The Printed Circuit Board and Its Applications
The printed circuit board , or PCB, has revolutionized the electronics industry. The average individual makes use of items containing these boards without even realizing it. PCBs have such a wide range of applications that it’s impossible to list them all. The sheer variety of devices in which a printed circuit board resides boggles the mind. One common misconception is that PCBs only exist in newer, digital devices. While circuit boards have shrunk and the circuits upon them have become increasingly complex over the years, they go back all the way to the radios found in the Second World War. Rather than listing all applications of printed circuit boards, this article will examine a few devices of all types which utilize PCBs for their function.
Modern communication is dependent on the PCB . While a rotary telephone may not contain such a board, everything from cellular phones to the towers that transmit their signal to two-way radios and their repeaters utilize PCBs . Thanks to the advent of multilayer PCBs, communication devices have shrank still further, culminating in the various gadgets now in common use.
Another industry heavily reliant upon the printed circuit board is that of aviation. In this case, the industry itself was responsible for several breakthroughs in PCB design. The Fly-by-Wire system was a miracle of its time which was made possible by this new PC board. The advent of vehicles which needed to travel into space meant that their electronics would need to be able to stand up to the extreme conditions found in this area. Hence, new PCB layout techniques were created to help shield components from these conditions. Hence, PCB layouts needed to be modified so that the onboard components could stand up to these environmental conditions.
As PCBs have matured, automobiles have come along for the ride. Computers in cars go back to the late 1970’s, but about all they were good for back then was monitoring engine components. Thirty years later, cars and trucks have become much more computerized, even allowing people to connect to their vehicle using their smart phone.
The printed circuit board has been a large contributing factor in making our society what it is today, and it seems clear that it will be a great influence on us in the future as well.
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