Before starting a complete production run, you must ensure that your printed circuit board (PCB) is functioning properly. Since PCB is an indispensable part of many electronic devices, if a product performs poorly or fails after full production, you may pay a high price. Prototyping the PCB in advance can help avoid this situation.

No matter how careful your designer is on the project, invisible problems and small errors will always threaten the functionality of the final product. Generally, when testing the functionality of PCB-based solutions, your engineers will use PCB prototypes early in the design process.

Before moving to more complex designs, they usually order multiple PCB prototype runs to test a single function or redesign. Prototyping enables them to find any elements that need correction in the early stages of the process, thereby reducing project risks and costs.

What is PCB prototype?

PCB prototypes are early samples of products whose sole purpose is to test design concepts to see if they are effective. Although most prototypes are usually used to test basic user functions, engineers need some (if not all) functional PCB prototypes to check the complete functionality of the design.

Engineers and designers use different types of PCB prototypes to test different design aspects. Throughout the project, your design team may use multiple PCBs at different stages of their design process. Examples of these prototypes include:

Visual models: They illustrate the physical aspects of the PCB design and show the overall component structure and shape. As the initial prototype in the design process, engineers use visual models to review and communicate the design easily and economically.

Proof-of-concept prototypes: These prototypes focus on duplicating the main functions of the PCB board, and do not have all the functions of the final product. They show feasibility.

Working prototype: These functional boards contain all planned functions and features of the final product. They help identify problems and weaknesses in the design, but rarely represent the appearance or appearance of the final product after it is finished.

Functional prototypes: The designer makes these similar to the final product. They provide the most accurate idea of the final design.

What are the advantages of PCB prototype?

PCB design engineers use prototypes to repeatedly test the functionality of their solutions throughout the design process, and do it every time a new change or addition is made. However, you may ask, why use PCB prototype before standard production runs.

Although prototypes seem to add some cost and steps to the process, they play an important role in the design process. They allow your designers and their teams to test at multiple design stages and make adjustments if necessary to customize solutions before full production runs.

This creates several advantages for your designers and clients:

1 – Reduce time

Whenever engineers develop a PCB design, they usually go through multiple iterations during testing before creating the final product. Although this can be a time-consuming process, the PCB prototype helps speed up the process by:

Visual aid: Showing the prototype of the final product to the customer as a visual aid helps to easily communicate the design, thereby minimizing the time spent on interpretation or redesign requested by the customer.

Complete testing: Prototype design eliminates guesswork in the equation, allowing your design team to quickly and accurately identify problems.

Minimize rework: Prototyping allows your design team to view and test the circuit board before full production, saving time and money.

2 – Accurate and reliable prototype

A reliable PCB prototype can more easily solve the problems in the entire development process. A high-quality PCB prototype accurately represents the functions of your final product, and allows designers to view and test the following: PCB design, functional testing, condition testing, and final product design.

3 – Manufacturing review and assistance

When you use PCB prototype production services, you will benefit from a new perspective from a third party. Some problems may arise during the design process, including excessive input, design blind spots, and design rule checking (DRC) restrictions. These issues can lead to design flaws, inefficiencies, and many other issues that designers missed during the review process.

4 – Ability to test components individually

For complex projects, the ability to test and verify each component individually enables your team to pinpoint where the problem is. Without individual component testing, it is difficult to find the problematic area.

5 – Reduce costs

So why add PCB prototype in your design process? Because it reduces the overall cost of the project. By helping your design team find problems faster, you can fix them before investing in standard production runs. It is cheaper to rework defective components than to produce the entire project.

6 – Complete the project efficiently

Using PCB prototype production enables your design team to find problems early and quickly determine the components that need to be adjusted. Without it, discovering the causes of insufficient performance and other defects would be a time-consuming process that may greatly extend the time frame of the project.

Why produce a PCB prototype?

Because this is a powerful tool for designers to provide time and cost savings while ensuring high-quality final products. It has many benefits, such as shortening project time and cost, being able to test components individually, completing projects efficiently, and accurate prototypes. Therefore, industry professionals recommend using prototyping to test new designs and revisions.