I guess I should continue on this track and learn how people calculate PCB trace fuses, not to use as a fuse but to calculate at around what current I might think that my traces could go up in smoke.
I will look at the documents I have gathered but I find it funny that there are so much resources online for calculating PCB traces as a fuse when it is obviously a bad idea to try something like that.
I for one will take your advice and you have convinced be that I should use traces as fuses... no I mean NOT use traces as fuses
It depends, I think.Cheap, not as accurate but it can work - I have seen it work.
Also consider that fuses are made from low melting point wires and may be held under tension by a spring to ensure a 'clean' and fast break. Copper, as used on conventional PCBs is not going to break easily .
Agreed, but the point I was trying to make is if a design was so cost critical that a 'real' fuse couldn't be fitted, it's unlikely to have platinum traces instead of copper or be intended to ignite the PCB subtstrate!Not all fuses are made from low melting alloys- There are fuses that are used to ignite some chemicals - some explosives, e.g. They are made from corrosion resistant high melting point wires - e.g. platinum. Also many high current fuses are made from copper.
True, but that's not the point here. The essential point is embedding the fusing conductor by temperature resistant and arc quenching material.Not all fuses are made from low melting alloys
If your making a board that has 100k+ assembly runs per month, and you need to fuse it to prevent a fire on fault then a trace fuse will work and save you the cost of an SMT fuse. which on 100k+ runs does add cost for the potential few that may possibly fail.
If you calculate the trace width etc. correctly then it will work, if you have pads either side you can even repair the board if needs be.
Cheap, not as accurate but it can work - I have seen it work.
The old graph was created many years ago and was not the most scientifically conducted experiment... the new spec IPC-2152 was based on more comprehensive experimentation. Worth looking up the history etc...I gather that there gave come a new standard for calculating trace resistance that is said to be a big improvement from the old standard, while trying to write a simple Matlab script to use as a trace resistance calculator I got into problems due to the complexity of the newer standards equations and parameters.
Let's imagine a process in which a trace is burnt off, if we could look at how much power it takes to fuse it, and if we would look at it as steps of temperature increase.
Would it require more and more energy to create the same increase in temperature each step the higher we would get, in temperature?
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