Thermal Analysis in a Channel Between Vertical Electronic Circuit Boards Cooled by Forced Convection.

Abstract

A heat transfer analysis of a convective air cooled electronic circuit board (ECB) in a vertical electronic circuit boards channel was carried out.To validate the model and the algorithms used in the computations, experimental tests were performed on dummy ECBs. Temperature distribution on an axial ECB and axial temperature distribution of air were measured with thermocouples. The temperature measurements were in good agreement with the computed value.As a working example, the temperature distributions of air flow and the vertical circuit boards with evenly arranged electronic components cooled by forced convective heat transfer were simulated, and typical results were reported and discussed. It is clear that, such a computer program for the thermal analysis of electronic circuit boards is effective and enables the user to choose any arbitrary arrangement of components on the ECB as well as different values of all design parameters. The program can serve as a powerful tool either for checking the performance of an existing ECB or for sensitivity analysis in designing the packaging of new electronic circuit boards.