When it comes to routing your rigidflex pcb design, altium designer puts the full power of its versatile interactive routing tools at your disposal giving you a wide range of functionality to use. Rigid flex pcb design altium designer 17 advanced module 18 duration. Pcb software overview the data from the following printed circuit board software see column preferred data is supported by multicb. Rigidflex circuits best practices altium pcb design. How to use the different layer stacks previously defined see module 17 of this course, in different regions of. A basic guideline from schematic to pcb design for altium designer the electronic engineering industry is so vast and rapidly growing that techno. Included with altium designer is the rigidflex toolset. Rigidflex pcb right the first time without paper dolls. Most rigid flex boards consist of multiple layers of flexible circuit substrates attached to one or more rigid boards externally andor internally, depending upon the design of the application. Learn how to navigate the complexities of rigidflex boards with insight into the fabrication process. Stackups can be fully mapped and then modeled in 3d. Design rigid flex in full 3d and confirm that the 3d component, case assembly and pcb clearances meet all mechanical requirements.
Altium is a natural when creating rigidflex pcb designs consider the following before you decide the bare cost of the fabrication of rigid flex circuits is only one part of the overall expense. I have rich and strong experience in mechanical 3d modeling, 3d rendering, 3d design using autocad and solidworks finite element analysis and cfd using ansys and abaqus numerical calculation and simulation using matlab dynamics analysis using adams, nastran, patran hardware schematic digital, analog. Venture rigid flex pcb design team has the industry leading design engineers and 10 years. Rigidflex pcb design solutions for rigidflex circuitry altium. Flexible licensing explore the available licensing options for altium designer to meet your unique design needs. Eagle vs altiumwhat is the features and differences. How to use flex board in altium designer 14 youtube. Your rigidflex design will also benefit greatly from altium designer s native 3d engine. A basic guideline from schematic to pcb design for altium. Rigidflex layer stack sections can be defined and then flexible circuit areas have bending lines added.
Pcb directory is the largest database of pcb manufacturers on the internet. Rigidflex layer stackup altium pcb design software. Rigidflex pcb design guidelines and layout in altium designer. A list of the leading rigid flex pcb manufacturers in united states. While flexible sections of the pcb act as interconnection betw. Rigidflex is the name given to a printed circuit that is a combination of both flexible. Electronics engineers have a wide range of pcb cad software to choose from for use in pcb design. Altium softwarethe features ultimate guide wellpcb. Tips and tricks for rigid flex designs ontrack duration. Full support pcb layout capabilities rigid rigid flex flex pcb design capabilities 3d mechanical support schematic drawing and documentation. However, there are also design considerations that depend on whether your board is rigid or flex. There are multiple resources out there to guide you and you an even make use of design software such as altium which supports rigid flex. New features in altium designer 10 online documentation.
Rigidflexdesign computer aided pcb design software altium. How to define folds in your rigid flex board altium. Powerful cad tools, an ultraaccurate 3d viewer, and customizable routing and via. Rigidflex circuits resources altium pcb design software. Theres more to flex designs than first meets the eye. Todays small lightweight electronics products use rigidflex technology. Today it is recognized as the ideal solution for contemporary small form factor, highly durable, and lightweight electronic products such as wearables, medical devices, and mobile wireless products. Altium limited is a multinational software corporation headquartered in san diego, california, that focuses on electronics design systems for 3d pcb design and embedded system development. Flex circuits design guide flex circuits, temperature. Rigid flex pcb design, design flexible rigid pcb with. Using software for rigidflex designing can enable you through tools like a 3d model viewer, and layer stack rules that help identify your sections. Rigidflex pcb design guide element14 altium designer. Some applications require the board to be rigid, flexible, or both. On this article, you are provided with a comparison of two pcb design software eagle vs altium.
Rigidflex pcb is a timeproven, wellunderstood technology initially used within the militaryaerospace industry decades ago. Gsasmspl has partnered up with altium to bring forward this professional pcb design tool, altium. The most powerful, modern and easytouse pcb design tool for professional use. Altium designer is one of the premium pcb design software tools, which is a unified solution even to handle high density and very complex pcb circuit designs with extremely fast and accurate results. The design of the printed circuit board module from the altium software designers allows xsignal wizard which gives the designer an opportunity to cluster several nets to one signal, supports rigid and flex designs, support custom coverlay, add the hole tolerance, allows dynamic display where the is clearance of boundaries when routing.
