In PCB boards you come across LEDs fixed in them, and due to the evolving world of technology, things are changing so first leading to the crafting of new technologies that have led to changes in the LED areas. The LED case is an area that has involved the combination of two methods of technologies in order to come up with something else that is more efficient when it comes to solving the intended purpose. This LED PCB comes with advantages of longevity and durability.
This is a type of PCB that is used for the purpose of lighting in the lighting appliances like modern LED bulbs. The material used in the process of making this board currently is the metal copper clad that has a very good heat-dissipating function. In general, we should note that the single layer LED PCB is made up of three layers namely the circuit layer, the ceramic layer and the insulation layer.
This is made up of the electrolytic copper foil and is etched to form the printed circuit board where the components are attached. When you do the comparison with the traditional boards, the LED board can carry a larger amount of current.
This layer is the core technology behind this type of boards and plays greater roles in the conduction insulation and bonding of the layers.
Here aluminum is the best choice compared to its availability and the cheap prices it offers. Stainless steel, silicon and the iron can be used if the thermal conductivity required is very high.
This consist of the substrate layer together with a conductive layer. A solder mask together with a silkscreen offer protection functions to these layers.
When you don a comparison with the single layer PCBs, you will realize that this has two copper layers which apparently makes them heavier as the number of conductive layers also increase to two.
There are two assembly methods that can be employed in the assembly if the LED PCBs. These methods are used to attach components on the board and we shall discuss it below;
This method involves mounting the electronic components directly into the board copper layer.
This method involves the drilling of holes into the PCB boards where components are then mounted to the holes using the long leads that are then soldered and the whole filled with flux.
This is one of the common applications the LED PCBs where they find great use on the consumer lighting from flash lights, lamps, spotlights, lanterns to solar powered lighting applications.
LED are also becoming a common application in the electronic devices such as the computer keyboards backlights. Other devices that have employed this technology are smartphones, tablets and the televisions.
Telecommunication displays and indicators use the LED PCBS because of their durability the ability to transfer heat and their longevity since telecommunication gadgets generate a lot of heat.
LEDs have a lot of use in the traffic and the transportation industry ranging from the stop lights and the automotive themselves. In the car this PCs are found in the headlights, fog lights, brake lights, reverse lights and the indicators. Highways tunnel lighting also use this technology. The modern streetlighting system is done using the LED PCBs.
Medical lighting and the medical equipment lighting that are used for medical examination and surgery often use this type LED PCBs.
The rapid developments that have been achieved in the Light Emitting Diode industry more so in the area of high-power LEDs, have brought up a challenge on heat dissipation. The LEDs are always mounted on the printed circuit boards and they might end up bringing a lot of problems, especially on the heat generated from them. Without proper laid down structures to dissipate the excess heat will end up damaging the board. To solve this, designers have chosen to implement the use of metal core PCBs.
Metal core PCB boards are special types of PCBs that have a metallic layer that is made up of copper or aluminum. This metallic layer is what gives it this name.
There are many online PCB companies offering Metal Core PCB manufacturing. We are going to take the example of JLCPCB, a China-based online PCB Fabrication House. JLCPCB offers competitive rates and provides excellent results and is considered one of the best PCB manufacturers. You can place a PCB order on JLCPCB's official website.
So, it's quite easy to order for manufacturing of Metal Core PCB on JLCPCB.
When you compare the metal core PCB with other traditional standard PCBs you will realize that it has special layers. The total number of these layers on the PCB will be determined by the total number of conductive layers that you really need. They can be of single or multiple conducting layers. The layers can be categorized into three types
There are three major categories of the MCPCB as discussed below;
This type of metal-core PCB has the copper traces printed on one side of the board and the board comprises of the following;
The single-sided board also has a dielectric layer that is sandwiched between the copper and the metal core layer.
It comes with over two layers hence having a structure that looks like the FR-4 type of PCB materials.
Let us have a look at the steps that can be followed in the design of the metal core printed circuit boards as listed below;
After this step, you now need to confirm the digital image that you have with the original Gerber files from the designer using an inspection laser to confirm if you have done the right thing.
After the confirmation that you have done the right thing, now the design can be moved to the final process of the design. This final step involves the unpacking of the PCB layers accordingly. We are supposed to locate the drill points and this can be done by the use of the x-ray locator.
Now the board is supposed to undergo the process of plating and deposition of copper where the whole PCB is electroplated with the copper layer before the board is taken through the final process of v-scoring and profiling.
The PCBs that are made out of aluminum offer very smart heat dissipation and a good heat transfer mechanism. Aluminum PCBs are very light in weight and are used in LED lighting applications, electronic communication and audio frequency equipment. Listed below in the characteristics of the aluminum substrate;
PCBs made out of the copper core have better performance than those made out of aluminum. But aluminum is preferred to copper by most clients because copper is more expensive. Another disadvantage of copper core over aluminum is that copper boards are heavier and involve a tough process of machining. Copper has a higher rate of corrosion as compared to the aluminum core.
This type of board finds great use in the field of LED technology. Some of the applications are listed below;
The printed circuit board is a type of plastic where electrical and electronic components lie, laminated and fixed. In modern days, there has been increasing in the complexity of electronic components and devices and this has also led to high demand for more complex PCBs that can make this achievable. This exclusive board that has been introduced in the market includes HDI, rigid-flex, Aluminium clad, buried and blind or even a blend of all the listed types.
There is a list of so many PCB types that a designer can choose for any type of electronic project ranging from single layer PCB to other complex types like the multilayered PCBs. In general, the simplest type of PCB contains copper tracks and interconnection between the elements and components on one side of the board. These types of boards are classified as single-sided boards or one-layer side of boards. However, there are other types of boards that are complicated and will require complex methods to do their designs. These boards are probably double-layered or even multilayered.
Multilayered boards are such complex boards that will require advanced technology for their manufacturing. This is where HDI boards come into play. HDI stands for High-Density Interconnect Boards. When addressing high density interconnect boards, we are focused on higher wiring density, the smaller vias, the thinner spaces and the higher pad density that accompany this type of board. This type of board has a lot of advantages over the typical circuit boards.
HDI PCBs use vias and laser-drilled microvias to connect components between different multilayers. The microvias are the most preferred to offer the connections because they are much smaller and very effective when it comes to space utilization.
This can be either buried or blind vias which have a very important function of connecting circuits between different layers of the printed circuit board and in this case across three or more circuit layers as shown in the figure below;
They can either be blind or buried but they are conical in shape. They are vert small and they still do the function of connecting circuits between layers of the PCB as shown in the figure below.
When we have vias of a certain PCB layer connected without overlapping, they actually form a staggered via as shown in the figure below.
They are conical in shape but they are connected without overlapping hence forming a staggering structure as shown in the figure below;
This are vias that are connected to the pad where component is lied. They are very common in HDI PCBs.
There are mainly two structures that aren used in the manufacturing of the HDI;
This is the basic structure of the high-density interconnect PCB and uses the manual mechanical drilling as well as the laser drilling.
