18
votes
Reason not to use aluminium wires, other than higher resistance
It is the primary choice in HV power transmission cables- aluminum with a steel core for strength.
As well as the well-known issue of cheaply and easily making reliable field connections with small ...
- 407k
11
votes
Do EMC test houses typically accept copper foil in EUT?
You are the one who has to define what your product is and how it will be designed and produced, the test house won't do that. So they only care if the product lives up to the EMC criteria or not - ...
- 21.2k
11
votes
Why can domestic induction stoves heat aluminium tape, but not aluminium pans?
Induction stoves induce eddy currents in objects placed on top of their varying magnetic field. The heating effect size is determined by the conductivity of the object. Too low (say a ceramic pan) ...
- 7,908
10
votes
Reason not to use aluminium wires, other than higher resistance
In addition to the other answers, Aluminum has a 30% greater co-efficient of thermal expansion than copper. This is not a problem per se. However, in some cases where aluminum wire has been used, ...
- 25.3k
10
votes
Reason not to use aluminium wires, other than higher resistance
The surface of an aluminum object will oxidize when exposed to air, producing a thin layer of aluminum oxide.
This is great for manufacturing, because it protects the material from further degradation....
- 23.2k
9
votes
Reason not to use aluminium wires, other than higher resistance
Aluminum is marvelous, underrated stuff
And North American AC electrical wiring has achieved mastery of using it, including the unfortunate exception which proves the rule.
Never mind copper being ...
8
votes
Accepted
Why do some laboratories use a multimeter on top of an aluminum plate connected to ground?
It's not to reduce any sort of interference, it's to introduce interference into the reading. The setup shown in figure 3 shows that they have the ground of the function generator connected to the ...
- 20.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Do EMC test houses typically accept copper foil in EUT?
Working with small volume product and tight schedule it might become
an option to pass EMI limits by use of copper/aluminium foil on inside
of enclosure. What is your experience with the labs on this ...
- 465k
5
votes
leakage current of a 10uF MLCC compared with an aluminium decoupling capacitor
I misread the question. I had in mind that you wanted to replace an aluminum capacitor with an MLCC.
What you are considering is replacing an MLCC with an aluminum capacitor.
Don't.
The leakage of ...
- 72.5k
4
votes
Reason not to use aluminium wires, other than higher resistance
Aluminium is soft. Copper isn't the toughest of metals, but it is when compared with aluminium.
Aluminium oxidises on contact with air. The oxide layer is thin, but it's an insulator. You have to ...
- 19.5k
4
votes
Can I use a tantalum capacitor instead of an aluminium capacitor with an AP1509-50SG?
I would not use tantalum capacitors, especially for the input capacitor, they are very intolerant of current surges. If you do, it's recommended you limit the current (for example, by adding a few ...
- 407k
4
votes
Accepted
Do power inductors having an aluminum winding (or a light weight winding) exist?
I'm not aware of aluminum being chosen for on-board inductors, but perhaps they are out there.
The gains from pushing to higher frequencies, are far greater than the gains from using different ...
- 39.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Does alumide provide any electromagnetic shielding?
Any shielding properties it may have will be due to its conductivity. Obviously this could provide a certain level of electric field shielding, and via the creation of eddy currents it can also ...
- 1,465
3
votes
How to connect wires coming from bottom side of a single-layer PCB?
There is a product from Molex that might be designed specifically four your use case.
It is called: Bottom-Entry Lite-Trap SMT Wire-to-Board Connector
And it looks like that:
There will still be ...
- 885
3
votes
Why do some laboratories use a multimeter on top of an aluminum plate connected to ground?
I would think that the plate is to provide a nice capacitive surface to couple noise into the meter and find out how much noise is coupling into it from RF sources.
- 84.8k
3
votes
Can inductive sensors work on anodized aluminum?
The thin layer of anodization will not really affect the performance of the inductive sensor in any way.
No more than air, paint or any other non-conductive material between the sensor and the metal.
...
- 4,972
2
votes
Can I use a tantalum capacitor instead of an aluminium capacitor with an AP1509-50SG?
tl;dr: forget tantalum, update your regulator to a better one.
Diodes makes the AP63205 with a 1.1MHz switching frequency in a smaller (SOT23-6) package. You can use it with ceramic caps. Linky: https:...
- 55k
1
vote
Accepted
Aluminum PCB PTH conducts across the entire board
Sounds like they followed the standard fab steps according to your design.
The error, then, lies between the user and keyboard, as the saying goes. Not that blame does any good after the fact, but we ...
- 39.6k
1
vote
Accepted
Altium Layer Stackup for Aluminium (IMS) PCB
For aluminium based, is that bottom layer copper there with no connection naturally?
You don't have to make anything on the bottom layer, even if it's there and non-removable.
All you need to do is ...
- 36k
1
vote
Accepted
Can you replace ceramic or tantalum capacitors with aluminum electrolytic capacitors?
"Can" yes, there are situations where that can be done.
When, is the real question.
That question in turn, is answered jointly by these:
Ceramic (MLCC) versus Tantalum capacitors
Why do ...
- 39.6k
1
vote
Accepted
How to apply thermal paste on a large surface (between IMS PCB and heatsink)?
The question of pattern is an open one (and likely not a conclusive one i.e. infinitely many patterns are equivalent), but the use of patterned paste is a well trusted and documented one. Here's an ...
- 39.6k
1
vote
Can I use a tantalum capacitor instead of an aluminium capacitor with an AP1509-50SG?
A tantalum capacitor will work fine. There are only a few, older ICs that cannot handle tantalum due to their low ESR (Effective Series Resistance). This is not one of them.
The lower ESR of a ...
- 22.8k
1
vote
Accepted
Drawbacks and disadvantages of insulated metal substrate PCBs
I think you have the major ones listed.
They may be more costly to assemble as well, they weigh more than a standard PCB, and rework can be harder.
You may not be able to use fine pitch devices like ...
- 24.1k
1
vote
How to design DC bus bars for batteries?
What factors should we consider for designing bus bars for cell
terminals?
Resistance and contact resistance. You want these to be very low as large amounts of current will cause heating and power ...
- 84.8k
1
vote
How to design DC bus bars for batteries?
You don't design them. You buy them. The cell manufacturer will offer you bus bars for the cells you buy from them. Or, you can get them elsewhere as well:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Li-ion+cell+...
- 22.8k
1
vote
Insulated TOP3 triac soldered to Aluminum plate -- will it last?
It's possible that thermal cycling will break the bond, especially if the switching dissipation is high and the frequency is at some optimal spot for fatigue. The triac then overheats and fails 'on' ...
- 407k
1
vote
How to connect wires coming from bottom side of a single-layer PCB?
You could use almost any kind of through-hole soldered connector mounted on the bottom with pins upwards, soldered on the top.
Such as any one of the hundreds of kinds:
Image from Duckduckgo
If you ...
- 15k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible