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Original schematic: 2MHz Welder

My attempt at drawing the PCB: My attempt at drawing the PCB

The routes are drawn on both layers and the thickness of the power route is 600 mil(300 on top and 300 on bottom). It is necessary to support ~15A. The question is, how do I make the current pass from the top to the bottom if the component pads are small or very small? Can I put vias near the pad, and how? Is it necessary to add vias next to each component? :) Is parasitic capacity formed between the same routes if they are on the top and bottom, or is ok? Is the voltage the same on the Top and Bottom on the same route? What rules should I take into account in this case?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Why are some component outlines green and others are red? \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 18:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ThePhoton Pink/red are on the bottom side, but looks like some of the text is flipped (D12 for example) \$\endgroup\$
    – Ron Beyer
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 18:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Unless you have a really good reason (and I don't see one here) it's not a good practice to put through hole parts on both sides of the board. \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 18:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ Are you sure the low-voltage side that drives the relay coil has enough clearance from the rectified mains voltage? Usually, isolated supplies and unisolated mains voltages do not cross on the board. Are you going to get this design approved by safety organizations? \$\endgroup\$
    – Justme
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 19:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ I more see high voltage with 230 V and nearly no protection against EMC, is that TR1 a transformer to a lower voltage, or is this a common mode choke? - Where will these 15 amps flow permanently? I don't think, when this is a transformer with this size, that there will be 15 A on the primary side. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 19:51

1 Answer 1

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[~15A.] The question is, how do I make the current pass from the top to the bottom if the component pads are small or very small?

This might be an XY problem. Are you asking if 15A can go through a component lead to get to the other side? I do not see any surface-mount (pad) components. Yes, provided the hole/lead diameter is large enough, a through-hole can handle 15A. But I don't think this is warranted; I'll explain below.

Can I put vias near the pad, and how?

Yes if you want. In KiCAD, mouse over the track, X to begin drawing a wire, click on track, and press V for via. Note the top and bottom track must have the same net (name) else it will fail.

Is it necessary to add vias next to each component?

Usually not, except for high currents on thin tracks. 300mil is a pretty wide track, good for about 10A on a standard FR4 board. Two 300mil tracks (top and bottom) should be good for 17A, so is a good choice for 15A.

The frequency is about 2 MHz. Is parasitic [capacitance] formed between the same routes if they are on the top and bottom, or is it ok?

If the tracks are electrically the same then no, parallel tracks on top/bottom do not add significantly* to the capacitance. They would however, if one side was a different net, at a different voltage. That's what a capacitor is - two plates with a dielectric between them. Short a capacitor's leads: is it still a capacitor? No.

*They do very slightly, due to the increased surface area, but this is very small so is irrelevant for this part of the circuit.

Is the voltage the same on the Top and Bottom on the same route? What rules should I take into account in this case?

It is very hard to see where the "both-side-routed" tracks are in the schematic because the tracks are opaque. There might be some setting for this, but I know that pressing the F9 key to display in "legacy" mode (and F11 or F12 to revert) will enable/disable transparency. Try that and see if it helps.

If the tracks are the same net, and connect to the same component leads, then their voltages will be the same. If one were narrower than the other, then the narrow one will have a higher resistance, so will increase the resistance of the pair, causing more energy loss there as heat. But measuring voltage across each will always be the same, since they are in parallel.

PCB design is often a lot of planning, followed by one or more revisions. Since this circuit seems to rectify mains voltage to DC and send that to a bunch of other stuff, there should be a "DC bus", which means two big tracks leading out of this part of the circuit. It might help to put one on top and one on bottom (separated by a fair distance), to avoid having to cross over them repeatedly later on. Ideally, this bus should come directly from the big caps, which are supplying this DC power during the time between the mains cycles.

Back to the XY problem:

  • F1 on the first schematic is 0.5A/250v. This means the max sustained current through these big traces is really only 0.5A - either the fuse value is wrong, or that part of the circuit really only uses that much current. Is this a vetted design? Has someone built this, and it actually works? Unless you saw it with your own eyes, be very dubious.

  • UC3842 is a PWM controller. It can do 500kHz max, not 2MHz.

  • TR1 and TR3 are very special transformers. If there are no part numbers or instructions on exactly how to make them, this circuit will not work.

Consider the following annotated schematic for anticipated track widths. Red needs to be 600mil, even bigger on TR1 output. Orange needs to be fairly beefy, perhaps 30mil. Everything else can be small, such as 10mil.

Anticipated track widths...

Edit: UC3842 should have medium tracks to pins 7 and 5 also.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ @ rdtsc Thank you for the answers!! 1. The holes of the pads are about 180 mil from which 100 mil are holes, but in other parts they are smaller (Ex. 150 mil x 60 mil). If i put 4-6 vias on the pad i understood that it didn't help so much, but i'm not sure. 2. Yes, the tracks are the same on Top and Bottom. Routes are the same, but if the current doesn't divide equally on the Top and Bottom then will parasitic capacitance form and in this case voltage will not be the same or is insignificant ?:) \$\endgroup\$
    – Elvis
    Commented Apr 15, 2020 at 20:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ 3. F1 is 15A/250V. I work on the layout, the schemat is made by a friend and I want to learn batter how to design PCBs. But for this i need to understand the schematic(especially where the high current flow), and it was not clear to me. 4. Thx, what happens if instead of doing the 20/30 mil routes i make them 60/70 mil or higher? Is the PCB affected with anything? \$\endgroup\$
    – Elvis
    Commented Apr 15, 2020 at 20:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ Do you need to create two separate ground planes for this PCB? (one for -U1 and another for -U2) \$\endgroup\$
    – Elvis
    Commented Apr 18, 2020 at 20:16

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