Upfront CFD Helps Design Engineers Address Electronics Cooling Issues

New Video Highlights Benefits of CAD-Driven Design Study of Electronics Thermal Management Challenges

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – August 19, 2009: Engineers designing all types of electronic products ranging from cell phones to LEDs to data centers are often faced with a variety of electronics cooling issues during the development process. As electronic systems continue to become more complex, there is an increasing need to find ways to reduce heat generated by the electronic components, often in constrained environments. Thermal management is a necessary step to ensure proper product functioning and to extend product life spans. Many companies such as HP, Cisco Systems, Motorola, and Hirschmann (a Belden brand) have turned to upfront computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to help address these challenges. Hirschman, for example, was able to reduce their testing time from six to ten weeks down to one week using upfront CFD. Upfront CFD allows engineers to simulate and test design options early in the development process instead of at the physical testing stage, which helps to shrink the design cycle, reduce overall product development costs, and provides important design performance data not available from a test lab.

Blue Ridge Numerics, creators of CFdesign upfront CFD software, released a short video this week demonstrating how upfront CFD can be used by design engineers to address thermal management issues in electronic systems. The new solution video explores the ease and benefits of using a CAD-driven simulation tool to conduct multiple design studies early in the design process, helping companies optimize and validate thermal options quickly. CFdesign can be used to simulate standard heat transfer options such as joule heating, conduction, radiation, and natural and forced convection. Additionally, CFdesign provides time-dependent or transient simulation results allowing thermal changes across full operation cycles to be understood. As a result, companies can be more innovative and reduce time-to-market, which is essential in the competitive electronics market.

The video explores the typical electronics cooling challenges that companies face including:

• Component layout
• Fan selection and placement
• Intake design and location
• Ideal baffle locations
• Heat sink design and optimization

Using upfront CFD, these issues can be analyzed and solved during the conceptual phase, giving engineers both quantitative and qualitative design insight before building a physical prototype, saving time and money.