12V - 48V, 250W Boost Converter project

[LatvianOnJuice]

Hello, everyone! Currently I am working on a boost converter project in my school.

So I have gotten to the point, of finally putting my schematic on a PCB. I know there are several reasonable options of approach, however, they seem fairly limited. (For example, multisim -> ultiboard has certain issues of limited libraries (or maybe I just don't know how to properly use the program lol - with which you could also help me)).

Anyway, my design currently sits in LTSpice. Is there any software, which you could recommend me to use, to proceed to the PCB layout design?

Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated, as I am just a beginner!

LatvianOnJuice

[moffy]

Design Spark is free. Eagle CAD is also popular.

[T3sl4co1l]

If school gives you Multisim, you might as well.  I used it in school; it's geared more towards simulation (it used to be Electronics Workbench, simulation), which it does well enough.  Project control (e.g., designators, BOM entry) and Ultiboard integration is rather tacked on.  It's about as easy to use as you'd expect for its price point.  But it's possible to do real work in.

In my opinion, the libraries are vast (at least in v.10-11), complete with SPICE models (which something like Altium can't even begin to approach) and footprints.  Many are better with some tweaking, or alternates chosen from the PCB library, but that's true of any suite.

Tim

[LatvianOnJuice]

Thank you, guys, for your suggestions. Today I played around with Eagle and finally got kind of used to it. So I re-created my schematic, and transferred it to the board layout design, which is where I seem to be relatively clueless.

After watching several instructional videos on youtube, I got some morr knowledge, although, I don't feel confident about the pcb layout design. From what I can imagine, I must have all kinds of EMC problems there (I just started this class in school, so I dont know much about it just yet).

Are there any general rules of thumb on how and where to place specifix components, in order to avoid problems / have the circuit working more efficiently?

Thanks once again in advance! This forums is packed with intelligent ppl. Hopefully one day I will be the one giving the advice, instead of asking...

[juanfermed]

 I have used DesignSpark before and is quite good. Yes, you will probably have to build your own footprint library for some parts but they also have a vast library. I have seen its PCB capabilities and they are good, maybe you should give it a try.