{"id":7241,"date":"2022-09-18T21:44:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T16:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nuclearrambo.com\/wordpress\/?p=7241"},"modified":"2024-10-03T15:05:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T09:35:33","slug":"lm2731-boost-converter-in-altium-designer-from-schematic-to-pcb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nuclearrambo.com\/wordpress\/lm2731-boost-converter-in-altium-designer-from-schematic-to-pcb\/","title":{"rendered":"LM2731 boost converter in Altium Designer – From schematic to PCB"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this quick article, I show step by step process of drawing a boost converter<\/a> schematic and finally ending up with a PCB layout. All of it done on Altium designer using Altium’s own Manufacturer Part search for component database. Although, I might use a few components from SamacSys free library<\/a>. The circuit is based around LM2731<\/a> boost converter chip from Texas Instruments. I used this simple chip sometime ago for 5V to 12V conversion required to control a UHF amplifier. While some of you may say, why not just derive the 12V from the main DC supply? That would have been ideal but when dealing with high voltage DC, things get expensive fast. I felt this was the cheapest option for me. Anyway, my design choices are not the focus of this article. So, let’s get to the main business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selecting components and drawing schematic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ideal option would be creating your own library components where every parameter is under your control. That way, we can standardize our library creation. Library creation can become a bit time consuming when it comes to maintaining every small parameter for documentation purpose. That’s all good when you are working in a professional setup. When it comes to doing circuits for hobby or quick prototyping, I don’t really care about all that stuff. All I want is a resistor with a specific value and a package. I may pay attention to exact part numbers if my design needs to work at several GHz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufacturer Part search in Altium Designer is a very handy tool to search for parts quickly. Now, I have been using the Panasonic ERJ series resistors and I found that there are variations in footprint from part to part. For example, a 10K resistor may have a fixed set of parameters such as footprint, value, part number, temperature range and so on. Another value from the same series may have or not have certain parameters. Now, as a hobbyist I don’t really care about it. As a professional, this is bothersome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Parameters for the 13.3K resistor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Way more parameters for the 47K resistor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, the parameters for the 47K resistor don’t even match the resistor. Who specifies luminous intensity for a resistor? Clearly, whoever responsible for creating these part libraries isn’t doing their work correctly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I am bothered about the symbol and the footprint. Since, that’s meeting my requirement I am all good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I carefully place all the symbols and create a small schematic quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The entire schematic. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The input and outputs are turret terminals which I got from SamacSys library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n