.
    • Schematic mutual check: Ask other engineers for help in checking, because everyone’s thinking is limited, and through others, you can find problems that you can’t find yourself, and you can also find your own cognitive errors.

The correctness of the schematic depends mainly on the drafter, and the drafter is also the responsible party. Here is a good experience I think is to review the schematic repeatedly. It is often possible to find many errors or non-standard designs that cannot be found otherwise by reviewing the schematic more than three times. Reading a book a hundred times is its meaning, and this is the same principle.

Hardware Circuit Engineer Experience Sharing

PCB design is the physical realization of hardware circuits and is the carrier of hardware circuits. After production and processing, PCBA is finally assembled with the product structure. Its design ideas and methods mainly include:

  • PCB design requires careful analysis of the structure
  • PCB design requires a big picture view

In most cases, PCB design revolves around a CPU core, and in more complex cases, there are dual cores, with one being the main core and the other being the secondary core. The other circuits on the board can be called the peripheral circuit of this CPU. There are peripheral circuits to ensure the minimum system peripheral circuit of the CPU, peripheral circuits for function expansion, and peripheral circuits for mutual communication, etc. Only by understanding the circuit forms, circuit functions, and the density of PCB routing between modules can you have a clear understanding of the PCB layout, which is what I call the big picture view.

Many engineers who are just starting out in PCB design often do not have a basic understanding of the distribution of PCB circuits, circuit forms, and the overall circuit framework. They think that as long as all electronic components are placed on the PCB board and the lines are connected, everything will be fine. Obviously, this kind of thinking is incorrect. For simple boards, such treatment may not cause problems.

However, for complex boards with many components, this approach will eventually lead to problems. You will find that without a good overall view, the PCB routing will be tangled, components that need to be placed closely cannot be placed together due to unreasonable space utilization, and they cannot be placed in the end. This leads to problems such as the structure shell not being able to accommodate the PCB components, which in turn forces the hardware engineer to delete circuits.

Or components can be placed in the shell, but the routing cannot be completed, so the routing rules have to be sacrificed, and the originally thick lines have to be changed to thin lines, resulting in insufficient current for the PCB to pass through; insufficient spacing between sensitive signal lines, resulting in signal interference between signals; components are too crowded, resulting in interference, reduced automation of production and processing operations, difficulty in maintenance and rework, and other problems.

In the end, various electrical parameters and hardware indicators of the product cannot meet the design requirements, and the production and processing costs of the board are much higher than the original cost.

In short, the PCB design requires the layout of components and wiring that fully considers the functional requirements, electromagnetic compatibility, production, and processing, etc., and also considers the later maintenance and upgrade, so that the circuit can be designed to be reasonable, easy to produce and process, and easy to repair and upgrade.

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