Synchronizing a Multi-board Assembly with Altium MCAD CoDesigner

Overview

Building a device from a number of assemblies is the standard approach to developing a product in mechanical CAD software. Altium's electronic design software supports a similar concept, where multiple PCBs can be brought together to create an assembly of PCBs, called a Multi-Board Assembly. This assembly can also include the enclosure and other mechanical elements.

A multi-board assembly open in Altium's Multi-board Assembly editor.

The process of assembling the PCBs into the enclosure is best performed in MCAD. But the ECAD engineer may also need to perform electro-mechanical checks, such as component-to-component and component-to-enclosure clearances; as well as checking the access to and labeling of the human interface elements, such as indicators and displays, buttons, and connectors.

Synchronizing an assembly of boards between the MCAD and ECAD domains has numerous advantages, including the ability to quickly verify the current state of the assembled device by both the mechanical and electronic design teams. 

Workflow

The slides below show a summary of synchronizing a Multi-board assembly between MCAD and ECAD. This order of steps is not fixed, for example, the slides show a sequence where the individual PCBs have been Pulled from ECAD and assembled into the MCAD enclosure, before deciding to transfer the entire assembly to ECAD.

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Push the Individual PCBs from ECAD Each PCB must be Pushed from ECAD, Pulled into MCAD, and saved as an assembly. Create and Push the ECAD Multi-board Assembly Create the ECAD Multi-board assembly and add the individual PCBs (their position can be left undefined), then Push the MBA from ECAD. Create the Device Assembly in MCAD Create the MCAD assembly and add the enclosure and the MCAD PCB assemblies. Alternatively, the PCBs can be added later, during linking. Recognize the PCBs Once the PCB assemblies have been added to the MCAD assembly, click the Recognize Designs button. CoDesigner will identify each of the PCBs that it detects as being part of the MCAD device assembly. Link the MCAD Multiboard Assembly to the ECAD Multiboard Assembly The next step is to link the MCAD device assembly to the ECAD Multi-board Assembly. If the PCBs have been recognized, you do this by selecting the Link Multiboard command from the dropdown menu at the top of the Altium CoDesigner panel, as shown above. If the PCBs have not been recognized yet, use the Link Multiboard button on the Altium CoDesigner panel instead. Identify the Enclosure to CoDesigner Select the enclosure in the MCAD feature tree, then click the Enclosure button on the Altium CoDesigner ribbon. CoDesigner now recognizes this part/assembly as the enclosure and will indicate this in the Multiboard Definition section of the Altium CoDesigner panel. Push the Assembly from MCAD Now that CoDesigner recognizes all the elements of the assembly, it can be Pushed to ECAD. Note that CoDesigner only pushes the location and orientation of each PCB to ECAD, along with any objects defined as being part of the enclosure. If there have been MCAD modifications to any of the boards in the assembly, those changes must be Pushed separately. This can be done from the assembly, by setting that board as the active element in the Altium CoDesigner panel. Pull the Assembly into ECAD Pull the finished assembly into ECAD in the MCAD CoDesigner panel in the Multi-board Assembly editor in ECAD. The boards will be positioned and reoriented as defined in MCAD, and any object defined as part of the enclosure will be added to the ECAD Multi-board assembly. The Completed Assembly in ECAD The engineer can now examine the finished Multi-board assembly in ECAD.

The numbered steps below show the same process but in a different sequence. This time the MCAD device enclosure is linked to the ECAD Multi-board assembly first, and then the PCBs are added to the device enclosure.

1. Transfer each PCB from ECAD to MCAD

Notes:

• Using the MCAD CoDesigner panel, Push each board from ECAD to MCAD. In MCAD, the Altium CoDesigner panel is used to Pull each board, saving each as an MCAD assembly. Note that board-level synchronization must be maintained independently of the synchronization of the assembly that those boards become part of.  

• Additional PCBs can also be pulled and built as new MCAD assemblies at any point during the Multi-board synchronization process, as required.

2. Push the ECAD Multi-board Assembly from ECAD

Notes:

• If board alignment is to be performed in MCAD, simply load the PCBs into the ECAD multi-board assembly document and save the assembly. Once they have been positioned and oriented in MCAD, the location and orientation information can then be transferred back to ECAD. Learn more about Multi-board design in ECAD.

