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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/1542/7
https://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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