December 19, 2020
High Voltage PCB Design Tips
Along with designing electrical
hardware and running for stress management, I’m an avid knitter. My
grandmother taught me when I was in grade school, and I’ve taught a
dozen or so people along the way. Before you can get to the fun part of
actually knitting something, you have to select a yarn. Is it for a
newborn? Then I want it to be soft, but also machine washable so the mom
can actually use it without worrying about handwashing. Does it matter
if it’s itchy? What if someone is allergic to wool? Does it need to
drape or hold its shape?To get more news about BT PCB, you can visit pcbmake official website.
I have to sort through a surprising number of parameters before I can
start knitting, or I’ll have to scrap everything and start fresh when it
doesn’t turn out well. The same is true when you select the materials
for a PCB. Early in your PCB design career, you probably didn’t specify
much, and unless it was for a specialized project, it probably turned
out fine. However, once you level up to high voltage or other niche PCB
applications, you need to start taking additional design requirements
into consideration.
SELECT AN APPROPRIATE PCB MATERIAL
The
foundation of your PCB is the board, so that’s the first material
specification you should consider. You want the material to be
appropriate for the performance requirements, but also for the operating
environment since that will have a large impact on how the PCB material
ages.
For a high voltage PCB, you’ll need a board material that’s
specifically designed to tolerate an overvoltage event, as well as the
regular high V operating conditions. There are a few material options
you to consider:
FR4 Laminate: FR4 high a very high dielectric
breakdown. However, it is more porous than BT epoxy and polyimide, which
makes it easier for the board to become contaminated. It also has a
weak edge structure, and as the edge cracks, the dielectric value will
decrease. Aging is a likely problem, especially for electronics near the
edge. FR4 also has no recovery or protection from carbonization that
occurs during overvoltage events.
BT Epoxy: A thermoset resin, BT
epoxy has strong sidewalls and is better for applications with planar
coils and medium voltage circuits.
Isola, high V laminates: There
are several high voltage laminates, Isola is one of the most well known,
that actually extinguish arcs and leave a non-conductive base layer.
While that is an incredible performance advantage in high V
applications, understand the design restrictions before you start. These
laminates are usually quite pricey, and you can only produce single
sided boards or very simple two sided boards.
When you first start
discussing production, get the datasheets for all your options from the
manufacturer and make sure the performance matches your requirements.
Also, don’t mix and match the insulators on your board. The mismatch in
material properties can cause issues in manufacturing and performance
down the line.
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