JP2001076021A - Device for supporting design component arrangement on printed board - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for supporting component arrangement designing which can verify the possibility of the arrangement and wiring of all components on a printed board, before the component arrangement is designed. SOLUTION: The design support device which decides whether components can be arranged and wired on a printed board, comprises a component occupation area calculating means 61 which calculates the rate of the total fitting area of the components to the component arrangement area of the board, a component occupation area upper-limit value setting means 62 which sets the upper-limit values of the rate by the kinds of boards, and a decision means 63, which decides whether the components can be arranged and wired on the board by comparing the rate calculated by the component occupation area calculating means with the upper-limit values of the rate set by the component occupation area upper-limit value setting means. It can be decided whether all the components can be arranged and wired on the board, only by inputting data on the component arrangement area of the board to be used, the total fitting area of the components, and the kind of the board.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a printed circuit board CA
This is a device for supporting component layout design by D, and particularly, it is possible to verify whether all components can be placed on a printed circuit board and whether or not wiring is possible.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printed circuit board CAD has been widely used for designing the arrangement of components on a printed circuit board. In this apparatus, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-174102 or the like, when data of a component placement area of a printed circuit board and shape data of various circuit components to be placed are input, a printed screen of the printed board is displayed on a display screen. The component placement area and the circuit component shape are displayed. An operation of moving this circuit component shape to the component placement area of the printed circuit board on the screen is performed,
The layout positions of the circuit components are determined so that the shapes of the circuit components do not interfere with each other and wiring is possible.

The area required for wiring on a printed circuit board is
It depends on the type of printed circuit board used. In recent years, a large number of types of printed circuit boards have been manufactured in response to the increasing density of circuit mounting.

FIG. 12 illustrates various types of printed circuit boards. (A) is a single-sided board on which components are arranged only on one side,
(B) is a double-sided board on which components are arranged on both sides, and (c) is a multilayer board having an inner wiring layer. In a multilayer substrate, various types of substrates such as four layers, six layers, and eight layers are manufactured. In a multi-layer substrate, conduction of each layer is achieved by through holes penetrating the substrate. (D) is an IVH substrate, which is different from a multi-layer substrate in that it has a conduction hole that is individually conducted to each inner layer wiring layer. (E) is an ALIVH board, which is different from an IVH board in that a conduction hole can be provided directly below a component to be arranged.

In the example of FIG. 12, the degree of freedom of wiring increases from (a) to (e), the area for wiring is reduced, and the density of components can be increased.

[0006]

However, conventionally, when component placement design on a printed circuit board is performed using a printed circuit board CAD, whether all the components can be accommodated in the component placement area of the printed circuit board, and whether wiring is required. Whether it is possible,
The operation of the printed circuit board CAD has been started based on the experience. For this reason, there is a problem that if there is an error in this determination, even if it takes one week to work on the component arrangement design, the work is eventually wasted.

In particular, in the current situation where the size and weight of electric / communication related devices have been reduced and the printed circuit boards have been reduced in size, and the density of components mounted on the printed circuit boards has been increasing, all the components have to be arranged on the printed circuit boards. It is becoming difficult to accurately judge whether or not wiring can be performed within an area.

The present invention is to solve such a conventional problem. Before starting the component layout design, the component layout design which can verify the layout of all components on a printed circuit board and the possibility of wiring can be verified. It is intended to provide a support device.

[0009]

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a design support apparatus for judging the possibility of arranging and wiring components on a printed circuit board. A component occupation area calculating means for calculating a ratio of the area, a component occupying area upper limit value setting means for setting an upper limit value of the ratio for each type of printed circuit board, and the ratio calculated by the component occupying area calculating means. A determination means for comparing the upper limit value of the ratio set by the component occupation area upper limit value setting means according to the type of the printed circuit board to determine the possibility of arranging and wiring components on the printed circuit board. .

[0010] If the data of the component placement area of the printed circuit board to be used, the total mounting area of the placed parts, and the type of the printed circuit board are input to this device, the planned parts can be added to the printed circuit board. It is determined whether or not it is possible to arrange and wire all.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a component placement design support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a data input section 5 for inputting data relating to component mounting, and a component inputting section 5 based on the input data. An input data processing unit 6 for verifying the possibility of arrangement and wiring, and a verification result display unit 7 for displaying a verification result are provided.