This is an advanced technology that is used in the manufacturing of the HDI PCBs. The method is highly preserved for the high-level interconnection use since we can make connection of any of the two layers of the PCB without any form of restrictions. This means that any-layer connection has a lot of flexibility when it comes to doing these connections.
This technology has found great importance in the smartphone and the tablet manufacturing. Apart from that, they have become of great use in the laptops and desktop computers. The following id the great benefits of the HDI PCBs;
These types of boards have found many areas of use in the modern world of technology. Let us have a look at a few areas where the high-density interconnect boards are used;
Due to the smaller size of the HDI boars, medical designers have found great interest in this type of board. The medicals equipment are compatible with HDI because they are very small and can fit into them for example in implants and also in the imaging equipment. The equipment play a very significant role in the treatment of the ailments and therefore smaller chips that require less intervention have to be used. Let us take an example of a heart pacemaker that is implanted in the heart to regulate the speed of the heart bit. The pacemaker should be very tiny and therefore the HDI has provided boards that can solve the size of the pacemaker issue. another good example is the colonoscopy which is passed through the colon of a human to carry out the colon examination. It is evident through research that so many people avoid the colonoscopy examination due to the painful experience but the availability of the HDI technology has drastically reduced the size of the camera and improved the visual quality of the same camera which has made the colonoscopy process less painful hence triggering the increased number of people searching for the service.
Military use strategic equipment such as the missile and some other defense communication devices. This equipment utilizes the HDI technology in their boards since it is the only efficient available method. there have been greater changes in the aerospace technology and HDI have always provide the need solution. Communication devices such as the wireless pones and trackers are becoming very tiny in size and this is due to the involvement of too many tiny layers of the HDI boards.
The car and other automotive manufacturers are falling in love with the HDI boards simply because with this type of board you are assured of greater discoveries and innovations. This boards allows the saving of more space in the vehicle and also have an increased performance of the same vehicle. To be specific, Tesla uses the HDI technology to run the electric car system where it helps in extending the battery life of the system. Other driver assistants such as cameras, tables etc fit on the dashboard without much problems.
Let us make a comparison of todays digital devices like the smartphone with what we had 10 years ago and you will make note that there is a very big improvement in size, thickness and weight. This has been made possible by the use of the HDI boards in this area. Thinner and more compatible smartwatches are also a product of the HDI boards.
The most in-style web of Things (IoT) devices vary from wearable technical schools to exotic home appliances. Our advanced algorithms monitor and shield over one billion devices, which needs us to exactly establish the categories, models, and configurations of active devices. These device intelligence algorithms are the rationale behind the us having a number of the foremost precise information regarding the important quality of IoT products. The percentages provided here represent the recognition of IoT products among all connected devices, together with good phones and computers, to administer readers a clearer read of the important scale IoT devices have within the online shopper scheme. the 2 dominant device classes – computers and good phones – together compose around sixty-two of all connected devices.
IoT goes on the far side in style things like good TVs, wearable devices, or good home appliances. Today, there are dozens of classes of connected devices starting from easy sensors to complicated or uncommon products.
Imagine walking into a store, taking what you wish, and departing while not flashing your MasterCard. Amazon Go might revolutionize however we tend to search by removing checkouts and reducing the time we tend to pay to queue for groceries. rather than searching, prying the checkout to pay and so departure, Amazon Go uses “Just Walk Out Technology”. The IoT product uses laptop vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensing element technology to observe once things are picked up, these things are then mechanically further to your Amazon account cart and acquired after you leave. All you would like is that the Amazon Go app, a smartphone, and a sack, creating searching visits easy! The technical school large already has one Amazon Go store open in Seattle, though it’s solely hospitable Amazon staff at this stage.
Bigbelly aims to show current waste assortment and usage efforts into an additional economical method that might save cash and scale back our carbon footprint. Bigbelly offers a whole system from the bins that grasp after they want avoidance, to improve services, maintenance, and watching, for a set monthly fee. It uses its IoT-connected stations to gather information and frequently improve the system because it ‘learns’. The system additionally aims to assist businesses, universities, town officers and additional to be told that usage effort are operating and which of them aren’t, serving to guard the surroundings.
Digitsole is creating thinking on your feet literally by providing “smart” insoles that appraise your steps. The insoles will log distance, live speed, track calories burned, and may even heat your feet victimization specially designed innersole parts. The IoT product is often fitted to any shoe, being equipped with Bluetooth four.0 and connected to a smartphone app that's perpetually updated. The insoles are additional correct than smartwatches and will facilitate with conditions that have an effect on circulation like Reynaud’s malady that leave feet feeling cooling.
Do you ever dream of getting an association supervisor? Well, your want is our command. Sippo is your association trainer. It sets goals for you, supported your level of activity and surroundings. With all the bits and bobs we've got to try to do daily, potable is forgotten, and is commonly born off the to try to list. Sippo reminds us. to drink and keep us. hydrous and energized. this is often undoubtedly close to the highest of our want list!
Nest alarm isn’t the foremost exciting IoT widget, however, it undoubtedly is sensible. It sends you a notification if it senses smoke or hearth in your house, whether or not you're home or away. easy and effective.
Here is that the answer to staying in bed simply a bit longer on those cold winter mornings. iKettle permits you to boil the kettle from any area of the house via a mobile app. we tend to adore it however do question however Anyone would fill it up from a phone? Life-changing? most likely not however it's undoubtedly an appealing IoT product.
As it says on the tin, good Diapers are good enough to warn you if your baby is unwell. while they won’t replace parental good judgment and intuition, to not mention your native physician, they'll well assist you to establish an unhealthiness ahead of time. value a try!
Save yourself running around the house turning off the radiators simply to avoid wasting that further energy before you kick-off. The nest may be a good home thermostat that gets to grasp the temperature you prefer once you’re reception or away. you'll management it from your smartphone or pill regardless of wherever you're, therefore the home is nice and heats for your arrival home on those cold winter days. All sounds hunky-dory to me!
Intelligent kitchen appliance permits additional economical change of state and maybe controlled from your phone. It claims to be quicker and uses up less energy than a standard kitchen appliance. It produces additional accurately burned dishes and notifies you via your phone once dinner is prepared. a good IoT widget for people who want a bit of inspiration within the room, if you don’t mind the additional litter.
August good Lock has tested to be a reliable security IoT device. It permits the user to manage their doors from any location hassle-free. It helps the user to stay thieves away and family in your home.
Apple is the most talked-about company of gadgets and devices. Apple has modified the globe with its creative and ultra-modern devices. Be it phones, laptops, or other devices, Apple has itself powerfully established. The Apple Watch is that an example of however advanced the technology is at Apple. except for time and date, the Apple watch allows you to stay a journal of your health and daily activities. conjointly the voice activation permits you to induce notifications in instant. View maps, hear music, and beware of your calls simply by one watch. shocked at what a watch will do? Well, it has a heap of additional options for you to explore and build life easier. Apart from the Apple Watch, Apple has a conjointly free Apple HomeKit Framework, that allows Siri (voice assistant in Apple’s iOS) to speak with the devices and accessories at your home so that they'll be controlled remotely.
