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Add power plane to circuit

Pedro147

Hello.

 

I am working on a board file for a quadcopter flight control board. I only had access to the Eagle schematic under Creative Commons so I developed a board file from it but got some help with the routing. The person who did this work didn't seem to understand the currents involved in the control of the four brush less motors this board controls and consequently did not make the power circuit traces for motor control wide enough for the current flow. I do not have specs for the motors but I have access to a very similar circuit, nearly exactly the same but with the more suitable power traces discussed. The mosfets in this circuit are rated at 6.3 amps continuous drain current. My Eagle and general electronics skill set is not particularly high and that is why I am asking for a little help here. The board already has a power plane so I just added the VCC pins from the motor sockets D5, D6, D9 and D10 to this power plane in increased the trace size from the four mosfet drain pins Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 to the four motor sockets  D5, D6, D9 and D10.

 

However when I run "run length" from the command line to check for unrouted lines it shows VCC as being unrouted but I cannot see it if I only show layer 19 on the board file. Also after I hit Ratsnest it shows 5 air wires as being hidden,  in the bottom left status box.

 

I have linked to  my board file with my problematic VCC routing added (AW_V7.brd) and also the other board file that I mentioned with VCC added to the power plane and the bigger mosfet drain to motor socket traces (Classic-Narrow-5V.brd) which I know is a good circuit and capable of handling the current involved.

 

I would really appreciate some help here as I have wasted time by already submitting the faulty board design to a fab house for manufacture and wish to resubmit well before Christmas.

 

Thanks for reading  Pedro.

 

Both files, AW_V7.brd and Classic-Narrow-5V.brd are available in this Mediafire folder 

 

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/lj7ncj4ja6djn/AW_V7_Comparison

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  • 0

    Actually it can be done in just two layers. Make the bottom layer fill VCC

    and change it's rank to 2. Then create an inner polygon of rank 1 for an

    GND area fill. This can extend just enough of the area of the board to

    connect all the necessary GND vias leaving the remaining area for VCC. I've

    only done this quickly so there may be issues I haven't spotted with this

    solution but it looks okay at first glance.

     

    Best Regards,

     

    Rachael

    --

    Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

     

Reply
  • 0

    Actually it can be done in just two layers. Make the bottom layer fill VCC

    and change it's rank to 2. Then create an inner polygon of rank 1 for an

    GND area fill. This can extend just enough of the area of the board to

    connect all the necessary GND vias leaving the remaining area for VCC. I've

    only done this quickly so there may be issues I haven't spotted with this

    solution but it looks okay at first glance.

     

    Best Regards,

     

    Rachael

    --

    Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

     

Children
  • 0 in reply to rachaelp

    Thanks for your reply CadSoft Guest. Yes as you found out I was mistaken and in AW_V7.brd both planes are GND. I did not make the Classic-Narrow-5V board file so making mine like that is done is beyond my skills unfortunately. image

     

    rachaelp Unfortunately I am limited to a two layer board the same as the Classic-Narrow-5V board is so I cannot do that but thanks for your suggestion anyway. I would have liked to have sent you a pm in regard to your second suggestion but there does not seem to be this facility available here unfortunately. Thanks for putting some time and thought into my situation here, it is appreciated