June, 2017
www.us-tech.com
Page 53 Simplifying Automated Leakage Current Analysis By Günther Schindler, Managing Director, Schindler & Schill GmbH P
reserving the dielectric strength of con- ductive components is largely a matter of positioning them correctly and main-
taining the right distances between them. The miniaturization and combination of PCB net classes and stack-ups makes the determi- nation of air and creepage distances a highly complex task. The EasyLogix team, along with SEW-EURODRIVE, has developed a simple, automatic leakage current analysis software solution. Called PCB-Investigator, it is a visualization and simulation tool, which enables the air and creepage distances of power electronics to be analyzed within min- utes, a task that used to take several days to complete. As an example, when developing
circuits of more than 30 VAC or 50 VDC, certain security parameters need to be considered. Since these are already high-voltage values, layout that prevents leakage current must meet minimum distance requirements between the conductive components, such as those outlined in standards like DIN EN 60664 VDE 0110, IPC2 221A or UL60950-1. For leakage current properties of
insulation materials, the degree of pollution needs to be taken into account, and whether expected non- conductive pollution may temporarily develop conductivity through conden- sation. It gets even more challenging for applications that involve much greater voltages and the risk of dam- age, including drive technology. For SEW-EURODRIVE, a spe-
cialist in the field of drive technology, power transmission and motion con- trol, it previously took several days to identify, manually measure and test all possible creepage distances and clearances for a new product. The company’s electronics team set out to find a more efficient solution. They were unable to find ready-to-use soft- ware on the market, but discovered EasyLogix, an organization that was able to work with the engineers to develop an automated leakage current analysis solution.
Base Software PCB-Investigator is a flexible
CAD/CAM system that uses ODB++ to depict the entire process of PCB design. Over the product’s entire life- cycle it bridges the gaps between the tools used by various departments, as well as those between 2D and 3D CAD/CAM systems. The EasyLogix team is continuously developing the base software, adding further analyt- ics and simulation functions. Recently, the company introduced a solution for thermal simulation. The software was well-suited to
the leakage current analysis require- ments. PCB-Investigator collates all relevant data about a particular development project. The data are not limited to conductive traces and areas, but also include information about components, networks and the layout of boards and stack-ups. All the information is available
at the touch of a button, using differ- ent search criteria. This can be accessed easily by both individual employees and whole departments during the design process to evaluate and modify layers and parts, includ- ing components, pins, networks, and copper. The tool can process many for-
mats, including GenCAD IPC2851, PC365, Gerber, DPF, Sieb&Meyer,
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Excellon, DXF, and Grid (BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF), and convert them into ODB++. In ODB++ all PCB production data are stored in a single record. PCB-Investigator uses this for- mat as a central database and consolidates all the data for the development process with each step in the production sequence through to the box-build enclosure.
Identifying Networks To enable an automatic evaluation of
Measurements over the edge of a PCB must be made diagonally, which is easy to overlook with a manual calculation of creepage distance.
1 04/05/17 09:00 AM
clearance and creepage distances, the place- ment position of different components, as well as each network class, must be known. SEW- EURODRIVE’s first implementation of the
Continued on page 57
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