Google Home Voice Controller may be a sensible IoT device that permits the user to fancy options like media, alarms, lights, thermostats, management the amount, and far a lot of functions simply by their voice.
A considerable analysis is being done on developing good contact lenses which will collect health data or treat specific eye conditions. Swiss company Sensimed has developed a noninvasive good contact known as plectognath that features a detector embedded are exceedingly soft polymer contact that detects little fluctuations in an eye’s volume, which may be AN indicator of eye disease. The device transmits knowledge wirelessly from the detector to AN adhesive antenna worn around the eye.
Ralph Lauren could be a yank consumer goods a company that has launched The Polotech Shirt for athletes and become a pioneer to bring IoT in the clothing trade. This Shirt will record the biometric readings of Athletes like vital signs, calories burned, activity levels, respiratory depths, etc., and might facilitate him to deliver the most effective performance. They are often connected to the Apple Watch or iPhone and might track & record all the activities in your iPhone. therefore this Polotech Shirt at the side of the iPhone will become your complete fitness hunter or we will say, fitness trainer.
Wemo switches good plug aims at giving home automation so that the user will manage the house electronic appliances remotely through an app. It uses a Wi-Fi network to supply wireless management numerous devices like lamps, stereos, fans, heaters, etc. except for that it also can work 3G or 4G mobile net. It is often simply blocked to any power outlet and conjointly connects to an influence twine from any device. To use it, a Wemo App has got to be downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, relying upon the device. at the moment the Wemo good switch is blocked into the outlet are more an appliance is blocked to that. Next, it's to be connected to the house Wi-Fi network and directions seem on the screen to hold out the installation. After this, a user will switch on/off any appliance or set schedules remotely for the devices to work.
Philips hue technology presents a wise thanks to management the lighting of your home with the assistance of Wi-Fi-enabled bulbs. The starter kit comes packed with three bulbs long with a disk base station that connects to the Wi-Fi through coax. the full package aims at permitting the user to regulate the color, brightness additionally as temporal order of the lights. Once the bulbs are fitted and affiliation is established, the hue bulbs mechanically hook up with the bottom station, and also the app is often put in to work the lights. There are different themes to settle on from the app to possess different lighting effects. The lights are often switched on/off mechanically at the scheduled time and might be tailor-made to induce completely different notifications.
Foobot could be a reliable IoT device that is useful in activity indoor pollution and ends up in improved air quality in homes, workplaces, and indoor public areas. It usually provides correct results.
Logitech Harmony could be a powerful and helpful IoT good device for daily functions. it's a universal remote that enables you to management your house media, lighting, and different good devices from one location remotely.
Wemo good plug could be a sensible IoT product that helps to show on your lights, flip appliances on/off, and provides the power to observe them from anyplace remotely
Whether taking care of a little farming system or an outsized yard field, systems like GreenIQ with their suite of sensors and net property facilitate prevent time and resources by keeping plants fed supported their actual growing desires and conditions whereas automating abundant of the labor processes.
Internet of Things IoT devices could be a burning topic within the current era. we tend to understand however these good devices developed by the world for the world are impacting in each positive and negative ways in which.
In this article, we tend to come to understand concerning IoT devices that are that the net of Things, the kinds of devices that embrace IoT in our day-to-day life, and also the method during which the IoT devices build a user’s task easily and fast.
We saw however this technology that is increasing drastically goes to impacts the long run of the world and also the working rule of IoT devices. you furthermore may come to understand concerning the worth, features, video clarification and from wherever to shop for these devices as per your necessities.
With these points, we tend to believe the time isn't too way, during which we'll see every individual, home victimization and looking on these “ Internet of things”.
The world is undergoing a dramatic transformation, apace transitioning from isolated systems to internet-enabled things capable of merging digital and physical worlds. IoT has created things attainable that were not possible to realize before its emergence into turbulent technology. Solutions together with good Cities, Smart homes, good works, and Connected Devices are all presented offered by IoT and its potential innovations. beyond question, IoT 5 may be a multi-trillion industry in returning years.
IoT is ever-changing the thought of doing business in real-world whereas enabling wireless property between everyday objects across organizations. The technology is unquestionably unleashing innovations in numerous verticals. It helps enterprises to contour their processes, enhance productivity, and improve potency and operations across multiple industries. Those, United Nations agencies that have understood what power IoT holds to dramatically remodel the business, have already started transfer regarding changes in their productivity. corporations that have adopted this technology can supply higher and improved products and services to their customers.
To showcase innovative offerings of IoT solutions and services, Analytics Insights complies with a listing of high ten IoT corporations that are excelling in the technology adoption and its implementations across businesses worldwide.
The top companies list along with their description is given below
This Company has planned to stay a separate division for the IoT division at intervals consecutive four years and this may increase the productivity within the IoT community. IBM has been listed within the high for the IoT analytics sector. This sector has taken an enormous success on operating over increasing in a variety of staff acting on IoT. IBM has acted forthwith and thus the search traffic about IoT has conjointly accrued for the most part. additionally to forming its division it conjointly has partnerships with several alternative corporations.
Recently this company has formally introduced its product at AN I/O conference. It had declared Brillo that is that the helper software package for the net of things. they're progressing to launch the developer preview this year. They even have a cross-platform known as Weave wherever the devices and also the net will visit one another.
Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich has learned from the past: once smartphones entered the market, Intel didn’t assume the chance was valued capturing. By the time Intel realized, however, giant the smartphone semiconductor market would be, others had grabbed the chance. With the web of Things promising some ~50 billion connected devices within the next five years, Brian Krzanich needs “Intel Inside”.
Thus Intel is at the cutting edge of underdeveloped new generation low-power chips for Affiliating IoT devices. Intel R&D centers (so-known as Intel Open Labs) and a variety of business co-operations (e.g., Intel and Kaka’s PC-based robot controllers) lay the inspiration for Intel’s IoT push. Moreover, Intel is targeting startups and developers. The Intel Galileo developer kit for anyone United Nations agency needs to make their factor is being marketed heavily throughout the planet. the most recent addition to Intel IoT portfolio may be a platform for connecting the info from your things to the cloud.
AN IoT device is connected to an alternative cloud-based mostly (mostly) IoT device And this gap between the device devices and every one of the info networks associated with the device any to the sensor arrangement is established by an IoT platform. it's wont to relay data mistreatment net protocols.
The corporations enclosed during this AR Kaa, Predix (from GE), Oracle (Integrated cloud), Carriots, Salesforce, Cisco, IBM Watson, ThingWorx, Microsoft Azure IoT suite, Amazon, and lots of a lot of. These corporations have a significant role in taking the IoT technology to a next level with several advanced options like providing a rules engine, secured entranceway, data observance, device management, knowledge storage, secure communications, real-time knowledge storage, protect from hacking i.e., security and lots of a lot of. These platforms typically are 100 percent open supply providing a middleware platform to everyone.
Sensors are found in a very form of applications in several devices. These sensors are connected along forming a network and send the info to the cloud. This knowledge is distributed to the user in real-time. The IoT device-based mostly leading corporations within the international market are ARM Holdings Plc., Henry Martyn Robert Hieronymus Bosch Gmbh, InvenSense INC., Digi International INC., Libelium, Ericsson, IBM, Infineon Technologies, ST electronics N.V., and lots of a lot of.
