DCDCv9-3r1

This release fixes small clearance issues:

1. Increased the spacing below the gate driver from 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm, as the IPC 2221 does not provide for spacing between the inner and outer layers.
2. The same applies to the trace below the resonant capacitors (also moved capacitors to the left).

3. R54 Pad 1 footprint distance has been increased from 0.2 mm to 1.2 mm. Simulations have shown that this pad can reach up to 400 V to GND, so that at least 0.8 mm is required. However, it was increased to 1.2 mm to be safe in the event of a voltage surge.

Q&A

Q: I've already ordered PCBs for the DCDCv9-3r, should I order new ones?
A: The fixed issues 1. and 2. are afaik best practices, but there might be little to no change in likelihood of a failure in this area. For issue 3. the resistor R54 does limit the current to such a small value, that even in an event of a breakdown just 36 mW will dissapear, which would be no issue for the resistor. However, the additional current sensing might not work anymore and lead to overload of the SR-MOSFETs when large uncharged capacitors are connected. The overcurrent protection would then rely soley on F1 - which is permittable. In doubt, remove Pad 1 of R54 on the PCB and connect R54 to C39 directly.
I would give those fixes a re-order rating of 3 out of 5. If you are willing to make the R54 fix I would rate it just 1.5 out of 5.

DCDCv9-3r

Dear Reader,
this is the first public release of the DC/DC-Converter Project.
The unexpected complexity of some problems led a delay in the open source release of around 2 years. (sorry)
That being said, there are still some areas that could be improved, but those improvements (like efficiency)
are not relevant to the successful operation of the converter and would only cause further delay.
Feel free to reach out in the GitHub Discussions if you like to improve in those areas (they are described in the documentation document).
Also some smaller topics are left out in the documentation and will be added later.
Since I know no one willing to proof-read over 100 Pages of documentation, build guide and datasheet, they certainly contain errors for sure and might feel a bit stiff. If you are willing to check some of the pages for mistakes (factual, logical but also spelling and grammatical errors), please let me know in the GitHub Discussions.

Please note, that I am in the examination phase until end of February 2025.
If there are any questions, please create a new discussion on GitHub. I’ll try my best to answer them in my time spare.

I wish you much success in building your own DCDCv9-3r !

Kind Regards
Rootthecause / Liv

The release is approx. 244 MB (zip)