Power Delivery and Grounding in PCBs

Power delivery is the process of electrical power from the source to the other parts of PCS. In electrical and electronic circuits, a printed circuit board is responsible to provide the platform for the electronic components to be set in the form of an electric circuit. From component mountain to the interconnection between these, Printed Circuit Boards play the main role. The purpose of this article is to provide basic information about the power delivery and grounding process in the PCBs and we will discuss the technical points to understand these concepts.

What is Power Delivery in PCB?

The Power delivery network is also termed a PCN. We know the PCB is a flat board made with different types of materials such as aluminium or FR4 at which the components of the circuits are placed. The power delivery through such type of material with low conductivity is the main purpose of using the PCB. The designing process of PCB requires a great grip on designing the power delivery because it has multiple effects on the working of the circuit.

In PCB the power is delivered through the network of components and power delivery ensures that accurate current and voltage levels are provided to each and every component of this network. In this case, the grounding also performs the basic role but we will discuss it separately for a better conception.

Features of Power Delivery in PCB

There are multiple features of power delivery that help to understand the experts whether the PCB is designed well or not. So, if anyone is working on PCB then he must have a grip on the following concepts:

Power Planes in PCB

The PCB contain large copper areas known as power planes. These are named so because of their functionality. These are responsible for the power distribution in the PCB. Usually, power planes are present in the inner layers of PCB for the lower impedance. In this way, every component gets a uniform power distribution throughout the supply.

Power Traces in PCB

The PCB Power Traces are a little bit different from the power planes. Same as the power planes, these are the copper traces but these are found on the outer area of PCB. The purpose of these power traces is to supply the power to the components individually. The designs and lines from component to component we see on the PCB are the power traces.

The size and quality of power traces are important factors for the performance of PCB because these decide the amount of current passing through the component and as a result can maintain the working and health of PCB.

Voltage Regulators in PCB

After the current, you must be thinking about how voltage is optimized in the PCB. The power supply includes the voltage regulatory system to main the health of components and their working. Different types of transistors, ICs, and other components play this role. These components optimize the working of PCB on specific voltages. These are sensitive subsystems or components that are designed to maintain the voltage over different components of power delivery.

Heat Dissipation in PCB

Heat dissipation is a feature of the power delivery network. During the working of the PCB circuit, a particular amount of heat is released from different components. This heat, collectively, can harm the PCB and other components. This is the duty of power delivery network design to maintain the heating process of PCB.

For this, the designers use different techniques to handle the heat at different levels which may include the heat-dissipating coating, fans, heal tubes, etc.

Grounding in PCB

If you have an understanding of electrical and electronic circuits then you may have the idea that without grounding, the current and voltage flow is not complete. In PCBs, the power delivery design is nothing without grounding. The grounding is the process in which the conductive pathway is formed in such a way that the current flows in the ground reference point of the PCB current supply.

Grounding is a crucial point of the power delivery network in PCB. It ensures that every component has an optimised electrical potential reference. As a result, the current has a low-impedance power path. Same as the power delivery network it has the features like ground planes, star grounding and other grounding techniques.

 

Why is Grounding Required in PCB?

The grounding process is somehow easy to understand but we have seen people confused about the purpose of adding the ground terminal in the electrical components. Some of the major reasons to add a ground terminal in PCB are given next:

Completing the Path of Current

The basic and most common answer why we are adding the ground path is, the current path is incomplete without the grounding process. When the power supply is turned on, the passes through the components and starts working. It requires a low voltage to return to the power supply. The grounding process provides this voltage and prevents the accumulation of the current in the PCB and helps in the maintenance of its working.

Reduction in Noise Level

When the electric circuit works on PCB, the interference of the signals of components, electromagnetic effect, radio-frequency interface, etc can create noise in a circuit. The output in such cases is not accurate. The grounding process helps to minimize such issues in the circuit. The grounding result in the rapid flow of current according to the nature of the circuit and provide a well-defined path to reduce the noise in the circuit.

Protection of the circuit in PCB

The protection of the circuit is a visible benefit of using the ground terminal. Any disturbance such as a short circuit may result in the damaging to the circuit, yet in such cases, the grounding is useful because most of the time, it allows the current to flow through the ground terminal and the working of the circuit to cease. This can save the PCB from damage.

The power delivery network and ground are the important points in the design of PCB. Without these, there is no concept of working PCB. We have written this article to discuss the basic definition and working of PDN and grounding. I hope you find this discussion helpful.