Tool allows quick power supply PCB layout

A significant challenge in power supply design is creation of the PCB layout. Until today, design engineers relied on application notes, manual copying of reference layouts and their own judgment to create board layouts. Unwanted noise and thermal problems can result from improper board layout and it can take multiple design iterations to achieve the best layout.  Now, design engineers of industrial, automotive and communications equipment can use WEBENCH Power Designer to create their power supply design and the WEBENCH PCB Export feature to easily download the layout directly to five popular CAD tools.

“With the addition of PCB export capability to WEBENCH Power Designer, the engineer no longer needs to manually enter the design into the CAD platform, nor is there a need to worry about errors made in the process,” said Josh Moore, product marketing director for the Custom IC and PCB Group at Cadence. “Now, designs created with WEBENCH Power Designer easily and instantly download via WEBENCH PCB Export to Cadence® Allegro® platforms.”

About WEBENCH Power Designer and PCB Export
WEBENCH Power Designer uses powerful design algorithms to quickly create a custom PCB board layout with minimal noise and thermal issues. Footprints for each component of the WEBENCH design are included and the power supply design is created with the push of a button. WEBENCH PCB Export just as quickly exports the complete design into the engineer’s favorite CAD tool.

TI’s cost-free WEBENCH tools have simplified and accelerated the design process for more than 325,000 engineers worldwide since 1999. Engineers can quickly create, optimize and simulate a complete design online with the powerful calculation algorithms and SPICE simulator provided by WEBENCH Power Designer. With the introduction of WEBENCH PCB Export, engineers can now run electrical and thermal simulations to characterize the design, create a power supply PCB layout, and export it to CAD platforms from Altium, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., CadSoft Computer, Mentor Graphics and RS Components.  WEBENCH Power Designer and PCB Export dramatically reduce PCB board design time from hours to minutes and incorporate best layout practices to reduce noise and thermal issues. Watch a video to learn more about how WEBENCH PCB Export works.

Key features and benefits of WEBENCH Power Designer and PCB Export
•    Easily create a PCB layout for your power supply design using the sound layout principles provided by WEBENCH Power Designer to reduce noise and thermal issues.
•    Incorporate component footprints into the WEBENCH design automatically.
•    Export the layout to industry-leading CAD development platforms, such as Altium Designer, Cadence Allegro, CadSoft EAGLE, Mentor Graphics PADS and DesignSpark PCB .

The introduction of WEBENCH PCB Export follows the introduction of WEBENCH Schematic Editor in March, which enabled the engineer to customize power management designs and simulate the circuit created within the WEBENCH environment.