Altium has announced the release of PCBWorks, a new PCB design tool engineered specifically for collaboration with mechanical designers in SOLIDWORKS. This new design tool strengthens the Altium product portfolio, offering a never-before-seen collaboration process between electronic and mechanical design teams. PCBWorks is available globally through a certified network of SOLIDWORKS resellers.
“In this era of connectivity, products are judged by their overall experience, not just the aesthetics or electronic features alone,” said Lawrence Romine, director of Global New Business Development at Altium. “PCBWorks allows the design process to mirror the product experience by connecting formerly separate modes of design into a single, unified workflow. The traditional barriers between creating something and validating it across these two historically separate domains are gone. Designers can now create the ideal balance between industrial design and electronics functionality.”
Collaboration Features
With PCBWorks, the collaboration process between electrical and mechanical design teams is now a seamless process with linked design data between both environments. Designers can maintain their own distinct workflows with support from the following features:
– ECAD/MCAD collaboration server. SolidWorks users can now make changes to component placement, board shape, and mounting holes on a PCB, and then push those changes to PCBWorks as a managed Engineering Change Order (ECO) to keep design data in sync.
– Separate component lifecycles. Lifecycles for components can now be separately managed in their respective design environments. This allows an electrical designer to place a component without waiting for mechanical models to be complete, while linked data allows the component to be updated when the 3D model is finished.
– Parasolid support. PCBWorks support for SOLIDWORKS Parasolid file format allows the electrical designer to link directly to native mechanical models for enclosures and component bodies.
PCB Design Features
PCBWorks includes a number of PCB design features that allows electrical designers to complete their PCB designs in one unified design environment, tying together the schematic capture and layout process with support from the following features:
– Interactive and differential pair routing. PCBWorks includes a number of routing options to make the board layout process easier. Differential pair routing helps the designer to route high-speed designs with properly tuned lengths between signal pairs.
– Library management. Schematic templates and components can be stored within a central library in PCBWorks, providing electrical designers with a number of design re-use options for future design projects.
– Supplier links. With supplier links, electrical designers have direct access to supplier databases, including real-time information on component pricing and availability.
“The release of PCBWorks marks a key moment for the engineering community,” said Ben Jordan, product manager at Altium. “We are now at a point where the line between electronic and mechanical design is blurred, and PCBWorks is the first PCB design product to address the need for electrical and mechanical design teams to collaborate in a natural way.”
