USING EXPRESS DATA MODELING TECHNIQUE FOR PCB ASSEMBLY ANALYSIS

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is an electronic assembly consisting of ma ny electronic parts on a circuit board. From design to assembly, a PCB has many related data that need to be recorded, retrieved and updated in a database to support its life-cycle activities. This research foc uses on the data modeling of PCB assembly and its part definition, spe cifically to support PCB design-for-assembly (DFA) analysis. In the fi rst step, the procedural hierarchy of PCB assembly processes is modele d using IDEF0 technique. Thus, the assemblability factors and the rela ted PCB data considered in DFA analysis (particularly for insertion an d soldering) are identified. For global information integration among PCB designers, manufacturers and users, this research develops an obje ct-oriented (O-O) EXPRESS data model to define these required data for DFA analysis. Then, the implementation structure of an O-O engineerin g database using the defined data model is discussed. Finally, a PCB e xample is used to describe the data model at work. Overall, this resea rch applies STEP enabling key-techniques including three layer archite cture (i.e., application, logical, and physical layers) and O-O implem entation methods to achieve the global product data integration for bo th data management and decision supports in PCB DFA realization. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science B.V.