Pretty Great USB Boost Converter! | 1-Min

Tech Consultant Zach Peterson explores a top-notch buck converter in this one-minute PCB design review. This is the third submission from superfan Hany Hamza and it's pretty close to perfect.
Zach dissects the design, from choosing the right inductor to understanding the nuances of USB-C power inputs - all to help you learn how to boost your device's performance while minimizing EMI issues.
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#BuckConverter #PCBDesign #CircuitDesign #USBPower #DIYElectronics #ElectronicEngineering #TechTutorial

[@AltiumAcademy]

👉 Reach out to Zach on LinkedIn to have your design reviewed: www.linkedin.com/in/zachariah-peterson/

[@sanderwind1328]

Then where should the shield be connected to if not ground?

[@codures]

It's already connected at the other end.

[@fedimakni1200]

Where we should connect the usb shield in that case?

[@Pkemarco]

You can leave them not connected or use a single point connection to ground (with/without a resistance or filter circuit) I think

[@Zachariah-Peterson]

Unfortunately the edit cut off some of the remarks. You can connect the shield to the system ground as shown in the video but there is a risk of interaction with an ESD pulse into your components via the ground region. You could also use a ground ring around the edge, which can divert any ESD pulse that gets onto the connector shield. The ground ring is equivalent to having a chassis ground which connects to a metalized enclosure.

[@codures]

R3 should be 2 parallel R4s: 10mA through D2 12mA through D3 Reduced BOM Benefits: 1st: lower board price 2nd: visually equivalent LEDs because 10mA is closer to 12mA than 15.1mA. +1 for the shield

[@jayzinho10]

How to write on silkscreen like “vin” and “gnd” (white background text)?

[@Zachariah-Peterson]

After you place some text in the silkscreen layer, select the silkscreen and go to the Properties panel. In the font area, select the option that says "Inverted"

[@Zeren1234]

No pull down no CC. It will not work with usb-c power delivery.

[@Zachariah-Peterson]

That's true but the USB-C is only giving V_IN, it's not supplying power from the buck converter to something else.

[@epeglab1o1]

​@Zachariah-Peterson don't you still need the proper CC resistors? The CC pins used to tell the upstream device that you can take 9V/15V etc.

[@Zachariah-Peterson]

​@@epeglab1o1 In general it depends, but in this case the USB C is only accepting power from a cable that does not connect to those pins and does not supply data (i.e., USB A). Think about USB A cable connecting to USB C but is only supplying power. You could pull the CC1/CC2 pins down with the required resistors but those pins will not connect anywhere on the other end of the cable. This device also does not have any data connections in it, so there are no data pins on the connector symbol and the CC pins serve no purpose for defining a possible USB C to USB C connection. Without the pins you just have the 5V DC coming from the USB A to USB C cable and you can still supply as much power as the cable/interface/host chip can handle. I did not address it in this video but maybe I can make a different video about it as it is a good topic. If it were USB C or specifically one of the USB PD standards it would be different and the CC pins are needed to define source and sink. If this was also a data connection then the CC pins are needed. And finally if you are converting a device with a USB A interface to operate over a USB C to USB C link then the CC pins are needed.

[@Zeren1234]

But without resistors the buck convertor will not turn on the V_IN. It will work only with usb-a. Same mistake was on first rev. of the Raspberry pi with usb-c.

[@SnakebitSTI]

IIRC the RPi issue was using the one pulldown resistor (Rd) for both CC lines. A USB-C cable is supposed to connect one CC pin on each end to ground through a low value resistor (Ra). Because the RPi shorted the CC lines together, chargers would see a voltage drop corresponding to Ra on both CC lines, which is the identifier for a passive audio adapter. USB-C devices are not supposed to supply power without identifying a valid device on the other end of the cable. As for the initial point, if you just want 5V and at most 3A, your device needs to identify itself as an upstream facing port (UFP) by pulling each CC line to ground through a resistor (Rd=5.1k) to get power from a USB-C charger. If you need more than 5V 3A, you need to use USB PD, which requires active negotiation. If you want to do anything fancy with USB-C, you're probably best off looking for dedicated USB-C ICs. There are chips for monitoring the CC lines, flipping signal orientation, USB PD negotiation, etc etc.

[@jacobjensen5140]

"Buck converter"

[@Zachariah-Peterson]

It is a boost converter, of course we missed it in editing!