Electronics Cooling

Design for Six Sigma

in Electronics
Cooling
By Wendy Luiten, Principal, Wendy Luiten Consulting

T
emperature problems are well known in the high-tech industry. Everyone knows of
cases where overheated products stopping working and in the best case scenario,
resume their function, but only after an extensive period of cooling down.

In past years, electronics cooling was very

much about cooling consumer electronics,
mainly TVs, computers and networking
devices. Nowadays we see the focus
shifting towards smartphones, tablets, smart
watches and other wearable electronics
but also towards all other transitional fields
in our society. Energy savings? Cooling of
LED lighting is a hot item. Energy transition?
Cooling of power electronics, for example
in automotive electronics, for solar cells and
inverters, or in fast chargers for electric cars
and electric buses. Also, the trend towards
more and more data communication is
enabled by cooling of electronics. One can
think about cooling of datacenters, servers
and telecom equipment for 5G, and the
Internet-of-Things
Figure 1. Typical development trajectory

Everywhere energy is stored or transformed,

part of it is released as heat. Higher the field with product reliability being impaired
operating temperatures impact reliability, due to thermal reasons.
lifetime and safety, hence embedded control
algorithms are increasingly used, dialing Why are thermal problems so difficult to
back performance or switching off once a solve? Simply put, it is because heat flows
measured temperature exceeds a threshold are so elusive. A typical product has multiple,
value. A good thermal design will keep your often interconnected heat flow paths each
product cool and its performance up. consisting of multiple steps, and each step
For many product developers, the represents a thermal resistance. A high
temperature of their product is something source temperature is the result of a high
that just happens, and they discover only heat dissipation, a high thermal resistance or
at the stage that the total product has been a combination of both. The heat dissipation
realized in hardware and software and is is a direct consequence of the functional
tested for the first time. At that point it is performance, and usually this cannot be
far too late for a cost-effective solution. In lowered without a performance penalty. This
addition, problems are difficult to solve, leaves low thermal resistances and short
solutions often comprise multiple parts, paths as the preferred option to control
and are difficult to realize, requiring multiple temperature.
prototypes and may also involve further fixes
when production starts (Figure 1). In the In the ideal case, each heat path from each
worst case scenario, problems are found in source to the environment is formed through

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a chain consisting of a low number of low design then provides a robust solution to
thermal resistances. But this is not easy to heat removal, in close collaboration with
realize. Part of the thermal resistances is the mechanical design and electrical design
either air-related or infra-red radiation related, flows (Design Phase) Identification of input
which makes them invisible to the human parameters, exploration of the solution space
eye. While air might be the primary cooling and making a conscious design choice are
medium, it does not appear on the Bill-Of- key concepts.
Materials (BOM) for the product, and so
far not tracked through the normal change In the very early design phases thermal
request procedures. Changes that affect the concept design can be done analytically,
air flow are unseen, and so also likely to recur using hand calculations and estimations.
in the next design iteration, and indeed in the This has the advantage of additionally
next product development. identifying the key input parameters that
influence the thermal behavior of the total
Design for Six Sigma (DfSS) is a design product, but requires experience and
philosophy aimed at improving the success engineering judgement. For more complex
of innovation processes. The method is cases computer simulations are increasingly
very well suited to the thermal field. Thermal used, both in the architecture phase and in
design starts with identification of the product the implementation phase. For air-cooled
requirements (Define Phase), and flows products, use of CFD is the highly preferred
down to how this translates to the thermal option, as in this approach both the heat
requirements, usage conditions, magnitude transfer coefficient and the temperature of
and location of heat sources, environment, the cooling air are calculated as a function
and the location of temperature critical of the air flow, rather than assumed to be a
components (Identify Phase). A good thermal generic value to a constant air temperature.

Figure 2. Example of the thermal design process of an automotive electronic box

Figure 3. Left: Geometry, Right: Simulated temperature field with the first concept

