A Component Manipulation Algorithm to Enable Design Automation of Power Electronic PCBs

Determining the optimal positions of components has been identified as one of the bottlenecks in the design automation of power electronics (DAPE). Automated component parametric optimization algorithms for power electronic circuits especially power modules have been widely studied recently. On the other hand, the PCB level component problem is much more complicated due to the variable degree- of-freedom of the component positions and enormous search space. This paper presents a novel component manipulation algorithm as a fundamental tool in the design automation of power electronic PCBs. With component grouping and design pattern mutation methods, this algorithm can efficiently search the component placements that best meet users’ optimization objectives. The application background, ideas, and technical details of the algorithm are elaborated and discussed in detail. Example cases are demonstrated to justify the validity, efficiency, and convergency of the novel algorithm, which can be later built into the fundamental toolboxes for rapid optimization of PCB product design.