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Questions tagged [copper]

The Element Cu known for its electrical and thermal conductivity, both of which are exploited in EE. THis material is typically what is used in PCB's for the traces and also modern CMOS processes have Cu layers in them due to it's superior conductivity. You also see copper in heat sinks to carry heat away from components.

19 votes
9 answers
159k views

How do I calculate the temperature rise in a copper conductor?

If I pass a current through a copper conductor, how can I calculate how hot the conductor will get? For example, if I have a 7.2kW load powered by 240VAC, the current will be 30A. If I transmit this ...
BG100's user avatar
  • 5,818
22 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why does water short out PCBs? (i.e. Why doesn't electricity follow the path of least resistance?)

If copper is more conductive than water (at any reasonable PH), submerging copper electronic circuits in should have no effect, as the electricity should continue to follow the path of least ...
Asker's user avatar
  • 223
12 votes
3 answers
8k views

multi-layer board copper pour

I have a 6-layer board where the internal 4 planes are +15,GND,VCC,-15. I was wondering if there was any advantage to doing a copper pour on the top and bottom layers? I would probably leave them ...
Ross W's user avatar
  • 447
32 votes
4 answers
22k views

How do I determine the area of copper needed on a PCB to provide adequate heatsinking for a power SMD MOSFET?

I am planning to use the IRFR5305PBF Power MOSFET (http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/irfr5305pbf.pdf) to switch on a load. I have determined that I need an external heatsink with Rthsa &...
dla59's user avatar
  • 357
4 votes
2 answers
4k views

Coils! Does the material used matter?

I've been making some coils with wires and I find out that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't work at all, the inside of those that don't work are some what more "silver-ish", more "metal-...
Harry Svensson's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
11k views

High voltage cable cross section

What kind of power and voltage can the cable in the photo possibly drive and why is it composed of a lot of small cables? What if the diameter of the single copper cables were a little bigger? How ...
user2485710's user avatar
53 votes
9 answers
19k views

Why are copper cables round?

Why are cables only made of round shapes? What is the advantage of it? Why aren't there triangular or quadrilateral or pentagon shapes of cables?
lucenzo97's user avatar
  • 2,432
7 votes
4 answers
16k views

Reference source for copper conductivity vs. temperature

I am looking for a curve for copper conductivity vs. temperature over the -55°C to +180°C range (covers std. ranges of semiconductors plus NEMA class H insulation in the case of magnetics / motors) ...
Jason S's user avatar
  • 14.1k
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

Calculate resistance of coil/inductor made of PCB traces

This is to be a NFC coil/inductor of 1.1uH according do ST's eDesignSuite tool, with 7 turns. The drawing above follows these parameters: ST's tool give inductance value as 1.1uH, but also I need ...
abomin3v3l's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
3k views

How to remove Kapton polyimide film from Pyralux cupper sheet?

I want to etch Pyralux sheet and will follow this tutorial. The sheet I want to try is LF9120R and it is 1 oz of copper per square ft (or 305g/m^2). They describe ...
KingsInnerSoul's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
4k views

Add exposed copper to eagle board?

I am new to using eagle. I want to put some exposed copper pads that I can solder to on my board. The catch is that they cannot have through holes. I tried just making polygons in the top layer, but I ...
tnecniv's user avatar
  • 13