The most concern for cyber security in industrial corporations, primary enterprises, personal devices like laptops, computers, mobile phones, servers, and lots of alternative devices. knowledge privacy can facilitate to stay a company secure with no cryptography. several organizations have started AN early section of IoT adoption starting from a range of products. a number of the corporations involve AR Armis (Bluetooth based mostly attack vector), Bitdefender box, slammer, and lots of a lot of. These corporations have won the attention of many people because of their concentrate on security heavyweights.
Billions of companies from each finish are assaulting a race in providing solutions to the cloud services and connecting several enterprises. the economic net of things IIOT has created an excellent impact on the technology system, innovation of technology, and also the whole influence within the market.
Proletarian Army (ASEA Brown Boveri), Cisco, GE (General Electrical), Bosch, Siemens, Dell, AT&T, Ericsson, Intel and lots of alternative corporations are concerned during this sector.
Cisco coined the term net of Everything. the corporate is centering its business strategy on the web of Things like no alternative technical school heavy-weight. 720 Cisco staff that determine with IoT on Linkedin may be a variety that speaks for itself. Cisco’s move to embrace IoT may be a natural one' as a result of it's at the guts of what Cisco has forever done: Developing network instrumentality like routers and switches for enterprise customers. aside from network instrumentality, Cisco is additionally active in security solutions and Cisco is that the host of the IoT World Forum.
GE is among the leading Industrial net of Things corporations. It coined the term Industrial net (of Things). GE is rolling out solutions in a very variety of industries like aviation, production, or power generation. the corporate claims to possess achieved $1bn of revenues with industrial net product in 2014.
Microsoft shares constant fate as Intel. the corporate passed over on the chance for operational systems in smartphones with Windows phones presently enjoying a mere three-D market share.
Microsoft has three IoT propositions:
Apart from these product lines, Microsoft is experimenting within the industrial IoT house. in a very joint project with golem manufacturer Kuka, Microsoft recently equipped a machine Wrangler plant with Microsoft technology to run-producing lines. Similar comes is piloted within the connected health and connected automotive house.
Apple will IoT the Apple means. Developing behind closed curtains and so popping out with a bang. immediately Apple’s net of Things activity is focused on the Apple Watch and also the Apple HomeKit platform. there's conjointly AN Apple HealthKit. however and how Apple is already on consecutive massive factor. though not nevertheless declared, it seems Apple is getting into the Internet-connected automotive marketplace for example.
Gartner’s name within the net of things stems in the main from their illustrious hyber-cycle.
In 2011, once nearly no one used the term net of Things, Gartner placed IoT into its steeply rising part of the hype-cycle. In 2014, Gartner declared that IoT had finally reached the height of inflated expectations. What follows is that the trough of sophistication. Most nets of Things corporations hope that for once Gartner has it wrong and IoT won't fall as deeply as ideas like “virtual reality” or “gesture control” have.
It appears like the technical schoolnology big is giving the web of Things less of a marketing push than alternative Silicon Valley tech heavyweights. Oracle’s IoT activity is focused on its cloud platform.
United Kingdom-based mostly ARM is that dominant smartphone semiconductor company that Intel ne'er became. ARM’s answer to IoT is that the low-power Cortex processor family is also because of the mbed cloud platform.
Several recent publications have catapulted Accenture into the highest twenty of this ranking. Over simply three months, the quantity of Accenture staff related to IoT has gone from eleven to ~250 on Linkedin.
Amazon’s Echo guarantees to become AN Internet-connected home companion. furthermore, Amazon is obtaining their established cloud services prepared for IoT devices.
HP’s Helion cloud platform is AN ASCII text file dev-ready cloud platform aimed toward connecting devices.
Arduino’s development boards still excite the maker scene. They function as a basis for several startup prototypes.
Together with Gartner, IDC is establishing itself collectively as the leading net of Things corporation centered on marketing research.
The once thus common manufacturer of 1st generation smartphones offers AN IoT platform, specifically for automotive and following.
PTC is that the mother company of the favored Thingworx IoT platform.
Verizon is one of the leading corporations for machine-to-machine (M2M) managed services in North America that yield electronic communication via the cellular network. Verizon is specifically showcasing communication solutions within the connected health and connected automotive house.
The basis for the ranking is our info of 1700+ net of Things corporations. we tend to rank these corporations in four categories:
The highest grading company on every side receives a rating of 100 percent, with all alternative net of Things corporations receiving a lower share in linear reference to the particular frequency.
Thanks to the net, almost everybody – and everything – is connected.
Not solely is it easier and quicker than ever to speak with individuals and businesses everywhere on the planet, however, the net of Things (IoT) makes it potential for sensible devices to affix within the conversations, too.
IoT is quickly increasing, introducing new products all the time which will communicate with one another and transmit knowledge to support groups. ABI analysis estimates that IoT can grow to incorporate thirty billion connected devices by the year 2020. The application of IoT (Internet of things) in aid, transportation, production, education, and different fields has many wonderful use cases, and no single article will contain all of them. IoT-improved producing or IoT-supported provision – every trade has its technological wonders. allow us to check simply many of these IoT applications to create positive teams of sensible, interconnected devices that are capable of creating our life easier.
One of the recent use cases of IoT in aid is a wonderful demonstration of how yesterday’s sci-fi becomes today’s lifesaver: six funny robots known as “Tommies”, the golem nurses, are saving lives in one amongst the Italian hospitals throughout the coronavirus happening. These robots are used for remote instrumentality watching and attending rooms filled with COVID-19 patients.
Owing to robots, doctors and hospital employees are less exposed to the chance of catching this dangerous sickness. They conjointly facilitate patients to speak with nurses and doctors remotely while not in direct contact, and the possibilities for aid personnel to contract the disreputable virus are shrunken. that enables keeping doctors healthy (unfortunately, 4000 medics are infected, and sixty-six doctors have died in the European country since the start of the pandemic). It conjointly saves valuable masks and protecting costumes. The robots are used as IoT hubs for the medical instrumentality, that the doctors will distantly management necessary indicators, and if one thing goes wrong, a golem sends an associate alerting signal to the medical supervisor, therefore individuals physically enter the scene only it's necessary.
Besides it, fashionable hospitals are simply filled with high-end instrumentality, and this abundance of electronic devices has to be properly maintained. If all medical devices are connected to one hospital system.
It creates spectacular opportunities for:
As aforesaid higher than, it's extremely necessary to stay medical employees safe operating with communicable disease patients. as an example, once it involves routine daily check-ups which will be reduced because of remote health watching. IoT aid is already widely employed in several top-notch hospitals around the world. Still, currently, additional technology involves daily life: wearable sensors for chronic sickness patients watching their heartbeats, force per unit area and chemistry, vital signs, and so on. All that contributes to assembling a next-gen public health system targeted on quick response and early hindrance.
