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If you need to measure the current from an AC source, a current transformer can be a low cost, accurate option. You can find current transformers designed specifically for anything between 50/60Hz power line applications and much higher frequencies that are more suitable for industrial/scientific machinery or process monitoring. Current transformers are non-contact and non-invasive, meaning that you do not need to run AC power through your...

I sometimes get questions from designers that want to know more about the PCB material selection and manufacturing process. Although I’m not a manufacturer, it behooves designers to understand something about the materials they have available when working on a new project. One question I get is on the exact differences between PCB core vs. prepreg materials. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, including by novice designers; I’ll admit...

PCB design and assembly standards aren’t there to constrain your productivity. Instead, they’re there to help create uniform expectations of product designs and performance across multiple industries. With standardization comes the tools for compliance, such as calculators for certain design aspects, processes for auditing and inspection, and much more. In high voltage PCB design, the important generic standard for PCB design is IPC-2221. Many...

I recently posted a BLOG on Altium about the latest eSmart Factory in New Hampshire. Using the latest in State-of-the-Art machinery and processes, it can produce near-perfect complex multilayers and HDI substrates with extremely fine geometries in only a few days, and without ever being helped or touched by human hands, all while and emitting nothing to harm the environment—zero effluents. Digitization for the Smart Factory This technology will...

We all talk about the Industrial Revolution. The world has gone through a number of “Industrial Revolutions” since the creation of steam power in England. In fact, we talk about three such revolutions since that first one. In the early 2010s, the German Government proposed a fourth industrial revolution they called INDUSTRU 4.0. Today we also call it “The Smart Factory”! But, to date, there hasn’t been too much reported progress in this program...

Depending on your background and personal experiences, two things may spring to mind when you hear the term “cocktail party problem.” The first is you thinking, “there are never enough cocktails to satisfy everyone’s requirements,” but maybe I’m projecting again. Alternatively, you may be considering how difficult it is for an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled voice-controlled assistant like Amazon’s Alexa to follow individual voices when a...

Industry 4.0 is surely on the horizon, and with the rate at which technology advances, many advanced products will be 3D printed in part or in full. The industrial IoT paradigm is already transforming the way many manufacturers operate and is helping usher innovation in a number of advanced industrial and consumer products. The electronics industry is no stranger, and an array of new 3D printing systems and a broad range of materials now allow...

Ohm’s law: it’s a wonderful tool we have for analyzing all types of circuits. This simple relation applies to so many devices that it’s quite easy to explain many aspects of component behavior with this single equation. With high voltage PCBs, however, we have to use other tools in addition to Ohm’s law to understand some important aspects of circuit behavior. Bring in Paschen’s law and Kirchoff’s laws, and you have everything you need to...

One of the primary benefits of using a flexible circuit versus a rigid PCB board or wire and cable is the savings in weight and space. Flexible materials are thin, extremely light weight, and allow you to package in 3D, bending and folding to make necessary connections, allowing you to shrink the overall package size or fit additional electronics in a similarly-sized unit. As an example, a very typical two-layer construction for a flexible...