The data input unit 5 includes a board area input unit 51 for inputting the area of the component arrangement region of the printed board, a component area input unit 52 for inputting an area obtained by adding the component shape areas of the components. It has a board specification input section 53 for inputting the specifications of the printed circuit board to be used, and a board layer number input section 54 for inputting the number of layers of the printed circuit board to be used.

The input data processing unit 6 calculates a ratio of the total area of all the component shapes to the area of the component arrangement area of the printed circuit board (component occupation area).
61, a component occupation area limit value setting unit 62 that sets an upper limit (limit value) of the component occupation area based on the board specifications and the number of layers,
A component placement / wiring verification operation unit 63 for verifying the possibility of component placement and wiring based on the component occupation area and the limit value is provided.

In this apparatus, the ratio Z between the area X of the component arrangement region of the printed circuit board and the total area Y of the component shapes of each component is set.
(= Y / X) is the component occupation area, and this component occupation area Z
Based on the above, the possibility of component arrangement and wiring on the printed circuit board is determined.

The area X of the component arrangement area of the printed board is
The area X is the same as the area of the component arrangement area of the printed circuit board input to the printed circuit board CAD. In the case of a type of printed circuit board in which components are arranged on both sides of the board, the area X is the sum of the component arrangement areas on both sides.

The total area Y of the component shape of each component is
This is the sum of the areas of the component shapes input to the printed circuit board CAD, and the total area of contact between the components arranged on the printed circuit board and the printed circuit board is the area Y.

If Y / X is greater than 1, it is impossible to place all components on a printed circuit board.

If Y / X is smaller than 1, all the components can be arranged on the printed circuit board, but it is not known whether or not the wiring area can be secured. As described above, the area required for wiring differs depending on the type of printed board (board specifications and the number of layers).

Here, the upper limit of the component occupation area Z (= Y / X) for which the wiring area can be secured is set to the component occupation area limit value n.
The component occupation area limit value n is determined for each specification and number of layers of the printed circuit board. If the component occupied area Z exceeds the component occupied area limit value n, components can be arranged on the printed circuit board, but wiring cannot be performed.

The component occupation area limit value n which depends on the specifications of the printed circuit board and the number of layers is set based on past component arrangement results and design standards, and a table thereof is held in the component occupation area limit value setting section 62. . FIG. 3 shows an example of this table.

The component placement / wiring verification operation unit 63 compares the component occupation area Z of the printed board with the component occupation area limit value n of the board, and verifies the possibility of component placement and wiring on the printed board. .

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus.

Step 1: When the data of the component placement area of the printed board and the shape data of each circuit component to be placed are read into the printed board CAD, the printed board CA
From D, the substrate area input unit 51 of the data input unit 5 of this device
, The area Xi of the component placement area of the printed circuit board is input,
Further, the total area Yi of the component shape of each component is input to the component area input unit 52. The area Xi of the component placement area of the printed board input from the printed board CAD is displayed in the “printed board area” 1 on the component placement verification start screen shown in FIG. 4, and the total area Yi of the component shape is the component placement This is displayed in “all component layout area” 2 on the verification start screen. Also,
The operator may directly input the area Xi of the component placement area of the printed circuit board and the total area Yi of the component shapes on the component placement verification activation screen of FIG.

Step 2: When the area Xi of the component placement area of the printed circuit board and the total area Yi of the component shapes are input, the component occupation area calculation unit 61 of the input data processing unit 6
The component occupation area Zi is calculated according to i = Yi / Xi, and is output to the component placement / wiring verification calculation unit 63.

Step 3: The operator inputs the specification of the printed circuit board to be used from the board specification input section 53 of the data input section 5, and inputs the number of layers of the printed circuit board from the board layer number input section 54. I do. This input is performed by selecting the specification of the printed circuit board to be used from the menu of “printed circuit board specification” 3 on the component placement verification start screen in FIG. Is performed by an operation of selecting.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which data of the printed circuit board area, the total component arranged area, the printed circuit board specifications, and the number of printed circuit board layers are input to the part arrangement verification start screen.

Step 4: When the specifications of the printed circuit board and the number of layers are inputted, the component occupation area limit value setting section 62 of the input data processing section 6 corresponds to the board specification and the number of layers from the table of FIG. Read the part occupation area limit value ni,
Output to the component placement / wiring verification calculation unit 63.

Step 5: Component placement / wiring verification operation unit 63
Compares the component occupation area Zi with 1, and if it is greater than 1, Step 6: displays on the verification result display section 7 that the component cannot be arranged on the printed circuit board. FIG. 6 shows a display example of the verification result display section 7 at this time.

If it is determined in step 5 that Zi ≦ 1, step 7: the component occupation area Zi is changed to the component occupation area limit value n.
If Zi is smaller than or equal to ni as compared with i, Step 8: Display on the verification result display section 7 that all components can be arranged and wired on the printed circuit board. In FIG.
The display example of the verification result display part 7 at this time is shown.

If it is determined in step 7 that Zi> ni, step 9: the component placement / wiring verification calculation unit 63 sends a component occupation area limit value nj equal to or larger than Zi to the component occupation area limit value setting unit 62. Inquires about the specification of the board and the number of layers. The component occupation area limit value setting unit 62 searches the table of FIG. 3 for nj equal to or larger than Zi, and if it exists, Step 10: The component occupation area limit value setting unit 62 determines that nj is equal to or larger than Zi. In addition, the board specification and the number of layers having the limit value nj closest to Zi are transmitted to the component placement / wiring verification calculation unit 63. The board specification and the number of layers are presented, and if the board specification and the number of layers are changed to these, the fact that components can be arranged and wired on the printed circuit board is displayed on the verification result display unit 7. 8, 9, 10, and 11 show display examples of the verification result display unit 7 at this time.

If it is determined in step 9 that nj equal to or larger than Zi does not exist, step 11: a message indicating that components can be arranged on the printed circuit board but wiring cannot be performed is displayed on the verification result display section 7.

As described above, in this apparatus, it is possible to verify the arrangement of circuit components on the printed circuit board and the possibility of wiring only by inputting data. You can teach a printed circuit board that allows wiring.

[0033]

As is clear from the above description, the support device of the present invention verifies the possibility of arranging and wiring components on a printed circuit board before performing component layout design and wiring design on the printed circuit board CAD. can do. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the waste of starting the work of the printed circuit board CAD without having a certain outlook and getting stuck and starting over from the beginning, thereby making the work of the printed circuit board CAD more efficient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a support device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the support device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a table held by a component occupation area limit value setting unit of the support apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing a component placement verification start screen displayed by the support apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a data input state to the component placement verification start screen,

FIG. 6 is an exemplary view showing a display screen on the support apparatus according to the embodiment, in which a component arrangement is not possible;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram showing a display screen of a component arrangement and a wiring available displayed by the support device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a first display screen for presenting alternative board specifications displayed by the support device of the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a view showing a second display screen for presenting alternative board specifications displayed by the support device of the embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary view showing a third display screen for presenting alternative board specifications displayed by the support apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary diagram showing a fourth display screen for presenting alternative board specifications displayed by the support apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating types of printed circuit boards.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input part of printed circuit board area 2 Input part of all component arrangement area 3 Input part of printed circuit board specification 4 Input part of number of printed circuit board layers 5 Data input part 6 Input data processing part 7 Verification result display part 51 Board area input part 52 Component area input section 53 Board specification input section 54 Board layer number input section 61 Component occupation area calculation section 62 Component occupation area limit value setting section 63 Component placement / wiring verification calculation section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A design support apparatus for deciding the possibility of arranging and wiring components on a printed circuit board, wherein the component occupancy calculates a ratio of a total mounting area of the arranged components to an area of a component arranging area of the printed circuit board. Area calculating means, component occupation area upper limit value setting means for setting an upper limit value of the ratio for each type of printed circuit board, and the ratio calculated by the component occupying area calculation means, and the type of printed circuit board used By comparing with the upper limit of the ratio set by the component occupation area upper limit value setting means,
A design support apparatus comprising: a determination unit configured to determine a possibility of arranging and wiring components on a printed circuit board. 2. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the types of the printed circuit boards are classified according to the specifications of the printed circuit boards and the number of layers. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit presents a type of the printed circuit board that enables the wiring when the wiring is impossible with the type of the printed circuit board to be used. The design support device described in the above.