The features of PCB for automotive industry

Increase the market share of PCB for automotive

Battery Electric Vehicle becomes more and more and resulting in increase requirements of vehicle PCB board. And the requirements were a range of from prototypes to production and from simple to the most advanced technologies.

The features of PCB for automotive industry

Difference from rigid PCB use in automobiles, the PCB type use in automotive have increased. The most automotive electronic designer will consider rigid, flexible, and rigid-flex printed circuit boards. The main reason was harsh condition require high performance PCB for automotive and meet demanding electronic applications that can withstand high heat, speed and motion. Not only the performance, but also require reliability increase.

Need more flexible PCB for the automotive industry

Now automotive has increased very fast, not only increase the count of automobiles, but also the new technologies. And more and more new technological requirement new innovations and high performance PCB board. The automotive industry is constantly developing automobiles in order to strive for enhanced safety and superior technological abilities. These constant innovations increase the need for rigid and flexible circuit boards to heighten the overall automobile experience for a customer. That was the main reason more and more MCPCB manufacturers turn to produce flexible automotive PCB.

Source: http://4mcpcb.com/increase-the-market-share-of-pcb-for-automotive.html

Use CFD simulate PCB thermal design

How to handle the thermal management during automotive PCB design?

 

Making sure that automotive electronics are reliable, safe, and properly designed begins at the component level. Heat must be addressed early in the design process for these goals to be achieved. The most important thermal resistance for heat, outside the IC package, is the PCB. Rich PCB manufacturing engineers use 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate and test a PCB’s thermal design. Modeling the main heat flow paths in detail is critical to ensure that generated heat in the component flows out to the ambient, either through convection, conduction, or radiation. Knowing the thermal junction resistance allows optimizing a design for more efficient and less costly heatsinks, materials, and ICs.

When building a model to use in simulation, different methods can be used to represent chip packages and PCBs. Chip packages are typically defined as four types. The simple cuboid is a lumped component with some material properties and a heat source applied to it. The 2-resistor model doesn’t include any thermal capacitance and is therefore not suitable for transient analysis of component temperatures. The Delphi model is comprised of several thermal resistances and capacitances and thus is more accurate and suitable for transient simulations. Finally, the detailed model is modeled explicitly and is the most accurate model; however, it also increases the simulation time and requirements for computing resources.

For the PCB, four detailing levels from simple to complex also are used in simulation: lumped approximation, individual layers’ representation, layers modeled with “patches,” and copper tracks and areas modeled in detail.

The Market share of Automotive PCBs become more bigger

Printed circuit boards (PCB) used in automobiles, mainly in cars is in a boom phase with high reliability and longevity being the main coefficient of competition.

As user patterns are changing with innovations in the way people drive, automotive safety systems are moving towards Metal Core PCBs known as MPCB.

Anti-lock brake systems, advanced safety features, ECU systems that control engines and GPS navigation systems are all seeking high quality PCBs.

The demand for PCBs in automobile will be up as vehicle owners keep adding accessories, including televisions.

According to Market research, Global automotive PCB market is now in the size of US$5.28 billion and is the fastest-growing sub segment in PCB industry. The momentum is expected to sustain until 2019.

In automotive PCBs, field applications abound in Engine Control Unit, Starter, Alternator, Transmission Control, Fuel Injection, and Power Steering.

However, the market is not an easy one. It is highly quality conscious and automotive PCBs to have high on reliability with as there is a high recall system and rejection rate making many makers losing contracts in the name of faulty products.

An example is PCBs used in automotive engines and gearbox where high temperature above 150 is common place. There the PCBs used have ceramic multi-layer substrate containing alumina and aluminum nitride.

Top suppliers are offering PCBs to European and US carmakers including Germany’s Schweizer, Duwel, Wurth, CMK and Meiko.

Another growing niche PCB market is that of HDIs. As mobile computing and remote working have expanded, the demand for faster computers has surged. That is where HDI Technology is making ripples with more functionality, low weight and smaller size.

Defined as High Density Interconnect, HDI PCBs are used in places with higher wiring density per unit area and as different from conventional PCB.

HDI boards have blind and buried microvias of .006 or less in diameter. Thanks to HDI technology, more components can be placed on both sides of the raw PCB. The highlights are finer lines, smaller vias and higher connection pad density than offered by conventional PCB technology.

Among the advantages offered by HDI PCB are smaller size, high speed and high frequency. It is the main component in most personal computers, portable computers, mobile phones and personal digital assistants. The underlying merit is that HDI PCB with its reduced size and weight can deliver enhanced electrical performance.