TDK and Ultra Librarian Partner on Multi-power Module Reference Design L

Ultra Librarian provides its worldwide network of customers with the largest printed circuit board (PCB) computer-aided design  (CAD) library. The Ultra Librarian platform is free to use and gives customers the ability to accelerate the design and enhance the accuracy of their PCBs by providing unlimited CAD downloads, access to PCB footprints, schematic symbols, and 3D STEP model downloads. 

Recently, Ultra Librarian announced its entry into a partnership with  Japanese multinational corporation, TDK. The company manufactures and supplies electronic components and electronic materials for applications within areas such as renewable energy, autonomous driving, medical, 5G communication, robotics, and more. TDK and Ultralibrarian will be working together to bring design engineers a on, from TDK’s µPOL Embedded DC-DC Converters product line. The reference design will give engineers the ability to go from concept to design within 15 minutes. 

 

 Image used courtesy of Ultra Librarian

 

Reference designs are important for allowing engineers to test whether a component and its integrated circuit (IC) function or perform well or to required specifications. A reference design can provide engineers with a complete circuit that has already undergone testing and has been qualified by a competent vendor. Engineers can copy the circuit or deposit it into their CAD tool and move it straight to the PCB design stage. 

The reference design could also be used as a primary model that can be modified and customized as required. A majority of reference designs available today are only available via PDF or other static formats. This means that engineers have to re-construct designs in their CAD tools. This can waste time in terms of getting a finished design on the table and can introduce errors in transcription.

 

A Reference Design Available in Numerous Formats

TDK’s “reference design is available in eight CAD formats and its accuracy has been thoroughly tested and verified by the TDK engineering team,” said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of Ultra Librarianin a recent news release. Marcano added: “Therefore, our customers can be confident in the quality of their starting point–in the CAD tool of their choice–rather than spending numerous hours recreating a design from a PDF and sourcing relevant parts.”

 

Image used courtesy of TDK

 

Through Ultra Librarian, design engineers can download reference designs as native CAD files. This eliminates any discrepancies that could occur when downloading PDFs. The TDK reference design is available in Allegro PCB, Altium, Design Spark, OrCAD, Eagle, KiCAD, Mentor DX Designer, Altium, and Mentor PADS Logic formats. This range of formats provides design engineers with flexibility and allows them to push forward their PCB designs. 

In the same news release, Director of Marketing, μPOL, TDK, Tony Ochoa, said: “The starter reference design features TDK’s Chip Embedded μPOL DC-DC power modules, maximizing power delivery for high density, small form factor, and low-profile designs, which will ultimately enable higher PCB board density and better system-level integration.” 

Ochoa added: “These power modules are ideal for crafting DC-DC power solutions in the nooks and crannies between and around the FPGAs, ASICs, memory, and under the hoods of heat sinks on the top or bottom of PCB boards or daughter cards, for design flexibility. These designs emphasize proper component placement, power and ground design, and thermal considerations for quick turnkey design in our customers’ favorite CAD tool.”