Flexible circuit stiffener options it is common for a flexible circuit stackup to include a stiffener, read about the different options. Rigid flex printed circuit boards are boards using a combination of flexible and rigid board technologies in an application. Altium designer is the best design solution for rigidflex pcbs. Flex and rigidflex pcb assembly in altium designer. Rigid flex and flex circuitry are a growing part of the electronics industry, learn how altium designer can help you create these designs, quickly and easily. How to define a layer stackup for rigid flex designs youtube. Rigidflex pcb technology and pcb design software altium. Count the cost with rigid flex pcb cost comparison bom. Design rigid flex in full 3d with an easy to understand, picture of the folded and unfolded design. The system provides online tutorials on how to design flexible, and rigid flex pcb s as. The top pcb layout design rules for rigidflex pcbs tempo. The past year or two have been very challenging in the printed circuit board industry. Adding a bead of epoxy, acrylic or hotmelt will help improve the longevity of the assembly. Altium designer is the only pcb design software package that gives you the.
These tools vary in their features and the prices too. A rigid flex pcb combines the flexible inner layers of a multilayer flexible circuit board with the rigid outer layer of a multilayer rigid one. Rigidflex pcb manufacturers in united states pcb directory. The copper layers are separated by insulation layers. This video will take you through the steps of creating different board regions for your rigid flex designs. I graduated from moscow technical university with master degree. When it comes to printed circuit board assemblies pcbas, the same is true.
Altium designer 10 takes this support to the next level, with the ability to define the generation of a hierarchical structure of classes in the pcb document. The right design software can help you create the layer stack you need to integrate a flexible ribbon into your pcb. When working with flexible pcbs, take into account the bend ratio. Altium products are found everywhere from world leading electronic design teams to the grassroots electronic design community. Altium designer 18 is software for rigidflex designing that will make it easy for you. You can use the filters on the left hand side to identify pcb fabricators based on their capabilities. Altium designer already provides highquality, robust support for generation of classes component and net when transferring the design from the schematic to pcb. If you create your circuit board layout using altium designer also altium circuitstudio, altium circuitmaker and protel from altium limited, please observe the following tips.
Learn what techniques to employ when creating layers for rigidflex. In this altium designer 17 advanced pcb training course module, you will learn. Board edge clearance rules can take care of this automatically in the pcb cad editor. Rigidflex command setup and designing pcb design blog. Flexible pcbs have become standard practice, but what are the physical constraints. Altium provides online training to help new users, as well as experienced designs, fully comprehend all the systems functions for optimizing pcb design using their software. Altium designer is a leading edge eda software solution. Flexible version of a printed circuit board pcb, with unique capabilities. Meeting the challenges of wearable devices with rigidflex pcb design whitepaper there are times when you need to consider using strengtheners where the flex circuit exits the rigid board. Rigid flex, push the boundaries of technology with flexible or wearable electronics. Rigid flex pcb also called rigid flex printed circuit board or flex rigid pcb, is a combination of rigid pcb and flexible pcb, that are permanently connected to each other, by having conductors on both rigid layers and flexible layers of the circuits.
Altium designer pcb graphtech pte ltd pcb design solutions. Moderne software fur rigidflexdesigns pcbdesign altium. Altium s unified design model integrates routing, layer stackup, and design rule checking in a single intuitive interface. Rigid flex pcb is a timeproven, wellunderstood technology initially used within the militaryaerospace industry decades ago. Rigidflex pcbs are used to link multiple rigid pcbs together into a single unit. See the layer stack manger dialog and flex and rigid flex printed circuit design pages for more information.
Altium designer rigid flex guidebook for pcb design altium. This guide explains the design issues in a way that will enlighten pcb designers of any. This can improve the adaptability of your pcbs and allows designers to customize their board to odd packaging. Rigidflex board fabrication altium pcb design software. Learn how to create a layer stackup for your rigid flex and flex designs. Today it is recognized as the ideal solution for contemporary small form factor, highly durable, and lightweight electronic products. Altium pcb design software is a pcb designers dream. Bending lines give you the power to create dynamic flexible regions. Even better, folding and unfolding can be done in 3d space, letting you see exactly what the finished product will look like.
Rigid flex pcb design can be a challenging art, often requiring 3d mcad design work or trial and error in order to figure out how everything is going to. There are pcb design essentials that should be applied for all circuit boards. Altium is the worlds leading provider of pcb design software, pcb component and data management software and the host of altiumlive the industrys fastestgrowing conference for pcb designers and engineers. Rigid flex design in altiums unified design environment. Altium designer is a leading eda software solution cirexx. Advancements in technology have greatly revolutionized the pcb industry. Rigid flex pcb san francisco circuits rigidflex circuits.