Manufacturing and industrial processes are already extremely automatized. In essence, massive factories across the planet are taking steps within the IIOT4.0 shift. They operate as absolutely autonomous systems involving a major variety of mechanical devices, production lines, robotic vehicles, driverless forklifts, industrial lasers, assembly lines, and robotic arms that are errorlessly put details along 24/7. Of course, these parts are united through IoT elements, like sensible sensors, industrial Wi-Fi connectors, cameras, and lots of others. A modern mill works as a well-orchestrated and immaculate mechanism that needs simply a nominal management effort from many supervision engineers and technicians. a complicated producing method consists of multiple sub-processes that involve thousands of various high-end IoT elements, that work all at once to make sure stable and diverse output with exceptional quality. What happens as a result of the full IoT-driven system of a contemporary plant or mill can:
One of the simplest use cases of IoT within the trade is Amazon’s robotic repositing, which provides an extremely machine-controlled fulfillment service. It includes self-propelling robotic shelves that move around the warehouse rather than individuals. It helps human operators to deal with their manual tasks a lot quicker.
Using IoT in transportation and supply could be an extremely promising field for creating transportation safer and providing chains a lot of cost-effective. sensible sensors and devices integrated into lading vehicles will facilitate remotely control:
IoT sensors, like RFID (radio-frequency identification) or AIDC (automatic identification and knowledge capture), are wont to track the route/status of packages and deliveries and to manage them consequently. Walmart, Amazon, UPS, and even Domino’s are finance in drone delivery comes, together with self-driving delivery cars and other forms of driverless transportation, that permits them to resolve the “last mile” issue. the higher such technologies become, the upper is that the demand for strong IoT infrastructure, that in projection can cowl whole countries or maybe the planet.
Last however not least, the sector of education provides us with a good portion of IoT use cases. doubtless, the routine of each instructional institution is considerably machine-driven and improved with the assistance of IoT, and here are simply a couple of examples:
One of the foremost fascinating examples is the Associate in Nursing experiment happening during a few colleges within the U.S and different countries. Students have IoT-connected wearables throughout classes: devices live} wont to measure the private vitality parameters of every student. That helps to regulate stress levels, focus, and concentration, that the academics will switch between completely different activities if there's a desire to revitalize their bored and tired students
A Wi-Fi programmable thermostat could be a gem to possess within the search lower monthly bills and save energy. Most of the models out there on the market can work with all major HAVC systems. Such a thermostat comes connected to the app, freed from charge in most cases, which can offer you data concerning the temperature wetness and can allow you to program your HAVC system for every day of the week, permitting you to regulate what quantity of energy you employ even after you are off from home.
From currently on, whenever you press on vacation you'll be able to rest assured that you just have a handle on what’s happening back home. A home security camera system is strictly what you would like for a decent night’s sleep.
When the inherent sensors are activated, the system sends you a notification on your smartphone, once that it records a video of the event, to be any sent to the cloud.
Home security systems today have lightweight, motion, sound, and temperature sensors that will notice even the slightest changes.
Don’t be below the weather, get on high of it Home weather stations are the perfect gadgets if you're a farmer or gardener and have crops to require care of or if you merely sleep in a district wherever the weather oscillates wildly.
These stations will offer you a good array of knowledge, keeping you up to hurry with changes in temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and air pressure. Similar to the devices delineated higher than, these weather stations are connected to an app that might give you knowledge from thousands of different personal stations. This way you'll be able to share and compare weather info and build your network of weather aficionados. These are solely a couple of the gadgets that primarily facilitate contouring your life. fantasy movies are delivered to life enabling us currently to even have remote over a myriad of things in our home: windows, doorbells, clocks, locks, lights, appliances, something you'll be able to consider and it'll solely grow within the future
Visiting a petroleum pump to refill the automobile tank? Well, it’s trouble. First, there's a queue at the machines. so the payment takes ages. once paying by money, the attendant virtually ne'er has the desired modification. An electronic mode of payment is nice, however what if you forgot your card at home?
With the net of things, you wouldn’t worry concerning these things. IoT combined with psychological feature commerce? will facilitate remodeling any connected device as a mode of payment.
So within the future, you may merely add your credit automobiles info to your connected car, get your gasoline tank refilled, and your payment info would link with the timer or gasoline pump. Such payment suggests that are already creating their means in our lives, like Apple Pay rather than taking your Mastercard out of your case and swiping it, you simply scan your phone to acquire your stuff. There are several opportunities once it involves psychological feature commerce, and we’ll see a lot of samples of corporations turning any device into a degree of sale to eradicate steps and build your life easier.
The "Internet of Things" (IoT) might sound just like the futurist wave of talking refrigerators and self-starting cars, however, Internet-connected devices that communicate with each other can have an effect on our lives outside the "smart home" in addition. For employees, IoT can modification the means we tend to work by saving time and resources and gap new opportunities for growth and innovation.
The Internet of Things are an information machine. this implies that corporations can rethink however they collect and analyze info — not solely can decision-makers ought to learn and adapt to a replacement variety of knowledge intelligence, however, the quantity and kind of information made by IoT also will introduce new or expanded roles for data analysts, strategists, and even client service.
Thanks to IoT, device interconnectivity can facilitate the adoption of "smart grid" technologies, that use meters, sensors, and different digital tools to regulate the flow of energy and may integrate various sources of power, like stars and wind.
"The web of Things can drastically lower prices within the manufacturer by reducing wastage, consumption of fuel, and also the discarding of economically unviable assets," Namie aforementioned. "IoT may improve the potency of energy production and transmission and may any scale back emissions by facilitating the switch to renewables."
Other than dominant different IoT devices, your smartphone also will be very like distant management for your life, aforementioned Brendan Richardson, co-founder, and chief military officer of Psychics, a Charlottesville, Va.-based startup that develops IoT wireless sensors. One of the foremost convenient aspects of IoT is that you just have devices that "know" you and can facilitate save time by permitting you to induce in and out of places and conduct transactions quicker employing a mobile device.
The Internet could be a stunning place to explore things. All those sensible tekki things listed higher than don't seem to be the sole areas enjoying IoT. The impact of IoT is seen in virtually every sector and each field. ranging from self-starting automobiles and bikes, observation house to observation own health or maybe observation baby. One will presumably consider, and also the answer is IoT.
In easy words, IOT merely connects something to everything, that too during a smarter means. Smartphone on the opposite hand is act sort of a portal into to web of Things system. Giving complete remote to your life, if it isn’t still dominant it. It’s time that makers build trust among their clients ad prove that f they offer up access to their knowledge, then in exchange for that they're going to get quality tailored offers, deals, and interactions.
With giant school corporations returning in conjunction with IoT, we've already seen however brightly it's modified our lives. we tend to expect to check a lot of to that, within the near future. You ne'er apprehend, you imagine one thing these days which seems to be a reality tomorrow.
Hello everyone and welcome to this article which will be a great introduction to high-speed PCB design. For sure it is going to be a very interesting class. Let me start by posing a question; Is this something that you have ever come across in your world of PCB design? Where you spent too much time doing the schematics, selecting the right components, doing the footprint addition, generating the netlists, doing the proper layout and routing and sending the end product of your design to the manufacturer? At this level you might probably be designing standard types of PCB boards and if someone was to introduce a project that talks about signal integrity, reflections or even crosstalk, very much believe you will feel like a lost person. It might be something new to you. The reason is that such kind of task is not what you have been handling in your day-to-day design activities.
