UltraCAD Design, Inc
 

PCB Trace Calculator

 

UltraCAD's new PCB Trace Calculator makes a variety of calculations related to PCB traces, including trace current/temperature, fusing current, skin effect impacts, and simple Ohm's Law calculations. The four major calculational functions of the calculator are illustrated in the screen shots that follow.

Two major functions of this calculator are covered in videos that UltraCAD now offers. Our video on PCB temp covers the relationship between trace currents and temperature increases and also trace fusing currents. Look at our article section on Trace Current/Temperature/Power/Resistance   to locate articles on these topics. The other video on the Skin Effect explains in detail what the skin effect, how to make sin effect calculations, and how the skin effect can effect PCB traces.

This calculator requires a license to purchase and run. Click here to learn more about how to acquire a license. The license fee is $150 USD.

Click here to download the calculator itself.

Click here to see a *.wmv demo of the calculator (just under 7 minutes, 8 Megs.)

 

    

 

This is the main calculator screen. It illustrates trace current/temperature calculations for a 250 mil wide, 1 Oz trace. The crossover frequency for this trace dimension is 14.81 MHz. At a frequency of 18 MHz the skin depth is .6128 mils, reducing the effective cross-sectional area of the trace to 90.785% of its nominal value. If this trace carries 15 Amps at this frequency, the trace's temperature would increase 41.22 degrees C.

  
     

 

If we wanted to know how long this trace would last before it melted (fused) carrying 60 Amps, the calculator tells us .92 seconds (just under one second). The Skin Effect is limiting this result. At a lower frequency, the trace would last a little longer.

  
     

 

The calculator, then call tell us what the resistance of this trace is at ambient and at operating temperatures, based on the trace geometries above. These values can be adjusted for Skin Effect.

  
     

 

Finally, the calculator can perform basic algebraic and Ohm's Law calculations related to the trace. These calculations are not impacted by the skin Effect entries, above. Those effects are inherent in the data entered in this section.

  
     
     


Click on logo to return to UltraCAD's Calculator page.