Basic Component Dialogs

This page gives a basic introduction on the electrical modeling of Components. Detailed information on how to model the different types of components (passive, active, power supplies) are given in further pages. Why is the assignment of an electrical model to a component useful? The main advantage of assigning an electrical model to a component is because CST PCB STUDIO already knows about all the electrical connectivity between the component pins and the assigned nets. Therefore, the user only needs to assign the appropriate electrical models to the corresponding pins to complete all information necessary for a whole simulation set up. The assignment of electrical model is a prerequisite for the convenient workflows (see Solver Overview).

 

Edit: Edit ComponentsComponentEdit Components

The Edit Components dialog box is divided into two columns. On the left side all existing components (stored and visualized in the Navigation Tree: Components) are listed. Selecting a certain component displays its corresponding definition at the right column side.

 

 

 

Name: A component must have an unique name.

 

Element type: The Element type of a component will be imported by the EDA import and has no meaning for the electrical model assignment. The information can be used to assign the appropriate electrical model to he component. There are four different Element types:

 

Use electrical model from part reference:

If the component is passive CST PCB STUDIO offers two possibilities of how to assign an electrical model. The assignment can be done either by referring to an existing model in the Parts Library (see Parts Library) or by assigning a local model. The advantage of referring to a model in the Parts Library is that any change on the model affects all components which refer to the corresponding part. Typically, verified and proven models shall be stored in the Parts Library. In contrast, the local assignment of model may be helpful if the effect of a single component should be analyzed.

 

Referring to Parts Library: (see Parts Library)

The tool bar inside the Electrical model frame (see figure below) enables the following actions:

 

 

 Select part: A certain part from the available part list can be selected. Currently the component refers to part PCAP,3.3uF.

 

Edit part: Opens the Edit Part dialog box of the currently referred part (see Edit Part).

 

 New part: Opens the Create New Part dialog box of the currently referred part (see Create New Part).

 

 Remove part: Removes the current reference to the part. This action does not delete the corresponding part in the Parts Library.

 

 Delete part: Deletes the current reference to the part. This action does not delete the corresponding part in the Parts Library.

 

Local Model Definition:

If the user decides for a local model definition the right side of the dialog box changes as shown in the figure below.

 

 

Five general Model types are available:

 

The tool bar at the top of the dialog box (see figure below) offers the following features:

 

 

Create new component  

Opens a dialog box to create a new component (see figure below). The usage of the dialog is identical to the description above.

 

 

 

Load part database from disk

There is no real Import function for components since the number and location of components on the PCB is fixed. Instead, there is the Load part database feature which  provides two functions: first, it imports new part models and adds them to the Parts Library, identical to the Import part function (see Import Parts). But in a second step, the function scans the imported file for component names (the so called reference designators). If a reference designator of an imported part matches the reference designator of an existing component, the existing part model (or the existing local model (see Edit Component) will be replaced by the new imported one.

There are four different kind of data formats which can be imported:

The function will be explained with an example: An Excel file including 2-pin RLC csv data shall be imported, see figure below. Column A includes a reference designator (= component name) for each part model:

 

  

 

The figure below shows an extract from a component list. At the end of the list there is the component R1900 which has no model data:

 

 

The Excel file from above includes the reference designator R1900 and therefore, the Load Part Data function will assign the corresponding part model to the R1900 component. After performing the Load Part Data function a message on the number of updated components will be given. The result can be seen in the figure below:

 

 

Export components

Pressing the export button shows the dialog box shown in the figure below. On the left side the list of all available components is displayed. All components (or more precise: the electrical model from all components)  which should be exported have to be tagged:

 

 

On the right side, the definition of the currently selected component is shown (and can still be edited). The ASCII file where the electrical models of the components should be exported has to be specified inside the Database file field. The models will be exported in a specific internal file format, CST Components Database (*.cmp_db). All available Model types

 

Disable selected component

For some analysis tasks it is useful to remove an existing component from the PCB. Pressing the Disable button removes the selected component and its related pins and pad stacks from the board.

 

Enable selected component

Pressing the Enable button brings the disabled component and its related pins and pad stacks back to the board.

 

Delete selected component

Pressing the Delete button really deletes the component, in contrast to the Disable button (see above).