Cart WebTHERM™ Online Thermal Simulation
The WebTHERM™ online tool simulates the thermal behavior of an electronic printed circuit board with components using validated thermal models for the components and the reference PCB. The user defines the environment, and the problem is solved using the tool's fast and accurate conduction solver. The output is a color plot of the PC board under the design's steady-state electrical load conditions. No special hardware is required, just an ordinary Web browser. The WebTHERM tools helps the user identify heat problems on the printed circuit board early on in the design process and correct the issues before the board goes into production. This can save a lot of time and avoid costly quality accidents.
To use the WebTHERM tools, first create a power supply design in the WEBENCH® online design environment. After choosing a part and creating a design, click on "Thermal" icon in the WEBENCH navigation header. Next a picture of the physical layout of your PC board appears in your Web browser, showing the placement of each component and the copper routing, as shown in figure 1 below. There are controls for the board orientation, edge temperature, and airflow direction and speed, which allow the user to adjust parameters for the simulation which are shown in figure 2.
After entering the desired parameters for simulation, the user submits the simulation job. A status screen then appears to allow the user to check the simulation progress. A simulation typically takes two to three minutes to complete, excluding queue time. After the simulation is complete, the user can view the result, a full color plot of the temperature across the board, as shown in figure 3 below. The temperature of each component is also listed in an accompanying table. If desired, the user can adjust parameters and resubmit the job for simulation.
WEBENCH® Designer
The WebTHERM tool, and WEBENCH environment, bring powerful design capability to designers. The WebTHERM tool is fully integrated with the WEBENCH environment, and therefore allows the designer to seamlessly optimize their designs from a thermal and electrical standpoint. Integration of these tasks on the Web allows a major improvement in design accuracy and can save a significant amount of time in the design cycle.
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Figure 2: This is the initial parameter entry screen of WebTHERM® Thermal Simulator where you can view the printed-circuit-board layout, adjust the air flow velocity, change the copper area or thickness, adjust the top and bottom ambient temperatures, and specify the board edge boundary temperatures, either insulated or fixed. In addition you can enter the orientation of the board, and/or enter comments about the design. |
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Figure 3: The simulation results allow the user to view interactions between components on the PC board. For example, the diode and IC both generate a lot of heat and if they are located close together there can be a problem. |
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| More WEBENCH help See our disclaimer |
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