Anyone designed a transformer( planar before? not sure how to start
Sniper2 , 11-15-2024, 10:09 PM
So i need to design a planar transformer i did more or less the math but i am not sure how to define the PCB. make it a footprint? make it a trace and be careful not to let cad optimise trace length ?
QDrives , 11-16-2024, 05:17 PM
Make it a footprint.https://resources.altium.com/p/how-create-planar-transformer-pcb-layout
Sniper2 , 11-16-2024, 06:40 PM
i want to do it in kicad but ill see if i can aply it there
QDrives , 11-16-2024, 07:21 PM
I cannot help you with KiCad, nor with other elements of transformers, but still I would make a footprint. It allows easier re-use.
Sniper2 , 11-16-2024, 09:54 PM
i was considering makeing the magnetic core a footprint
Sniper2 , 11-16-2024, 09:55 PM
in kicad i cant have specific internal layers for my footprint
Sniper2 , 11-16-2024, 09:55 PM
IF i use a footprint design type then it need to make it 2L and stak tons on each other and have it really thin
QDrives , 11-16-2024, 10:22 PM
What? Doesn't KiCad allow you to draw on internal layers in a footprint?Or is it comparable to Altium in that a footprint library also has a stack-up and that you need to define a 4 or higher layer count first?
Sniper2 , 11-16-2024, 10:37 PM
it is like altium simple stack up , the one where all internal layers are replesented as 1
Sniper2 , 11-16-2024, 10:37 PM
@QDrives
QDrives , 11-16-2024, 11:28 PM
What a crap tool. It is not as if you are the first to ask.https://forum.kicad.info/t/footprint-in-inner-layers/1542/7https://forum.kicad.info/t/footprints-pads-on-internal-layers/11214/14
Sniper2 , 11-18-2024, 06:55 PM
i think ill try with traces for now or lines +arcs so that i am optimisation free
Sniper2 , 11-18-2024, 06:55 PM
still doing winding + core saturation math
Sniper2 , 11-20-2024, 09:39 PM
hmm mechanical tolerances i think 0.1mm can be acounted with some glue...
QDrives , 11-20-2024, 09:52 PM
Tolerance between what?
Sniper2 , 11-20-2024, 10:07 PM
pcb and E core
QDrives , 11-20-2024, 10:39 PM
As in PCB thickness? That can vary from theory to reality by more than 0.1mm I think. And of course the tolerance, humidity and thermal effects, etc.
Sniper2 , 11-21-2024, 04:58 AM
And that is also core tolerance
Sniper2 , 11-21-2024, 04:58 AM
I can win a bit if I remove silk and mask but that is .35 ish
Sniper2 , 11-21-2024, 04:59 AM
Not much but maybe make a difference
Sniper2 , 11-21-2024, 04:59 AM
And I was wandering it I am overthinking or not
QDrives , 11-21-2024, 09:38 PM
I do not know. I do not know what you see/have/simulated/etc. Nor have I ever designed a inductor, so even if I did see, I would not be be able to tell.
Sniper2 , 11-21-2024, 10:06 PM
thx ill see what i can find
QDrives , 11-21-2024, 10:12 PM
I added the word "not" in my comment above.
Sniper2 , 11-25-2024, 05:13 AM
Way harder then I expected, tedious would fit better tho
QDrives , 11-25-2024, 05:28 PM
Would it be easier to do something in a different CAD tool and importing that?I often design custom pads and paste mask in FreeCad and import that into Altium.
Sniper2 , 11-25-2024, 07:45 PM
maybe but math is the repetitive part
Sniper2 , 11-25-2024, 07:46 PM
get core 1 math it out does it saturate , yes
Sniper2 , 11-25-2024, 07:46 PM
and repeat a lot of times with different air gaps and core sizes
Sniper2 , 11-25-2024, 07:46 PM
+ different manufacturest make datasheet with other parameters and i need to math unifi them
QDrives , 11-25-2024, 07:49 PM
Did you also try https://openmagnetics.com/
Sniper2 , 11-25-2024, 08:45 PM
no but i am open to try
Sniper2 , 11-26-2024, 06:56 AM
Didn't go well and no tutorials but I'll try again later
QDrives , 11-26-2024, 04:07 PM
I wonder if Alfonso Martínez de la Torre, the creator of the open magnetics site, is willing to assist you when you ask him how to use his site.I too have tried some, but could not get simple results either. Do note the word "simple".
Sniper2 , 11-26-2024, 06:34 PM
that thing helps only pick the core only
Sniper2 , 11-26-2024, 06:34 PM
not all the other work that comes after
QDrives , 11-26-2024, 07:29 PM
https://github.com/dzimmanck/python-planar-magnetics
QDrives , 11-26-2024, 07:29 PM
https://github.com/quaffle51/psikic
Sniper2 , 11-27-2024, 08:06 PM
got some working winding numbers man that was a lot of math.... didnt even start pcb part 😭
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