SolidWorks® Flow Simulation
Computational Flow Dynamics Analysis for Electrical Designs & PCBs
Analysis and simulation software has become an in-dispensable tool for the development, certification, and success of electronics and electrical products.
Fluid-flow analysis is important across a range of electronics and electrical product applications, primarily as a means for evaluating the effectiveness of cooling systems and heat sinks. In the case of a cooling system, such as a computer fan, engineers can use fluid flow analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of a cooling system design as well as investigate the effects of design modifications.
In the case of a printed circuit board, engineers can use fluid-flow analysis to analyze the effectiveness of thermal dissipation in heat sinks. Whatever a manufacturer’s cooling system or heat temperature management needs, SolidWorks Flow Simulation™ offers high-powered computational flow dynamics (CFD) analysis for understanding the impact of fluid flow on temperature in electrical systems.
SolidWorks Flow Simulation Features & Benefits
Application Areas
- Electronics Packaging: housings, enclosures, consoles, racks.
- Printed Circuit Boards: semiconductors, heat sinks, MEMS.
- Cooling Systems: fans, motors, air flows.
- RF Equipment: antennas, transmitters, switches.
- Wireless/Telecommunications Devices: cellular telephones, radios, routers.
- Optical Networking Equipment: amplifiers, switches, relays.
- Electrical Components: automotive, transistors, capacitors, switches.
- Office and IT Equipment: computers, servers, printers, copiers.
- Appliances: washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves.
- Consumer Electronics: laptops, PDAs, stereos, DVD players, digital cameras.
Scope of analysis
- Design verification/validation: Will this design work? Will this design behave the way I think it will?
- Relative merit: Which of these candidate designs is the best? How can I weed out and eliminate poor-functioning designs?
- Miniaturization: What’s the impact of physical phenomena when I make this smaller?
- Proof of concept: Testing radical new concepts without producing prototypes.
- Durability and reliability: Fatigue/failure analysis, drop tests, shake simulations.
- Fulfilling industry/regulatory standards: Bellcore, Federal
- Communications Commission (FCC), EMC/EMI compliance.
PCB Analysis
An example of where SolidWorks Flow Simulation assembly analysis can benefit the design of an electronics/electrical assembly is a printed circuit board. Many of the components on the board, such as capacitors, produce heat. SolidWorks Flow Simulation assembly analysis capabilities enable engineers to analyze temperature distribution for the entire assembly, so they can optimize designs for corresponding heat sinks and packaging in such a way as to dissipate the maximum amount of heat using the least amount of material.
Tight integration with SolidWorks & CircuitWorks
SolidWorks simulation software is tightly integrated with all major CAD systems and is directly integrated with the SolidWorks® modeling system and CircutWorks. This means that engineers can use SolidWorsk simulation software directly on the CAD model and do not need to remodel designs to take advantage of analysis technology.