In this field of PCB design, you might not guess what your clients want in the future and sooner or later, you might be slapped with a design that involves high-speed PCB design process and at this stage be assured of finding things so hard if you have never worked with the high-speed PCB designs. Today we are going to have a look at the high-speed PCB design and this article is best suited for people who want to go beyond the horizon when it comes to printed circuit board design.
When we introduce a high-speed PCB design, signal integrity should be the first thing that runs in your mind. When your signal integrity starts to be affected by the physical properties of your printed circuit board like the schematic, layouts etc then the design of your board is a high-speed PCB design.
Signal integrity is a set of measures that define electrical signal quality.
Having introduced what high-speed PCB design is and making note that it is all about signal integrity, now let us have a look at the signal integrity to get a proper understanding;
When doing a PCB design of any kind, it is obvious that you will be sending some sort of signal through copper traces from the input to your desired area of interest. The signal you will be sending can either be a digital signal or an analog signal.
The main issue about these signals is that they are prone to interference and this is where we bring in signal integrity because anytime a signal is affected by the environment there are some issues that arise.
Let us have a look at the following example.
Let us say you have a circuit that is transmitting signal from point 1 to point 2 in your PCB board. The point 1 can be classified as the transmitter and point 2 can be classified as the receiver. As the signal moves from point 1 to point 2, there is a likelihood that the signal is affected by different factors like;
Remember that the listed challenges above are just some of the challenges that you might come across during the design of the PCB. Otherwise, we have so many others that we have not mentioned above and all of them just have one thing in common which is causing of disturbance to the signal you are sending from point 1 to point 2.
In reality, there is no a specific way to determine if the project is a high speed PCB project or not but the evaluation should be done by case to case. As we have noted in our example above, the first thing that should indicate that your project is classified as a high speed project is when you come across some signal integrity challenges in your PCB layout process.
You can identify a high speed design PCB by;
When working on the high speed PCB design, there are a number of issues that you will come across while trying to transmit your signal from point 1 to pint 2 and the main three challenges that you are likely to encounter are;
Here we have to look at our signal at the destination and ask ourselves if the signal looks exactly as it should look like. If the signal does not look like it should, then it must have faced some interferences along the way which might have ruined its integrity.
The issue here is if your signal came across any form of interference during the transmission. It is obvious that PCB signals have some sought of noise in their output, but if this noise exceeds a certain limit, it might corrupt the signals being transmitted.
We are looking at how the signals are arriving at the destination. Are they arriving at the expected time with respect to other signals? Remember that all the signals in a PCB board are controlled by the clock and if the transmitted signal does not match with the clock signal then the signal is corrupted.
The big three problem can be rectified by involving the following three solutions;
If traces have a matched length, it will ensure that the signals arrive at the same time and sync with the rates of the clock. Matching is a must thing when working with HDMI, SATA, USB, PCI Express and the DDR.
The close you place your traces to each other, the more they are prone to noise and other forms of interferences. Therefore, it is advisable to ensure that your traces are having proper standard spacing. By placing your traces where they should be, with proper spacing reduces the amount of noise affecting your trace.
By ensuring that you have proper impedance between your receiver and the transmitter will create a direct effect on the quality od the signal and its integrity. This will also have an impact on how your signals are exposed to the noise challenge.
As it is in any engineering design work, there are rules that have to be followed when we are handling the high speed PCB design. Let us have a look at some of these challenges in depth;
Here if you are using the high speed interface, you have to do a signal tuning of the length of your traces in order to synchronize your signal propagation. If you miss to do the synchronization, then expect your interface to fail at very high frequencies or even not to work at all. Therefore, the tuning aspects is a very important aspect when it comes to high speed designs.
It is very rare to meet straight tracks from the source to the receiver on a PCB especially when the high speed design is involved because you have to keep bending the tracks while looking for track locations that will fine tune the trace. In real sense, tracks required smooth, rounded corners without sharp bending and you will need a lot of time to make that possible. What makes since task more time consuming is the fact that you will have to redo this so many times repeatedly until you get the optimized path.
Don’t bent tracks at 90 degrees because the width of the track changes affecting the impedance of the track. It is advised you do the bending at 45 degrees as shown in the figure below;
Any time you are doing a PCB design, it is very important to make an observation of the single-end point ZO impedances and also as well as the differential impedances Zdiff.
Adherence to the correct impedance is one of the most important rules in the design of the PCB.
Given below are the parameters for the differential impedance calculations;
Component placement is one of the most important rules in process of high speed PCB design. Before you begin this process, you have to mark where you are going to place your component.
For example, you can place components according to their functions. If components do same functions or even related purpose, they should always be in the same location to each other.
Analog components should be placed in their locality, with their ground different from others to avoid the EMI.
During placement, remember that the tracks are not long and therefore you should ensure that you leave the space for tuning.
Most common type of termination is the parallel termination. This is where a resistor is placed in the track between the differential pair and as close to the receiver as possible.
The purpose of termination is for getting rid of the reflected signals in the truck and this leads to the upgrading of the data that is being transferred. When differential pairs are used, the resistor should be equal to the differential impedance or less than the differential impedance.
In most occasion, it is very impossible to completely trace high speed interfaces in a single layer and this will require introduction of vias in order to move the traces from one layer to another.
Vias are just electroplated holes that allows you to move the tracks from one layer of the board to the other.
It is very important to ensure that you accompany the track via with a ground via. These vias are called stitching vias and they help in maintaining the use of a single reference point in the high speed PCB design.
This is a basic thing in PCB design and it is very important to have a plan to avoid so much errors and issues in the design process. So before doing any connections of the symbols or the net list you need a checklist at hand so that you can confirm what to do next to ensure that you have done everything accordingly. The plan will help in;
This are not the only things that you will consider during planning but it is among the first things to do.
After having the plan, the next thing is to ensure that your layer stackup are documented. This is where you have to contact your manufacturer in order to know which material you will use in the design and also and what type of constraints you should employ in those designs.
Expect to work with the following type of materials;
Here you have to organize your board into logical sections. Remember high speed boards are organized into many subcircuits and it is your duty as a designer to determine where each subcircuit should be placed.
This is more so for the case of the analog and digital signals which require that they placed in separate places so that they cannot interfere with each other.
Your physical floor planning should have something like what is below;
Now that your plan and stackup is fully laid, it is time to get into important details that you will need in order to start the design.
I the previous design, you might have been using very large pads maybe for easier soldering and inspection. For the high speed design, the space you leave is the key for the success and therefore pads should be 0 to 5% of the size of the components. This drop in space will always help in improving the mechanical strength of the board.
The high frequency signals will be producing a lot of electromagnetic effects as they travel from the source to the sinking region. And this might lead to two signals having an interference on each other. To avoid this, consider each of the following;
This will involve the use of vias so that to avoid the current path from crisscrossing each other or the ground and to make sure that the signal integrity is maintained.
