HEAT TRANSFER SIMULATION FOR THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS

• Published in: Proceedings in Manufacturing Systems Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 15
• Main Authors: Alexandru, Tudor-George, Mantea, Theodor-Adrian, Pupaza, Cristina, Velicu, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bucharest University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Machine and Manufacturing Systems Department and Association ICMAS 01.03.2016
• Subjects: Automation; CAD; Computer aided design; Computer simulation; Control algorithms; Cooling; Design; Design engineering; Design specifications; Electronic components; Electronic devices; Electronics; Engineering; Finite element analysis; Finite volume method; Fluid dynamics; Heat transfer; Interdisciplinary subjects; Knowledge; Manufacturers; Mathematical models; Partial differential equations; Product life cycle; Product lifecycle management; Simulation; Software; Studies; Temperature; Thermal cycling; Thermal management
• ISSN: 2067-9238; 2343-7472

The present research addresses electronics design issues with emphasis on the heat transfer simulations. The first part comprises a brief introduction to the electronics design workflow. The problem of the heat transfer is discussed at all engineering levels. Due to the complexity of this problem, multiphysics aspects remain in a close relationship with the thermal management systems. Such issues place the heat transfer simulation as a central design problem. Further decisions like economic, environmental, ergonomic or performance aspects remain sensitive to the solution of the heat transfer analyses. In the second part of the work, the heat transfer problem statement is described. Engineering knowledge achievements and their relationship with a PLM platform are schematically discussed. The most common heat transfer solvers are presented and the simulation peculiarities for the electronic components are emphasized. All this concepts are validated in the third part of the work, where two case studies are presented. First, an example of natural convection transfer for a heat sink was performed, in order to define theoretical aspects regarding the heat sink evaluation and to demonstrate how non-linear solvers based on the Finite Element Method can assess the transient temperature behavior. The second study was an experimental forced-convection steady-state cooling setup, simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Numerical and experimental results for this simulation proved a good match. Concluding remarks were highlighted at the end of the paper.