Why Electricians Prefer Heavy Copper PCB?

When Heavy Copper is used for the internal and external layers of a printed circuit board, it is called a heavy copper PCB. Heavy Copper is not exactly anything exclusive but when the copper is more than 3 ounces (oz), it is considered to be heavy copper. PCB design has developed vastly as you can find high quality 1-layer, 2-layer and multilayer heavy copper in PCBs up to 9 oz quite easily.

Industries Served Using Heavy Copper Circuit Boards:

• Welding Equipment
• Solar Panel Manufacturers
• Power Supplies
• Automotive
• Electrical Power Distribution
• Power Converters

PCB manufacturers create durable wiring platforms with heavy copper. The PCB boards can be manufactured in a smaller footprint as they can contain multiple weights of copper on the same circuit layers. It is important to find how much current a trace can carry safely and thus, estimate the heat rise associated with the applied current. Efficient power distribution would help to reach a stable operating temperature where the rate of heating equals the rate of cooling. It is important to ensure high reliability of the PCB and heavy copper.

Benefits Of Heavy Copper In PCB Designs:

• The reduction of thermal strain and it can survive repeated thermal cycling
• These have a great current carrying capacity
• Smaller
• Provides better mechanical strength at connector sites and in PTH holes
• It contains great materials to work even in high temperature without causing circuit failure
• It can reduce the PCB size due to layering of copper and by incorporating multiple copper weights on the same layer of circuitry
• Increased connector site strength and better current conductivity
• The heavy copper plated device carries higher current through the board and helps to transfer heat to an external heatsink
• On-board heatsinks are directly plated onto the board surface using up to 120-oz copper planes
• It has on-board high power density planar transformers

Since thermal management is more important than ever today as electronics are used in demanding environments. Today one have to operate at higher currents and heavy copper PCBs (copper conductors 5 oz/ft² – 19 oz/ft² in inner and/or outer layers, also defined as more than 4 oz per square foot (ft²)) can help conduct heat away from components. Thus, the failure rate is greatly reduced. Though selecting the right heavy copper fabrication service can save project time and expense vastly.

The copper thickness should always be considered during the circuit design stage as the current-carrying capacity is determined through the width and thickness of heavy copper. The improved copper weight with the thick plating substrates through holes can change a weak board into a long-lasting and dependable wiring platform.

Heavy copper PCB is helpful for multiple purposes such as in heat dissipation, high power distribution, planar transformers, power converters, etc. Depending upon the design requirement, heavy copper in PCBs are expensive than regular PCBs to produce because more complicated the design, more it costs to produce a heavy copper PCB.