Benefits of Digital Product Libraries

Luckily for electronics engineers, product information sharing has been revolutionized with advanced design software and digital product libraries, making electronics design more streamlined, accessible, and readily available for every tier of engineer. This article examines how RECOM is working with leading industry partners to maintain product information consistency and accuracy to help engineers achieve a quicker design cycle and a reduced time-to-market delivery.

The most important component of PCB design is not the electronic components that make up the design but rather the digital library of components containing essential data. A component library consists of an array of electronic component data specific to a project and includes the 2D and 3D physical dimensions, PCB footprints, connectivity parameters, and electrical functions of each component. Once a project’s digital product library is developed, engineers and designers can use the information to draw schematics, layout the PCB design, and utilize 3D models to verify the physical and mechanical aspects within the same ECAD tools.

Building a project’s component library can be tedious, as engineers must develop an individual model for each component using manufacturer-provided component datasheets. As a project’s complexity grows, so does its library, making its management increasingly time-consuming. To minimize the time spent creating individual component models and maximize time spent on schematic design, several industry-leading companies have developed pre-made models for millions of commonly used components.

By collaborating with manufacturers, these companies have made library development more efficient, allowing engineers to focus on innovation rather than spending time on component modeling. Why start from scratch when your next project’s building blocks are readily accessible?

RECOM has partnered with SnapEDA and SamacSys to provide high-quality 3D model repositories and digital product libraries, making product design with RECOM components more efficient. RECOM verifies the integrity and accuracy of these models to help ensure that designs using RECOM components reflect real-world performance.

SnapEDA and SamacSys offer engineers schematic symbols, PCB footprints, 3D models, and reference designs to accelerate project development. RECOM’s integration with SnapEDA and SamacSys enables electrical engineers and PCB designers to export RECOM product data to nearly all ECAD tool formats, including Altium, Cadence, Circuit Studio, CADSTAR, DesignSpark PCB, DipTrace, EAGLE, KiCad, OrCAD, PADS, P-CAD, PCB123, Proteus, Pulsonix, Target 3001!, and xDX Designer.

Additionally, SamacSys’ ComponentSearchEngine or SnapEDA’s Search Engine allow access to other products and their 3D model repositories, further simplifying design file management.

To access RECOM’s digital product library, visit any of our individual product pages to download the necessary data. For example, to download the library information for one of our most popular products, R-78E5.0-0.5:

• Step 1: Visit recom-power.com


• Step 2: Search R-78E5.0-0.5 in our product search bar or use our parameter search.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Step 3: Locate the Green SamacSys download button or the Orange SnapEDA download button.
  
  
  
  
• Step 4: Select your preferred library resource to download the R-78E5.0-0.5 library information. Both methods are free of charge, but they may require setting up a registered account to do so.


• Bonus Step: Ultra Librarian, KiCad or other custom library tools may also be available from our distribution partners if you have consolidated your project’s product library in a different library tool. To see a full list of our key distribution partners and their RECOM product availability, simply use our product specific Stock Check tool.