Thermal relief for through-hole pads in PCB Design - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to define a thermal relief pattern with four spokes.

PCB Design

thermal_relief = create_thermal_relief(pad, spokes=[1])

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A4

B2

C6

D8

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Choosing too few or too many spokes which can affect soldering quality.

Thermal reliefs commonly use four spokes to balance heat dissipation and solderability.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to set the thermal relief spoke width to 0.2 mm.

PCB Design

thermal_relief.set_spoke_width([1])

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A0.1

B0.4

C0.3

D0.2

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using too narrow spokes that may cause poor heat conduction.

A spoke width of 0.2 mm is a common choice to ensure good solder flow and heat transfer.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code to correctly apply thermal relief to a through-hole pad.

PCB Design

apply_thermal_relief(pad, spokes=4, spoke_width=[1])

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A'0.2mm'

B2

C0.2

D0.02

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Including units as part of the value causing syntax errors.

The spoke width should be a numeric value without units for correct function.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create a thermal relief with 6 spokes and spoke width 0.15 mm.

PCB Design

thermal_relief = create_thermal_relief(pad, spokes=[1], spoke_width=[2])

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A6

B0.1

C0.15

D4

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Mixing up spoke count and spoke width values.

Using 6 spokes with 0.15 mm width balances heat and solderability for some designs.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to define a thermal relief with 8 spokes, spoke width 0.1 mm, and spoke gap 0.3 mm.

PCB Design

thermal_relief = create_thermal_relief(pad, spokes=[1], spoke_width=[2], spoke_gap=[3])

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A8

B0.1

C0.3

D6

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Confusing spoke gap with spoke width values.

Eight spokes with 0.1 mm width and 0.3 mm gap provide good thermal relief for high-power pads.