Hello friends and welcome to this article. Today we are going to have a look at the introduction to the ceramic printed circuit boards. we have previously introduced what a printed circuit board is and we noticed that it is a very important part that makes electronic circuits complete and well organized. Having that in mind, we had also discussed several materials that build up these PCBs and today our focus is on the ceramic types of PCBs.
There are many online PCB companies, where we can place our PCB orders and the best of them all is JLCPCB. JLCPCB is a China-based PCB Fabrication house and offers the cheapest PCB rates. It's quite simple to place your PCB order on the JLCPCB official site. Here are the steps:
In this discussion, we shall have a look at a single-layer ceramic PCB. It consists of; the ceramic substrate layer, the copper layer and the solder mask layer. Let us have a look at the image below which is a double-sided layer ceramic PCB constructed through the normal method of lamination.
Single-sided layer ceramic PCB is shown below;
Ceramic PCBs are classified according to ceramic substrate material used and also according to the manufacturing method that was used. Let us have a deeper look into these classifications below;
They are the most used types of ceramic PCBs and aluminum oxide is the most readily available substrate.
They are also commonly used PCBs but they are a bit expensive when a comparison is done with the alumina PCBs.
They gave high thermal conductivity and smartly higher frequency performance again when compared to the Alumina ones.
More costly when compared with the aluminum nitride PCBs. They have higher mechanical strength and toughness hence finding greater use in the power modules such as IGBT and military modules.
This is diamond and has high thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. They find applications in the areas of laser technology.
Has dozen times boron activities than the alumina ceramics but this type of ceramic is very poisonous. They find use in high power and frequency applications
This is the earliest method known for PCB manufacturing. The method is suitable for high power and not for high speed or high-frequency PCB manufacturing.
This one requires lower temperature compared to the HTCC. They have no PTH vias and they are mainly preserved for power electronic module packaging.
This has a requirement that the circuit line space should be at 60 micrometers. They find their use in applications that require lower power utilization.
They are usually multilayer and normally three-dimensional. They are best suited for communication devices with high frequency.
Has very high precision circuits but the copper layer has a limited thickness. These types of PCBs find their use in high precision devices and also in very small devices development.
They are developed from thin-film technology and can be in 3D and has very high circuit precision. They find their use in high-frequency and high-power circuits.
Ceramic boards have very distinct characteristics that always give them an advantage over the other type of boards. below is the list of these special characteristics;
The ceramic PCB boards are given high priority due to a number of material features and characteristics that they offer which proves to be beneficial in the process of PCB manufacturing. The character of heat dissipation gives this board an advantage over the traditional types of PCB boards. components of the board are placed on the boards directly without the involvement of the isolation layer and this makes the flow of heat throughout the board better compared to the other types of boards. The following are some of the benefits that make this board the most preferred;
They are the most popular in the field of electronics due to their features that are unique. One of these features is that it provides a very high thermal coefficient expansion. These boards will still offer very high thermal conductivity even when operated at high temperatures.
These types of boards use a metal core. The metal core is used when the board is undergoing the engineering process. The board can be changed to a rigid carrier which will offer a stiff mechanical strength. This stiffness is very crucial as it allows the board to be used in both fluids and solids.
The ceramic material offers a lasting-results to the PCBs being manufactured. The toughness of the material used in the making of the board will protect it against routine wear and tear. In addition, these boards offer high thermal resistance which will slow down the decomposition of these types of boards and therefore increase their durability.
They offer very high stability which is a result of a stable dielectric property that originates from the dielectric materials. Due to the toughness of the ceramic materials, it has a natural resistance to many chemicals.
It has a very high melting point hence it can be used in many applications for both low and high temperatures. The best thing about these ceramic boards is that they will offer good thermal conductivity while distributing heat evenly throughout the board and different positions of the devices.
It was done in Japan when a company crested an SRAM memory module by the use of the multilayer ceramic PCB. The ceramic PCB is appreciated for both high-density PCB and low-density PCB. Another example is about the USA company that had developed the telecommunication, aerospace and missile products using this type of board.
This is being done by an American company that is determined is building a transmission module for radar communication using the ceramic PCB boards.
Japanese have used low-temperature PCBs in the manufacture of digital PCBs. This is used because it reduces the weight of the circuit greatly. It also reduces the volume of the circuit.
The ceramic boards are mostly used in printed circuit boards because they support the miniaturization of the devices. It has a very high probability in the application of the boards in multilayer interconnects.
HTCCs and LTCCs are both applied in the process of making photovoltaic panels. In this device, we shall use multilayer ceramic PCBs to make them tough and durable.
There has been an increase in the use of wireless power transmission systems and this implies that most power transmission system has to use ceramic boards to achieve that ability.
With the introduction of very small pocket gadgets, many electronic circuits are getting miniatured. To achieve miniaturization, it starts with the use of semiconductors that have a highly reduced size. The normal boards cannot give the support needed in order to make sure that the miniaturization process is fully achieved. In order to make this possible, ceramic semiconductors have been introduced and this is accompanied by the use of ceramic PCBs.
When you are choosing the person or the manufacturer who can produce your board, you have to consider the manufacturer who has the superior tooling that is required to make the process successful. The manufacturer should be able to control the oxidation process so that the board can have superior thermal conductivity and higher temperature resistance.
Ensure that the manufacturer uses the automated process to do the manufacturing and this will make sure that your board is in perfect condition and of very high quality and the process will be less time-consuming.
Greetings and welcome to today’s lecture. Today, we are going to focus our discussion on the Surface Mount Technology of PCB components mounting. It's our 8th tutorial in the PCB learning series and is going to be a very interesting and interactive class. In Surface-mount technology, SMT components(having small pads) are placed on the surface of the PCB board and their pads are soldered on the same side of the board.
As we discussed in our last lecture on Though-Hole Technology, there are two main methods used to mount components on PCB boards. We studied THT in the last lecture and today, we will focus on Surface Mount Technology (SMT), we will discuss SMT classifications, types, applications, advantages and disadvantages in detail.
In the beginning, a breadboard was used to hold the components together. This had a major disadvantage because components could pull out as they remain loose in the breadboard, hence giving a hard time to designers, especially in the case of complex circuits. The engineers came out with a solution called the PCB board. Initially, Though-hole technology was used to plug components into the PCB board. Later on, with the invention of SMT components, surface-mount technology came into existence. So, let's have a look at SMT in detail:
The SMT employs the use of vias in order to connect components with the PCB board. There are three types of vias that are employed throughout the process i.e.
Here's the list of machines used in the SMT manufacturing process:
Now, let's have a look at the different types of Surface Mount Methods:
With SMT technology, it has become possible to produce
very compact and small-size boards, since machines are used to pick and
place the components. Therefore, SMT technology has numerous applications in real-life fields, few are as follows:
So, that was all for today. I hope you have enjoyed today's lecture. In the next lecture, we will have a look at the difference between these two mounting techniques i.e. THT vs SMT. Till then, take care. Have fun !!!
