INVESTIGATIONS ON THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF AN ELECTRONIC BOARD USING CONDUCTION-BASED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD WITH A NEW MODELING APPROACH

Abstract

Electronic systems are used in almost all areas of industry, with an increasing power consumption rate. This trend makes thermal management of electronics compulsory in order for proper operation. Several methods can be employed to examine electronics’ thermal behavior. Conduction-based Finite Element Method (FEM) for heat transfer analysis is one of them; providing accurate solutions within short solution times is one of its outstanding advantages. Nevertheless, the fluid inside or around the system, usually air for electronic systems, is not included directly in the conduction-based FEM analysis model. This is an essential deficiency in terms of solution accuracy. If this drawback is overcome, conduction-based FEM will become a preferred analysis method, especially for transient problems under natural convection. In this study, a conduction-based FEM analysis model of an electronic board with two heat-dissipating components inside an enclosure under transient natural convection was developed. The procedure of the model involves the correction of unknown input parameters. An experimental investigation was performed, the results of which were used as reference values for the correction process. These unknown parameters were determined iteratively. The iteration was continued until the results of the analysis and those of the experiment matched. The difference between the results of the analysis and those of the experiment was less than 2-3°C. Some parametrical thermal investigations were performed on the electronic board using the final analysis model.