A New Role of CFD Simulation in Thermal Design of Compact Electronic Equipment: Application of Build-Up Approach to Thermal Analysis of a Benchmark Model

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes have proved their high potential as a tool of thermal design of electronic equipment. However, as the product development cycle is shortened, the CFD-based thermal design needs a new format that allows the packaging designer fast and versatile searches for better design options. The most serious factor that slows the CFD-based design is geometric complexity created by various components packed in a tight space of the system box. In a proposed methodology coined ‘Build-up Approach (BUA)’ CFD simulations are conducted in advance of the start of actual hardware design to develop a body of temperature distribution solutions for possible components placements in the system box. Two algorithms are introduced before and after CFD simulations. One defines the geometric parameters through singular value decomposition (SVD) of components placement patterns, and the other identifies important geometric parameters for thermal management through application of the Taguchi method. A case study was conducted on a simple hardware model (benchmark model) that embodies essential features of portable electronic equipment. The results proved the effectiveness of these algorithms in measuring the relative importance of geometric parameters, and weeding out unimportant geometric details contained in actual equipment.