Circuit boards are great for all the technology enthusiasts out there. And now, teachers across the nation are trying to inspire budding engineers by experimenting with circuit boards in the classroom.
One classroom in Texas is bringing this hands-on technology to high school seniors and juniors. The goal is to get them to understand how electricity works by teaching them to build a circuit. The students were given a three-way switch and attempted to hook it up using an illustrated schematic diagram.
The diagram showed what the light bulb and board should look like using symbols that showed what component to attach and where. From the teacher’s standpoint, he believes this exercise is crucial for anyone looking to become an engineer or electrician, as they will have to get used to looking at complex diagrams instead of simple illustrations.
These circuit boards also provide exposure to instrumentation and electronics, which is a necessary step for any student looking to pursue further education in engineering, information technology, robotics, or any line of industrial work.
Even though these circuit boards are simple, they offer a pathway to learning more about higher detailed prototype printed circuit boards. Prototype PCBs are electronic circuits consisting of thin strips of conducting material, like copper, which are etched to a layer of an insulating sheet.
Typically, there are three ways of PCB fabrication, single-layer which has one layer of copper, double-sided (which has copper on both sides), and multi-layered (which has copper on the inside and the outside). There are two methods used for assembling prototype PCBs, through the hole and surface mount technology. The older through the hole method is when leads are manually inserted through one side of the board and then soldered to the copper on the other side. Surface mount technology is when components are mechanically soldered directly onto the PCB surface.
If you would like to know more about prototype PCBs, contact the experts at Pentalogix. They use software to develop the constantly changing industry and boast experience in their field of work since 2002.