Collaboration Pairs PCB Design Tools With CAD/CAE Tools

A collaboration between Ansys Inc. and Zuken Inc. will team the latter’s electronics computer-aided design (ECAD) tools with the former’s Workbench simulation environment. As a result of the collaboration, the Ansys Workbench platform now provides thermal, mechanical, and electromagnetic simulation capabilities to the complex component/board/system geometry in two Zuken software environments: CR-5000 and Board Modeler. Zuken's CR-5000 PCB design suite provides advanced printed circuit board (PCB) design functionality. The Board Modeler environment converts both PCB and mechanical-design data to enable electromechanical co-design and verification based on 3D data. The Ansys Workbench platform is an environment that offers an efficient and intuitive user interface, superior CAD integration, and automatic meshing as well as access to model parameters and simulation and modeling products from Ansys. Consequently, the collaboration between Ansys and Zuken further bridges the gap between electrical and mechanical design. Zuken and Ansys worked closely to validate the technology and to solve the technical challenges associated with integrating their tools. As a result, 3D models can be created from PCB design data, including electrical components, in order to perform analyses with simulation software from Ansys. This will enable both systems' users to perform structural and thermal analyses on the design in progress without creating prototypes—significantly improving development speed and reducing cost. The Zuken CR-5000 product includes detailed board-level information that is used by the Ansys Iceboard and Ansys Icepak products to thermally simulate the printed circuit board accurately. When this data is combined with the extensive 3D component library in Board Modeler along with system-level geometry imported through Ansys Workbench or Board Modeler, a user has all the data necessary to perform true virtual prototyping in Ansys Workbench. Contact Ansys and Zuken directly for pricing and delivery information on their respective products. Ansys
www.ansys.com Zuken
www.zuken.com