Article Tools

• 

C-MAC MicroTechnology was able to save time and the building of prototypes by using software to model the thermal requirements of a stacked module. The software was Flotherm from Flomerics, and the simulation led to a choice of an effective potting compound.

As Bob Hunt, head of engineering for C-MAC, said, "Our engineer simulated the junction temperature of the devices in the stacked modules while using three different potting compounds. Simulation was much faster and less expensive than the alternative of building and testing prototypes."

The stacked module was designed and developed for a defense application. By performing the software simulation, C-MAC's engineers discovered that the junction temperatures for the module would reach +125{DEG}C, far higher than the +100{DEG}C specification maximum. They realized they needed a potting compound to reduce thermal resistance and wanted to select the least expensive formulation that would meet the thermal requirements of the application.

According to C-MAX Senior Engineer Jonathan Crossley, "Without simulation we would have been faced with two unattractive alternatives. We could have undertaken a much lengthier and more expensive physical testing process to identify the potting compound that provided the best mix of performance and price. Or we could have foregone this process and used the best potting compound because we were fairly confident that it would have delivered acceptable thermal performance." With the help of the Flotherm software, its many built-in functions, and the Flopack web-based wizard, the engineering team was able to produce accurate models for simulation quickly for each of the components in the stack.

www.cmac.com
www.flomerics.com