Assembly design

A graphic representation of a group of CAD models, an engineering or manufacturing model, or workpiece in the context of an assembly. It defines the geometry of the individual component parts of a product. The assembly design allows multiple engineers to work on the components of the assembly, shortening design time.

Baseline design

A design revision state used as a starting point for change. A benchmark used as the basis for comparison. It is the known state of the design and the reference state. The current design is compared with the compare to design.

Board

A rigid and flat structure that provides physical electrical connectivity between the pins of various components located on either surface of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). All components are placed on the board. It is an electrical equipment panel.

Board outline

Geometry that describes the external shape of a PCB. A physical outline of the PCB. It is also the base of a PCB.

Bookmark

A temporary snapshot of the current state of a design. It contains user markups and the various states of the application and its database.

Bookmark file

A file with one or more bookmarks, saved with a .imx extension. You can save important links in a bookmark file so that you can access them instantly without typing the Web address.

Collaborative environment

The associative interoperability of ECAD tools with Creo Parametric. It enables concurrent engineering in a collaborative manner. It provides a highly iterative design development environment and offers electronic collaboration capabilities. It also allows two or more individuals with complementary skills to create a shared understanding with a common purpose and goal and achieve synchronization and sharing of information at realtime.

Component

A part or a subassembly within the assembly. Components are schematic drawings of electromechanical parts or subassemblies. A component has a graphical symbol drawing and a set of defining parameters, such as name, type, and reference designator. Each component also contains a set of predefined attach points called nodes.

Component outline

The shape that represents an object on a PCB or electrical design, considered for placement and routing.

Component placement

The positioning of a part or subassembly in an assembly. Components are arranged relative to each other through placement constraints and references. A good component placement can have an impact on design quality and manufacturability. A PCB designer places components for optimum routability, manufacturability, and signal timing.

Cross-highlight

A mechanism that enables product teams to visually collaborate across the electronic design automation (EDA) process. Creo ECAD-MCAD Collaboration allows the highlight and zoom of objects from Creo Parametric to Creo View ECAD and vice-versa. Offers a work-in-process design review. Development teams are able to communicate design intent and cross-probe design data across applications.

Cross-section

A view of the internal structure of a model created by a plane cutting through an assembly or part.

Current design

The active or the current design data that is compared with the compare to design in a collaborative environment. It represents the design that is currently being worked on.

ECAD

Electronic Computer Aided Design. A CAD tool for creating PCBs in an electronic domain (schematic, layout).

ECAD assembly

An assembly with ECAD data. The assembly can include PCB designs and can be a board assembly with keypads, connectors, pin holes, and other components. It includes circuit board geometry and can be designed in the mechanical assembly of the product, including mounting holes and constraints areas.

IDX format

The Incremental Design Exchange format. It is an XML-based messaging format that is based on the ProSTEP EDMD (ECAD Design and MCAD Design) open schema for the incremental exchange of PCB layout changes between MCAD and ECAD tools.

IDX transaction

A data unit in the IDX file that contains a complete description of a single incremental design change.

IMX format

Format of a bookmark file.

Incremental change

Differences that are defined as the subtraction between the current design and the saved design. Alternatively, a series of small changes. A change is a proposed new state of an object in an MCAD or ECAD design.

Lightweight hole

A regular hole feature with a lightweight graphical representation.

MCAD

Mechanical Computer Aided Design. A CAD tool for designing mechanical assemblies in a mechanical domain.

Panel

An ECAD entity comprising multiple boards. Piece of material, usually an epoxy-copper laminate known as FR-4, sized for the fabrication of printed circuit boards. The most common panel size is 12 inches by 18 inches, of which 11 inches by 17 inches is available for printed circuitry.

Performance of assembly

Model retrieval time that is critical to product development. The time an assembly takes for component placement, update, redefinition, and regeneration.

Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

An electronic subassembly consisting of an insulating board or card and circuit components, such as diodes and integrated circuits, that you can attach and connect in different ways. It is a rigid, flat board, made from fiberglass, approximately 0.060 inches thick. It is used for mounting electronics components as part of a larger assembly. It has integrated circuits, transistors, resistors, capacitors, diodes, and similar electronic devices mounted on it. It can also consist of layers of fiberglass and copper with the required circuit connections etched into the copper layers. It is usually green in color and provides electrical connectivity between the pins of various components located on either surface of the board.

PCB assembly

A design of the physical layout of a Printed Circuit Board in the Creo Parametric MCAD domain.

PCB design

A design of the physical layout of a Printed Circuit Board in the ECAD domain.

Creo View ECAD Compare

A utility in Creo Parametric that loads two existing ECAD assembly design files, compares them, and generates an IDX file with the results of the comparison.

Creo Parametric ECAD assembly

A Creo Parametric assembly with ECAD data.

Reference designator

A unique identifier that is assigned to a component in a design to distinguish it from other components of the same type and also locate it on the schematic, board layout, or parts list. These identifiers usually begin with an alphabetic character that denotes the type of component, such as R for resistor, C for capacitor, and U for microcircuit, followed by a numeric designator. Reference designators are used in schematic and PCB layouts to label components.

Rich 3D component model

The addition of electronic catalogs and parts manuals to 3D models create rich 3D models. It is the seamless integration of interactive 3D components with animated 3D graphics. Text and graphics, audio and video, animation and 3D models are well integrated. This integration provides a high level of interaction between the electronic and the mechanical design processes. The rich 3D component model offers a data-rich exchange of information between the electronic and the mechanical systems. Rich 3D models are vital to the ECAD-MCAD design integration.

Subassembly

The descendant of an assembly. A subdivision of an assembly consisting of a package of parts, elements, and circuits that performs a specific function. A logical grouping of parts that is part of the total assembly.