Altium Designer Tutorial for Beginners: Power Analyzer by Keysight

In this video we’ll walk you through:

Due to the demands placed on the design's DC Power Delivery Network by high-speed circuitry, densely populated boards, and multiple low-voltage supply rails, modern digital systems must be designed analytically. In other words, that the planes, tracks, and vias on the board are of sufficient size (and characteristics) to meet the power consumption requirements of the devices on the board. This is what the DC analysis of a Power Delivery Network, or the results of its DC Power Integrity (PI-DC), aims to ensure: that adequate copper has been provided in the path from the voltage sources to the loads.

Fortunately, by using a DC Power Integrity (PI-DC) simulation tool, which evaluates a board design's DC performance based on its electrical and physical attributes, the examination of a PCB's power delivery network may be done without the need of guessing. For Altium Designer, Keysight's Power Analyzer is such a tool.

The Power Analyzer, which is available as a free Altium Extension, interacts seamlessly with Altium Designer to provide PI-DC modeling and analysis of the present PCB project. The Power Analyzer can be launched from the schematic or PCB editor, the desired test parameters can then be set, and the simulation can be run. Because the Power Analyzer is integrated into Altium Designer, there are no manual data import/export requirements, data conversions, or separate applications to be launched. The circuit board copper layout is primarily represented in 2D and 3D models, which makes it possible to quickly examine the findings and test the PCB layout design in hypothetical scenarios.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:00 How to install the extension
1:52 Activate License
2:09 Example design files
3:01 Preparing the Schematic before power analysis
6:35 Power Analyzer Setup
7:46 Power Circuit Topology
8:49 Adding a Power Net for Simulation
12:02 Add voltage regulator modules (VRMs)
13:25 Finding datasheet + Octopart
15:18 Power Trees
16:16 How to Navigate Schematic Nets
16:27 How to add load devices to 5V
18:20 How to Show Power Hierarchy/Tree
18:48 Adding load devices to any secondary power tree (3.3V)
20:55 Verify your secondary (3.3V) power tree
21:39 Adding a second VRM as a load (the 1.8V VRM)
25:25 How to Simulate the PCB Power Network - review results
26:33 Power Analyzer Panel
27:34 How to Take snapshots for reports
27:53 Adjust heat map settings
27:56 Show current flow direction
28:37 Voltage drop analysis
29:34 Current density in all nets
30:53 How to probe specific points - find voltage gradients
31:45 Generate report
34:21 Export files to Altium Viewer
34:54 My recommendations and thoughts on the software
Next steps

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[mdtusherkhan]

Thank you for making this video. Actually, you just explain all the details as well other things which is i am looking for a while. Thanks professor 🎉🎉

[martinbabl]

For a power output connector how do you define the loads on each pin?

[StevanStepanov]

Hello, really nice video.
Is it possible to define a dynamic load? (I mean a componnent whose consumption is not constant over time)

[quocvietbmt]

Excuse me, can it simulate the GND part? I see it only shows for the Power line, but sometimes GND also needs attention

[gavindavis]

Why bother assigning a load current or any other param to each component load if you need to define it in the load config stage?

[Ritzz]

How would you model a transistor when driven into saturation. Take for example a BJT, with the base configured to the output of a MCU, how could I check the collector current flowing as per the analysis as I would need the MCU to output a voltage? I don't see how the analysis software would overcome this?

[LongLe-psfd]

How do you set the rules for very small ICs (like smart tracker)? I put in a MAX86171 and it shows me green error. Also how big is the trace width and the vias regarding that?

[robertbox]

What happens you simulate - it works, change a load current - it fails, change it back - it still fails? Got a 14 day demo and can't understand why - the failure messages give nothing.

[ytpeep]

Please stop saying ampere. Just amp is fine