Power Distribution Board

To go along with the Icarus Controller, I’ve designed a power distribution board that allows it to be connected to a battery.

Scope

I’d like this board to power several DIY projects, so it has a few requirements in mind.

• 30.5mm x 30.5mm mounting holes for drone frames
• Supply 5V, 3A continuous current
• Supply 3.3V
• Input: 2s - 6s LiPo batteries

5V @ 3A is the requirement for powering a Raspberry Pi 3B+.

Design

The design is fairly simple, I wanted to use a switch mode power supply for the main step down from the input voltage to 5V. This is more power efficient and will reduce heat dissipation. Then use a linear regular to step down to 3.3V from the 5V supply.

I also wanted to be able to slot the icarus board in like a “shield”, so I created a schematic symbol / footprint that can be shared between the two projects.

The PCB looks like the following:

The shield layout will be incorporated into the REV B Icarus design.

Result