Compact thermal modeling in electronics design Sarang Shidore Flomerics Inc Introduction The challenge of accurately predicting junction temperatures of IC components in system-level CFD simulations has engaged the engineering community for a number of years. The primary challenge has been that near-exact physical models of such components (known as detailed thermal models, or … [Read more...]
A Simple Thermal Resistance Model – Isoflux Versus Isothermal
In most cases today thermal design for electronic products is performed with the aid of sophisticated computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer codes. Nonetheless, there may still be occasions when a thermal designer needs a quick estimate of the external thermal resistance of a package or heat sink that does not warrant the use of powerful computer codes. In such cases an … [Read more...]
CFD Simulations in Electronic Systems: A Lot of Pitfalls and a Few Remedies
Introduction In the past 15 years, we have observed a significant increase in the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes to calculate the thermal behavior of electronic systems. The benefits are undisputed when it comes to performing parametric studies in early design phases. However, when the objective is accuracy, the discussion about what we can expect in practice … [Read more...]
CFD Prediction of Electronic Component Operational Temperature on PCBs
Introduction The thermal design of today's electronic equipment relies significantly on the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software for the prediction of electronics operational temperature. In the early to intermediate product design phase, CFD analysis is used to select a cooling strategy and refine a thermal design by parametric analysis. In the final design … [Read more...]
Thermal characterization of active components
In the European project SEED (Supplier Evaluation and Exploitation of DELPHI), the methods for thermal characterization of active components developed in the predecessor DELPHI (Development of Libraries of PHysical models for an Integrated design environment) were evaluated by component suppliers. The methods were improved for practical application and extended to a large … [Read more...]
