FloTHERM thermal simulation with automated model calibration
This version of FloTHERM product can help maximise simulation data accuracy and provide additional insight into product reliability in automotive, aerospace and electronics products industries.
Mentor Graphics’ T3Ster product is an advanced thermal tester for thermal characterisation of IC packages, LEDs and systems which produces extensive thermal characteristics rapidly. The T3Ster test system delivers highly accurate, real-time measurements of heating and cooling transients based on its advanced implementation of the JEDEC static test method (JESD51-1) and Mentor believes it to be 10x better than alternative solutions.
FloTHERM can now convert a simulated transient thermal response into a structure function curve using the same mathematical process utilised by the T3Ster product. These structure function curves are known to correlate with the physical structure of the device, and are thus the ideal platform to compare simulation with test data. Differences between the structure functions indicate that some aspect of the simulation model is incorrect; typically dimensions or physical properties that are difficult to measure directly such as thermal interface material (TIM) thicknesses or interfacial thermal contact resistances. This FloTHERM version uses optimisation methods to change the model inputs and drive the simulation structure function towards the experimental structure function until a match is achieved. This match indicates that the FloTHERM model is fully calibrated and will respond correctly and accurately in any transient application. Package manufacturers can now certify supply chain models, by providing evidence about the thermal performance of the component in customer applications along with the model itself.
“Working with a fully-calibrated model of a package is often critically important in steady state and transient analyses when accurate prediction of the junction temperature is the objective,” said Ir. Clemens Lasance, principal scientist at Philips Research (retired) and consultant at SomelikeitCool. “The calibration is usually performed by creating a structure function to be compared with the one measured with a T3ster in the lab. The latest version of FloTHERM embeds an automated ability to fine-tune a FloTHERM model to achieve this match, making this best practice modelling methodology far more accessible to thermal engineers.”
Features in the new FloTHERM product include:
– Joule heating – DC electrical calculations are now supported for joule heating effects to be accurately predicted, enabling power distribution net analysis and bus bar design to be performed.
– FloMCAD Bridge enhancement – 64-bit support enables larger MCAD designs to be imported into the FloTHERM product. In addition, the voxelisation method used to translate MCAD geometry into analysis objects was re-engineered to be 20 times faster and much smarter, ensuring that coincident faces on different bodies maintain that connection after translation.
– Localised grid spaces – overlapping localised spaces can now be created. FloTHERM makes it easy to construct an efficient grid for large cluttered geometry because the arrangement of localised grid spaces is no longer a concern.
– DCIM Software Development Kit – The kit includes everything a DCIM supplier needs to drive FloTHERM, capture the simulation results, and display them within their DCIM software suite.
“By using an uncalibrated model for simulation, manufacturers run the risk of simply guessing performance. Calibrating the package model constants ensures the product will respond accurately in all steady state and transient applications,” stated Roland Feldhinkel, general manager of Mentor Graphics’ Mechanical Analysis Division.
Mentor Graphics; www.mentor.com/products/mechanical/flotherm/
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