Epec's Blog | Electronics Manufacturing Solutions

When a lithium battery pack is designed using multiple cells in series, it is very important to design the electronic features to continually balance the cell voltages. This is not only for the performance of the battery pack, but also for optimal life cycles.

When designing and manufacturing battery packs, it is important to recognize that there will be limitations when dealing with specific cost and performance parameters. You may encounter circumstances where you will have to increase the cost of your battery pack or decrease aspects of overall performance. We'll help detail some of those limitations and how to find solutions that help move your project forward.

Based on the application, electrical, mechanical requirements, and knowing what type of filter topology to use can help exceed the performance of the product. Both of these designs use specific topologies based on frequency and power handling requirements.

The typical use of a diplexer (three-port device) enables source transmitters operating on two separate frequencies to use the same antenna. In other applications, the diplexer allows a single antenna to transmit and receive on discrete frequencies. Additionally, a diplexer will provide the ability for an antenna to transmit and receive simultaneously.

The V-score process is the addition of thin, double-sided cuts into printed circuit board (PCB) laminate for the purpose of assisting in the removal of individual parts from the array. The thin cuts which do not go all the way through the material, act as a perforation of the laminate so simple flexing of the laminate, or use of a cutting wheel, will aid in the removal of parts after the assembly process.

Miniaturization in electronics drives the need for both component and printed circuit board designers to work within ever-shrinking footprints in order to remain competitive. The signal routing requirements for many ball grid array (BGA) components are such that through hole via drilling is becoming less and less practical. This makes it necessary in many instances to use blind vias to form interconnections between layer pairs.

In 2017 it is very rare to find someone whose job isn’t impacted by the Chinese New Year (CNY). Over the course of the last 15 years, the CNY has changed. It was once a complete 2-3-week blackout shutdown, no contact with anyone. It has since evolved into a 2-3 day no-contact window with a 5-10-day manufacturing shutdown.

When designing and manufacturing passive broadband high frequency cascaded LC filters (inductor and capacitor), a lot of undesirable component interactions can occur if not properly managed. The goal is to minimize the difference between an RF microwave filter design constructed with ideal components and one using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom manufactured components.

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) continue to shrink. As each generation of miniaturized components comes along, board designers find themselves able to work within ever-smaller PCB footprint sizes. While this is great news for consumers (compare the size of a 1994 portable phone to one of today’s models) it presents difficulties for fabricators.

Over the last 25 years, the evolution of touch screen technologies has brought sweeping changes to how society uses human-machine interface (HMI) products. Originally touch screens were small, monochrome, and required a stylus and single touchpoint to operate.