Tutorial 4 — library editor

Several chapters of this book are dedicated to provide tutorial exercises and this chapter presents the fourth tutorial exercise. It has been observed that while OrCAD comes with an extensive parts library, sooner or later one has to create new parts. One reason is that the electronics industry constantly introduces new components such as complex ICs. Also, many discrete components such as switches and transformers appear in an almost endless variety. The Edit Library routine is used to create new parts. Often a new part can be created by simply editing an existing part. This chapter discusses the process of creating these new parts. The library editor tutorial is divided into two sessions. In the first session, one learns the basics by creating a transformer with center tapped windings. This new transformer is created by editing an existing transformer in the DEVICE.LIB library. In the second session, the author teaches how to create an IC not included in the OrCAD libraries, a Maxim MAX877 voltage regulator for battery powered systems. The chapter emphasizes that the ease of creating new parts is one of the major strengths of OrCAD. The tutorial concludes with some tips on library management and an overview of related OrCAD routines.