Counters are used in conventional or relay logic control. they mainly receive pulses and count these pulses and when it reaches a preset value the output coil of the counter is energized. They mostly include an LCD showing the counting as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1: Omron counter [1]
The main idea of most counters is counting input pulses by using logic circuits i.e. flip-flop and determining the output based on which an output relay is energized. There are two main types of the counter as regards structure: synchronous counters when all flip-flops and asynchronous counters when each flip-flop is connected to its separate clock. In addition, counters can be classified based on functionality into UP, DOWN, and UP-DOWN counters. If you are not familiar with logic circuit components like flip-flops so do not worry as it's not our concern here. We just want to let you know how physical counters in the traditional controller are complicated and take a lot of space as we need hundreds of flip-flops and other circuit components to have a counter which counts for a limited number. Figure 2 shows the logic circuit of the counter that can count from 0 to 9. It utilizes 4 flip-flops as shown. The type of this counter is an asynchronous counter as each flip-flop takes its clock from the output of the previous flip-flop. Furthermore, table 1 lists the truth table of the counter. It shows how the counter determines the count based on the output Q0, Q1, Q3, and Q4. For example, when all outputs are zeroes, that means the counter reads zero. When Q0 is high, Q1 is low, Q2 is low, and Q3 is high, that means the counter reads 9. But in PLC, it's the easier story, it’s software counters with flexible functionality and usability as well as we will see in the next section. So let's enjoy learning and practicing counters in ladder logic programming.
Figure 2: Asynchronous 0-9 counter
Table 1: the truth table of 0-9 counter
| Pulse to be counted | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 | Q0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Simply, Counter in plc is an instruction to count up or down to preset value and energize an output at reaching that preset value. There are three types of counters in PLC which are:
In this counter, each time a trigger input signal has been received at (CU), the counter counts up until reaching the preset value (PV) to energize output as shown in figure 3. The counter has three inputs: the trigger command, the reload command, and the preset value to set to what number the maximum counter is going to count up. Furthermore, it has two outputs: the counter output which is turned to true when the counter reaches the PV values, and the current value (CV) which tells the current value at any time to whom the counter reaches.
Figure 3: The counter Up instruction block [2]
In this counter, each time a trigger input signal has been received at (CD), the counter counts down until it reaches zero at then the counter output is energized. As shown in figure 4, the counter has three inputs: the trigger command for counting down (CD), the reload command to reload to the PV value, and the preset value to set to what number the initial value from whom the counter starts the count down. Furthermore, it has two outputs: the counter output which is turned to true when the counter reaches the PV values, and the current value (CV) which tells the current value at any time to whom the counter reaches.
Figure 4: The counter down instruction block[2]
In this counter, the two functions of the count up and count down can be combined in one block. each rising edge of a trigger input signal has been received at (CD), the counter counts down. And each time it receives a command trigger signal at (CU), it counts up and so on till it reaches the PV values. At then the counter output is energized. As shown in figure 5, the counter has five inputs: the trigger command for counting down (CD), the trigger command for count up (CU), the reload command to reload to the PV value, the reset command to reset to zero, and the preset value to set to what number the initial value from whom the counter starts counting up or down. Furthermore, it has three outputs: the counter down output (QD) which is turned to true when the counter reaches zero, the counter up output (QU) which goes to true when the counter reaches the PV value, and the current value (CV) which tells the current value at any time to whom the counter reaches.
Figure 5: The counter Up-down instruction block[2]
Now after we have introduced to counters in PLC as regard to their types, functionalities, inputs, and outputs, let’s get to have the fun of practicing our lab work for counters with our simulator.
Figure 6 shows the ladder simple program example for a counter of type Up counter. In this example, the counter counts the input objects by a sensor that triggers the counter to increment. The ladder program is shown on the left side window while the simulator window appears on the right part. You can notice on the simulator window, we track all inputs and outputs as well. In the beginning, the current value (CV) is zero and the preset value is set to 10 meaning the counter will energize its output when it counts up to 10. Let’s press the input trigger and see what is going on. My friends, try to think before you go forward to see the simulator output as I am ganging will be the same as what you imagine!
Figure 6: Ladder example of a counter UP type
As you imagine exactly, figure 7 shows the counter is incrementing each time the input trigger signal is rising. Until it reach to or above 10 which is the PV value at then the counter output turns on as shown in figure 8.
Figure 7: The counter incrementing with triggering signal input
Figure 8: the counter output turns ON by reaching to or above the PV value
On the other hand, the reset signal can be used for resetting the counter to the zero to start over counting as shown in Figure 9.
This counter is used to count down from the PV value to zero. Figure 10 shows a very simple ladder program for the count down the program on the left part and its simulation appears on the right as well. The simulation windows show the PV value is set to 10 and the current value (CV) is initially starting from the PV value. Therefore, it starts with a value of 10. So let’s try to hit the input CD signal and see what the simulator shows.
Figure 11 shows the counter is decrementing the CV by hitting the input CD. And continue decrementing until reaching zero. So what is going to happen then? Think!
Exactly! And well though, as figure 12 shows, once the counter reaches zero, the output changes to true.
Again, the reset button can be utilized to reset the counter to its initial state as shown in figure 12. You can notice that the CV reset to 10 which is the initial value and equal to the preset value (PV).
Figure 12: Reset button reinitiate the counter to the PV value
Now we are going to combine all features in the UP and down counters in one counter which is called the UP-Down counter. Figure 13 shows a simple ladder example for that counter. The ladder code is shown on the left and the simulator window is on the right. The simulation window shows all inputs and outputs of the UP-DOWN counter.
Figure 13: A ladder example of UP-Down counter
We have two functions to test with this type of counter which is up counting and down counting. Figure 14 shows the initial state of the ladder program, it shows we start testing when the current value (CV) shows 2. So what do you expect when hitting the count up and the count down? Thinking and validate with the simulator results below.
Figure 14: initial state at the running of the up-down example
By hitting the count-up function, the counter acts like a UP counter and the current value is incremented as in figure 15.
Figure 15: count up function incremented the CV
On the other hand, by hitting the count down function, the counter acts as a down counter and the current value is decremented as in figure 16. And by pressing reset, the counter CV value will be reset to zero, while it reloaded to the PV value by pressing the load counter button. In addition, the output QU will be energized when the counter reaches or is higher than the PV value which is 10 in this example while the output QD will be true when the counter reaches zero. To sum up, this up-down counter can act as both types of counters UP and Down. I know someone is going to ask why we have such a counter when we already have one of each counter type? Well! That’s a really good question. And the answer is that, yes we can implement any problem relating to performing counting by using these two counters. However, some problems need to perform both functions UP and Down counting at the same time. For example, the Garage problem has cars getting in and out all the time and when cars get in we need to count up the cars and when cars get out we need to count down to report the number of cars in the garage at any time. So in such a problem, having one counter do the whole job is better than having two punters for reducing the conflictions and increasing the flexibility of calculations.
Figure 16: count down function decremented the CV
I would like to thank you so much for following up with us up to this point of learning and practice. Despite briefly introducing the logic gates, we will elaborate in the next station on the logic gates and their functions and usage in ladder logic programming. So you be ready for more learning and practice the ladder logic and logic gates in deep detail.