Mistakes To Avoid When Designing A Flexible PCB - Miracle Electronics
When designing flexible PCBs, a lot of extra attention needs to be paid to every detail in the design and manufacturing process. Overlooking some basic stuff may cause design failure, and thus lots of loss and damage. There are a lot of common mistakes that are committed while designing and manufacturing a flexible PCB. Let’s take a look at some of them, and learn from them what we are not supposed to do.
Mistake 1 – Incorrect conductor arrangement
Unlike solid PCBs , flexible PCBs can twist and bend. This is why if there is any incorrect conductor arrangement, it may lead to hazardous consequences, especially during board flexing. One way to minimize the stress is to make sure that the conductors pass through curved areas. This will help during flexing.
Mistake 2 – Wrong setup of bends
Flexible PCBs are mainly made as they are required to bend at some point or another during usage. To make the PCBs capable of handling the bend, it is important to check two main factors – the bendability of the council, and the number of times the board will be turning. For a flexible PCB to work perfectly, it is very important to consider these two factors and set the right bending area in the initial stages itself, so that the right parts can be manufactured that can fit perfectly for the flexible circuit board. Also, the minimum and maximum bendable limits should be ascertained beforehand.
Mistake 3 – Inappropriate bridging sections
The curved areas and gaps within a flexible board are critical design elements. It is important to have perfect understanding of the right bridging sections to place the slots. Generally, the bridges should be designed around the narrowest regions so that there can be extra room for the slots, and better edges can be achieved, making it easy to fit the deserved curved PCBs.
Mistake 4 – Incorrect wire routing
Constructing the wire routing on the path of a flexible circuit board can be quite tricky, and is extremely important too as it is the base of placing the active elements on the board. It is important to avoid any kinds of beans and minimize the ability of copper circuits to thin. If not, there’ll be discontinuities experienced when the course is bent or stretched.
Mistake 5 – Thoughtless hole placements
When using the through-hole method of circuit designing, it is important to carefully plan the placement of holes. The holes must never be near the bend areas. They must be at a very safe distance from areas that bend or flex.
Mistake 6 – Wrong layer and component placements in multilayered boards
In the case of building multilayered boards, it is important to place the layers absolutely correctly. One mistake can jeopardize the entire functionality of the board. Thus, enough time should be taken to make accurate placements. Also, the conductors should never be stacked one over the other, as this will only result in a thicker circuit board, which can impact electromagnetic interference to a great extent.
To avoid these and many other such disastrous mistakes, it is important that you hire a professional PCB manufacturer for the job, who has enough experience of designing both rigid and flexible PCBs. Miracle Electronics is one such manufacturer who not only specializes in PCBs, but also many other such electronic components, which is why it has earned a reputation as the best PCB and cable assembly manufacturer in India.
