Microwaves have a subset of heating elements, electrical outlets, and a control panel.
A subassembly is a group of parts put together to form part of a finished assembly. An assembly refers to a group of subassemblies put together to make something that performs a specific task. The most common areas where a subassembly will be used are electronics, optics, and computers.
Electronic subassemblies are used in a wide variety of consumer electronics products. Small appliances like microwaves and portable media players have subassemblies. In a microwave, there are heating elements, electrical outlets, and the actual control panel. All three areas can contain smaller groups of parts or subassemblies.
A portable media player containing subsets.
The control panel will contain the electronic subassembly. It usually consists of a printed circuit board, or PCB, and also a light-emitting diode, or LED display. The keyboard that controls the cooking time is also part of the electronics subassembly. These three elements are connected to each other using a soldering iron. The electronics subassembly is then coupled with the heating elements, plugs, and housing to form the microwave.
The electronic subassembly of a cell phone allows the device to pick up signals from a cell tower.
Electronic devices like cell phones or televisions also have electronic subassemblies. The screen and printed circuit board of portable media players and mobile phones, although much smaller than those of a microwave oven, work in a similar way. Cell phones have additional radio frequency, or RF, components that allow them to pick up signals from cell phone towers. The components are then attached to the outer casing to complete the device.
Televisions combine electronic subassemblies and an optical subassembly in the manufacturing process. The electronic PCBs house all the “brains” that allow the television to work, such as channel and volume control. The optical subassembly manages the display, whether it’s liquid crystal, also known as LCD, or plasma. Optical subassemblies are also part of theater cameras, projection equipment, and lighting.
Computers have custom subsets unique to their applications. In a computer subassembly, several electronic subassemblies are fused together to form the central processing unit, or CPU. The CPU is the actual part of the computer that runs the machine. It contains the memory, processing, and sound subassemblies, which are typically made up of multiple PCBs.
Each PCB can contain hundreds of components connected to the PCB by soldering. The PCB is then coupled with other PCBs to form part of the computer responsible for a specific function. Once all manufacturing is complete, the PCBs are placed in a box that forms the computer.