When a component goes out of stock or EOL (end-of-life) on a bill of materials, the time and money cost can be enormous. Production is delayed, engineering needs to spend time finding and testing replacements, and the customer is left waiting. It is important to mitigate this risk by keeping a list of cross-references for as many parts as possible in order to secure the supply chain. Building this list, however, is another large sink of time and money. Parts are often compared and tested manually to ensure compatibility. This ends up spending large amounts of engineering resources which could be spent on improvement and development of new products.
A German company, SourcingBot, has introduced an automated cross-reference tool to speed up this process and present the most complete information available in many component categories, such as semiconductors, connectors, resistors, inductors, and capacitors. In this article, the process of bulletproofing a bill of materials against stock and price risk using the SourcingBot cross reference tool will be introduced.
Requirements for Inductors Cross-References
Matching two inductors is not as simple as just comparing the mechanical dimensions and the nominal inductance. There are many factors that will affect the performance of an inductor, all of which are taken into account in the SourcingBot cross-reference tool. The first step in the cross-referencing process is comparing the datasheet parameters. Electrical parameters such as inductance, rated current, saturation current, self resonant frequency, insulation voltage and more are compared. Mechanical parameters such as length, width, height, diameter, core material, and shielding are taken into account as well. Unlike a manual cross-reference, however, the SourcingBot tool makes this comparison across all inductors and sorts the results, finding the best cross-references for each part across a catalog of over 150,000 inductors.
A datasheet comparison is not enough to verify a cross-reference, though. To truly have confidence in the compatibility of two parts, their performance at the device operating point must be known. The engineers at SourcingBot have collected lab-measured data for thousands of inductors, and comparing their detailed performance is just a click away. Using the ‘Click to compare’ functionality of their service, two inductors can be checked for compatibility in inductance vs. current (L vs. I), inductance vs. frequency (L vs. F), impedance vs. frequency (Z vs. F), and temperature vs. current (T vs. I). These chart comparisons give much greater confidence in the cross-reference than a datasheet comparison alone.
Using the SourcingBot Cross-Reference Tool to Reduce Sourcing Risk
With all of this information collected in one place and easily comparable, SourcingBot is the perfect place to organize cross-reference lists and reduce procurement risk. Much of the cross-referencing process is automated with their tool, saving significant engineering time and cost. Their system supports several types of queries: single parts, large bills of materials, and can even supply cross-references directly to another service via API. In addition to datasheet data and lab-measured data, distributor information such as price, availability, and part status are available.
To check for cross-references for a single part, simply input the part name into the search box on their website, sourcingbot.com. From there, the specifications and characteristics of the part can be viewed, as well as the top matches at the bottom of the part page. The matching process is completely transparent; the values are all shown in an easy-to-compare table and a similarity score out of 100% is calculated. In addition, matches for different design objectives can be shown with one click, such as parts with higher rated current, lower DC resistance, smaller footprint, smaller height, and more. In the match table, parts with lab measurements can be easily compared using the ‘Click to compare’ feature.
Finding matches for all parts in a large bill of materials is just as easy. Visit the SourcingBot cross-reference tool at sourcingbot.com/xref-tool. There, a bill of materials can be uploaded and parameters for the cross-reference search can be defined. Replacements can be found from all manufacturers, all manufacturers excluding the original manufacturer, or a list of desired manufacturers can be given. In seconds, the bill of materials is crossed with the SourcingBot database and the top replacement parts are shown.
Using the SourcingBot cross-reference tool, the process of securing a bill of materials against procurement risk is faster than ever before. Building a list of cross-references can be done in seconds, not hours, and expensive engineering time can be spent elsewhere.
