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www.flomerics.com/flopcb/ Flomerics’ latest software concept, “FLO/PCB”, provides
a multi-disciplinary design environment for optimising conceptual design
of printed-circuit boards (PCB’s), and enables electronic engineers
to take account of thermal design constraints directly. FLO/PCB promotes a conceptual design process that starts with a functional
block diagram, and enables Systems Architects, Hardware Designers, and
Mechanical/Thermal engineers to collaborate in a common design environment.
A single mouse-click toggles between three different views of the board;
the functional block diagram; the physical layout; and the thermal analysis.
Changes made in one view are instantly reflected in the others, keeping
all team members “in sync” and enabling them to contribute to
the design concept development in real time. The result is pre-optimised
designs in less time, and drastic reductions in rework costs as product
marketing, electrical, mechanical, and thermal issues are solved before
detailed design starts. The pre-release version of FLO/PCB has received enthusiastic responses
from many of Flomerics’ existing customers including Agilent, BAE
Systems, Cisco Systems, Rockwell International, Tellabs and Thales. The
first full release is scheduled for shipping in April. Key features of FLO/PCB are:
- Specialized menus for rapid creation of functional block diagrams
- Automatic creation of physical layout and thermal model from the functional
block diagram
- 3D airflow and temperature prediction, for both sides of the board,
in minutes
- Fully-integrated library capability supporting JEDEC standards for
component thermal models, and leveraging libraries from www.SmartParts3D.com
* and www.flopack.com **
- Export/import board design information to and from EDA and CAD software
via IDF file format
- Native, bi-directional interoperability with FLOTHERM
- Automatic report generation via HTML and/or Microsoft Word
- Compatible with WindowsXP, WindowsNT, and Windows2000 operating systems.
Recommended minimum hardware requirements are 512MB RAM, and 300MB disk
space.
* www.SmartParts3D.com is an online, searchable
database of ready-to-run thermal models for many common IC packages and
other parts. These models can be used directly in FLO/PCB
** www.flopack.com provides rapid generation of
“compact” and “detailed” thermal models for IC packages,
which can also be used directly in FLO/PCB |