• It is recommended that mates are defined in the MCAD device assembly, rather than in the ECAD Multi-board Assembly.

• Once it has been saved in ECAD, Push the MBA to the Workspace. Note that only the PCB names, their location, and their orientation get stored in the Workspace (along with the enclosure, if that has been included too).

3. Create the Device Assembly in MCAD and Link the ECAD Multi-board Assembly

Notes:

• Add the enclosure to the device assembly, and save the assembly.

• Link the MCAD device assembly to the ECAD Multi-board assembly (MBA), this is done by clicking the Link Multiboard button in the Altium CoDesigner panel, as shown in the above image. 

• If CoDesigner is connected to the same Workspace that the Multi-board Assembly was pushed to, the ECAD MBA will be listed in the Select Project from Company Workspace dialog.

• Select the MBA and click OK to establish the link.

4. Pull the Multi-board Assembly into MCAD

Notes:

• When the link has been established, CoDesigner will detect that there are new changes to be Pulled into MCAD. Click Pull.

• A change highlighted in yellow indicates that CoDesigner cannot complete this change without assistance. Hover the cursor over the Change to display a tooltip, with information about how to resolve the problem. 

• The first time the assembly is Pulled, CoDesigner will not know where to source the MCAD versions of the PCBs from. Click the Location ellipsis button () to display the Open dialog, use it to locate each missing board. Once a board has been located, that board's Change item will no longer be highlighted in yellow, and that change can now be applied. 

• When a change is highlighted in red, it indicates that it cannot be applied and that CoDesigner cannot assist in resolving it. An example would be when a PCB in the assembly has not yet been pushed from ECAD. 

5. Working with the MCAD Device Assembly

Notes:

• Once the Changes have been applied, the MCAD Device Assembly will include the PCBs.

• Note that CoDesigner allows the MCAD engineer to continue working on any of the PCBs or the entire assembly. You choose the element you would like to synchronize with ECAD in the dropdown at the top of the Altium CoDesigner panel, as shown in the image above. For example, if one of the PCBs needs to be edited, select it in the dropdown, perform the edits, and then Push those board changes to ECAD in the usual way ().

6. Define the Enclosure in MCAD

Notes:

• Once you have identified the enclosure to CoDesigner, it can also be synchronized between MCAD and ECAD. The numbers in the image above show the steps to do this:

  1. Select the enclosure(s) in the MCAD model tree.

  2. Click the Enclosure button on the Altium CoDesigner ribbon, this tells CoDesigner that the selected object(s) are part of the enclosure.

  3. Click OK in the dialog that appears, confirming that CoDesigner has correctly identified the enclosure.

  4. Confirm that the enclosure is detailed in the Altium CoDesigner panel.

• As well as the enclosure, you can also synchronize other mechanical items with ECAD, such as fasteners or cable assemblies, by identifying them as belonging to the enclosure.

7. Prepare the Device Assembly and Push to ECAD

Notes:

• Position and mate the PCBs within the enclosure.

• Push the entire Assembly from MCAD to ECAD, as shown above. 

8. Pull the Assembly into ECAD

Notes:

• A notification will appear in the MCAD CoDesigner panel, warning that changes have been detected. If the warning does not appear automatically, click the Pull button to initiate a check.

• Changes will include location updates to the PCBs, as well as the enclosure if it has been included in MCAD.

• It is not necessary to have all of the PCBs already included in the ECAD Multi-board Assembly, CoDesigner will Add any missing PCBs during MCAD to ECAD Multi-board synchronization.

• If design changes have been made to a child PCB in the assembly, those updates must be Pulled into the child PCB project first, and then the PCB must be updated in the ECAD Multi-board Assembly (). CoDesigner does not manage updates that are internal to ECAD.

9. The Assembly ready for the ECAD Engineer

Notes:

• Any required ECAD tasks can now be performed, such as clearance checking and visual confirmation of the fit of the PCBs. The image above shows a section view of the Multi-board assembly in ECAD.