IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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36 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2026 Designers commonly size traces using online calculators based on IPC-2221 or IPC-2152 charts, selecting width and thickness for a given current and allowable temperature rise (ΔT). Con- sideration is given to parallel conductors, although this is not a practical evaluation method for most designs. An important aspect of trace heating, espe- cially groups of traces, is the power dissipated by the conductors. Unfortunately, the power dissipation or a method for accounting for power losses in the traces/conductors or planes is not straightforward. The thermal design of a PCB must consider all components, their power requirements, board material, board stackup, mounting conditions, envi- ronmental conditions, and trace/conductor power losses. PCB thermal analysis considers both steady state and transient conditions. We will discuss steady-state trace heating. It's a common practice to determine a trace size based on current, steady-state temperature Beyond IPC-2152 Creating Technology-specific Current-carrying Capacity Design Charts Using Thermal Modeling BY M I K E J O U P P I , T H E R M A L M A N AG E M E N T L LC A RT I C L E rise, and trace cross-sectional area. The issue is that the IPC chart temperature rise is much higher than what would be found for most designs. Additionally, trace power is not initially assessed, leaving a sig- nificant amount of power, especially in high-current designs, to be managed later in the design cycle. Consider a previous PCB design used to cre- ate design charts for that PCB technology. A pro- cess for creating technology-specific design charts (TSDC) can be used to develop conductor siz- ing design charts that account for all PCB ther- mal design parameters. This provides a lot of new insights into your board technology. The pro- cess for generating PCB-specific current-capac- ity charts is documented in U.S. Provisional Patent 63/875,465. It's possible to evaluate the varying current-car- rying capability around different areas of the board that have more or less copper. Design charts can be made for many different environmental conditions,