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 Electronics Cooling

Figure 4. Scenario table with all virtual experiments

In fan-less products the magnitude and architecture-stage simulations precede

the topology of the air flow field and the the detailed mechanical and layout
heating of the cooling air flow are non-trivial
and can have very significant impact on the
CAD design which take place after the
architecture is chosen. The results of the
I find FloTHERM’s
temperature behavior of a product. simulations are shown in the calculated
temperature field in Figure 3 (right) show
Command Centre
In many cases the true power of computer
simulation is not in number crunching
that the proposed concept design is not
thermally feasible. Multiple ICs are above
indispensable for
the detailed mechanical and electrical
CAD design as a final check just before
the 125°C temperature limit, and the hottest
component being 50ºC higher.
running the many
production. Rather the true added value is in
the use of a series of numerical experiments In this product, the key parameters for scenarios that I
in the early architecture phase. Choosing the thermal resistances consist of the
the right architecture from the start can dimensions and material properties of the need to make sure
free up design space to pursue the most box, the layout and heat dissipation of the
desirable product from the earliest stage. PCB, and the mounting of the PCB inside that I do not just
Using computer simulations one can virtually the box. The size of the box, the fact that
explore the solution space and choose the the box needs to be closed, the layout of have a working
most appropriate solution direction without the PCB and the heat dissipation are fixed.
incurring the large cost in time and financial
resources that would be needed to pursue
Parameters that can be changed can all be
investigated in the architecture phase of the
design, but the
a similar goal through testing hardware. In
the author’s experience it would be very
thermal design. These are: best working
common to perform between 10 and 40
computer simulations to finally get to the
• The material of the box, especially the
thermal conductivity (normal plastic k=0.2
design possible for
most optimal architecture for the design.
After choosing the most appropriate
W/mK, thermal plastic – low budget k=2
W/mK, electrically insulating k=8 W/mK my circumstances.
architecture – tailored to the specific or electrically non-insulating k=15 W/mK,
product requirements and usage conditions or die-cast aluminum k=130 W/mK) are
– detailed design can then follow, often all discrete options
helped by additional computer simulations • Thermal management products: using a
on the CAD data. heatsink and/or a gap pad – a thermally
conductive solid material bridging the air
Figure 2 shows the thermal design process gap between the PCB and the box can
of an automotive electronics box as an be investigated, with
example. The concept design starts from a
a) Location limited to the hottest
closed plastic box containing a Printed Circuit
component, IC7
Board (PCB). The thermal requirements are
that the box is placed inside a non-ventilated b) Distributed over the entire hot zone
environment of 85ºC with a maximum • Thermal conductivity in the printed circuit
allowed component temperature of 125ºC. In board itself (layout and construction
the architecture phase, CFD simulations start related, e.g. number of layers, buried
from this concept design, and an aggressive power and ground planes).
estimate for the powers to ensure that design
is robust enough to deal with the anticipated Another aspect of DfSS is de-risking the
worst case power consumption. potential influences of causes of variation.
As the orientation of the box is not
Figure 3 shows the geometry (left). Note prescribed in the product requirements, the
that this concept simulation is performed box must be simulated both in horizontal
with only a very rough mechanical/electrical and in vertical orientation, since its mounting
model, and without using mechanical or is under the control of the end user
electronic CAD files or data. Rather, these company.

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Figure 4 shows FloTHERM’s scenario

table with all the calculated cases and
corresponding results. In the scenario table,
each column represents a virtual experiment.
In total, the table shows 12 different virtual
experiments. In the top blue part of the
table the chosen key design parameters are
shown. The bottom, orange, part shows the
corresponding calculated temperatures for
the key ICs on the PCB.

Scenario 0 is the original concept design.

In this design IC7 is 50°C above spec and
IC3 to IC6 are also above spec. Scenario 1
shows the results for the vertical orientation.
It shows that the horizontal orientation can
be considered worst case, and we continue
subsequent scenarios with horizontal
orientation. In scenario 2, a heatsink is used
on IC7, and this is not a viable solution.
Scenario 3 – 6 virtually explore the use of a
gap pad in conjunction with a closed box of
increasing thermal conductivity. The results
show that a small gap pad to a plastic box
does not work, also not if the box is made of
thermal plastic and also not if the PCB itself Figure 5. Surface temperature, air temperature and flow field for the final chosen architecture
is better conducting (scenario 7). Scenario 8
shows that also a large gap pad to a thermal
resistances in the same heat path are
plastic box does not solve the thermal
lowered through a strategic choice of thermal
problem – clearly a metal box is needed.
input parameters.
Scenario 9 shows that a local gap pad on
In the case of the simple automotive box
IC7 to an aluminum die cast box solves
example, purchasing can now proceed to
the problem for IC7, but IC3 is still above
source a supplier for a die-cast box and the
specification. Finally, scenario 10 shows
gap pad, while in parallel the mechanical
that to apply a gap pad over the hot zone in
developer can proceed to implement the
conjunction with a die-cast aluminum box is
detailed CAD design for a die-cast box.
a feasible solution, and scenario 11 shows
Thermal design in the pre-CAD phases
that this solution is also robust with respect
was sufficient to make informed thermal
to different orientations: in vertical orientation,
design choices and lower the risk of wasted
this solution also fills all requirements.
time and project resources by detailing an
unfeasible design to a significant degree.
Figure 5 shows the calculated temperature
Rather, having de-risked the project from
and flow fields for scenario 10, the final
the outset, as more becomes known about
solution, in horizontal orientation. The layout
the component placement, board layout,
of the board is unchanged, and applying a
component powers etc. the detailed design
gap pad of sufficient size bridging the air gap
can explore ways in which the cost can be
between PCB and box in conjunction with an
reduced. In this example, a smaller gap pad
aluminum die-cast box, a thermal design is
may be possible, or a cheaper material with
realized that will keep all temperatures within
a lower thermal conductivity might perform
the specified boundaries irrespective of the
adequately. Exploration of the solution space
orientation of the final product.
is one of the pillars of Thermal Design for Six
Sigma as it allows thermal solutions to be
The automotive box example illustrates the
found that potentially free up design space
importance of a good thermal design and a
to increase product desirability as well. As
methodical exploration of the solution space.
an example, avoiding the use of the heatsink
potentially enables the box to be flatter and
Using a heatsink on IC7 was not a solution
reduce its volume claim. It is not limited to the
because the heatsink lowered a resistance
architectural design phase and can be used
in a path that contains a very large second
to very good effect from both engineering
and third thermal resistance: the heat transfer
and financial standpoints throughout the
of the air inside the box to the wall of the
development.
box, and the heat transfer of the box to the
environment. In the chosen solution, multiple

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