There are so many things to consider when designing a PCB that oversights happen easily. One crucial area that can be overlooked is the thermal design. We've all heard about electronics devices overheating… As if that's not enough, design requirements are often contradictory. So, the best PCB layout for signal integrity is often the worst for thermal design. In the end, getting a good design that also boasts robust thermal performance is a tough ask. But we're here to help. Our award-winning thermal simulation tool – 6SigmaET – gives you a unique visual representation of the temperature and airflow. And that allows you to optimize your designs so that they are 'right' before you even consider physical prototyping. This presentation is intended for designers with little or no thermal design experience: we'll teach you how to simply and easily integrate thermal simulation in to your design process. We'll also demonstrate how 6SigmaET reduces the risk of design mistakes, helps you push the boundaries of your own design skills, enables innovation, and saves your company both time and money.

1. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 1
Banish PCB Thermal Problems with
State-of-the-art Thermal Simulation
Tom Gregory
6SigmaET Product Specialist

2. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 2
Every increasing complexity
12 Layer Boards Hundreds of components Thousands of nets
Increased Power
Density
Higher Frequency
Signals

3. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 3
PCB Design Challenges
Signal Integrity Power Integrity
Design for
assembly
Design for
manufacture
Design for test
Electromagnetic
Compatibility
Size Weight Cost
Mechanical
Constraints
Thermal

4. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 4
Why is Thermal Design Critical?
The thermal design of equipment has an impact on the:
 Performance
 Reliability
 Safety
Can you afford to make a mistake with thermal design?
 Overheating IT equipment caused Outlook and Hotmail shutdown – March 2013
 Xbox 360 thermal failure cost Microsoft $1 billion
 Ford Hybrid cars – Overheating electronics led to recall
 Sony phone Overheating Issues - Unresponsive Touch Screen

5. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 5
Cost of Fixing a Design Issue
Idea Design Prototype Manufacture Recall
Cost
Design Stage
Based on: ‘Error Cost Escalation Through the Project Life Cycle’ NASA Johnson Space Center

6. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 6
What is the Impact of a Thermal Design Issue?
Cost
 PCB redesign
 Enclosure redesign
 Additional components – heatsinks, fans
Time
 Part redesign
 Missed project deadlines
 Market opportunity missed

7. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 7
How can Thermal Simulation Help?
What is thermal simulation of electronics?
Prediction of:
 Temperature
 Airflow
Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
How can thermal simulation help you make better engineering decisions?
 Visual representation of the temperature and airflow to quickly highlight issues
 Identify overheating components before a prototype is created
 Experiment with solutions without having to prototype

8. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 8
Design Create Prototype Measure/Test
Fix issues
Release
Trial and Error

9. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 9
When should you use thermal simulation?
Simulation throughout the engineering design process
Simulation of
design concept
Simulation of
preliminary
designs
Simulation of
final design
Create prototype Verification Release

10. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 10
Thermal
Simulation
Software
Mechanical
Engineer
Electronic
Engineer
Specification
Product
Thermal Simulation Data Flow

11. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 11
What are the Benefits of using Thermal Simulation?
Save Money, Save Time!
 Perform thermal design of parts and equipment early in the design cycle
 Verify thermal design before manufacture
 Enables innovation

12. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 12
“But Thermal Simulation is Complicated!”
Past Current

13. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 13
- 6SigmaET was launch in 2009 to solve many of technical and usability challenges of existing thermal
simulation tools.
- A CFD thermal simulation tool specifically designed for the electronics industry
6SigmaET:
• Used by engineers from across the world, including Cisco, Motorola, and Bosch
• Solves for conduction, convection and radiation
Introducing 6SigmaET

14. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 14
Simulation Across the Electronics Industry

15. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 15
Intuitive Model Creation

16. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 16
Unique Insight

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Integration with Design Tools
Import Mechanical CAD
 Import all major CAD formats
 Automatic gridding of CAD objects
 Convert to intelligent ET objects
 Simulation results plotted directly on to the CAD geometry
Import PCB Designs
 Import PCB design data through the IDF, IDX and XFL file formats
 Component positions, layer and trace information can all be imported

18. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 18
6SigmaET
Intelligent
Objects know what they are and how to behave
Powerful
Solve bigger. Solve faster. Solve more
Automatic
Reduce time, minimize errors
Connected
Seamlessly integrated into your design process

19. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 19
Modelling Objects Parametrically Defined Intelligently Placed
Parent Child
Relationship
Intelligent

20. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 20
Modelling Objects Parametrically Defined Intelligently Placed
Parent Child
Relationship
Intelligent

21. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 21
Modelling Objects Parametrically Defined Intelligently Placed
Parent Child
Relationship
Intelligent

22. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 22
Powerful
Complex CAD
Geometry
Complex and
Detailed Models
Scalable Parallel
Solver

23. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 23
Automatic
Automatic Grid
Generation
Automatic Collision
and Error Detection
Automatic Report
Generation
Modelling Error

24. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 24
Mechanical CAD PCB Design Import Power Reporting
Connected
Reference
Designator
Power (W)
U1 5
U2 2
U3 0.2
U4 0.7

25. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 25
Revolutionary Solver
- Revolutionary new solver which will enable you to solve
faster, larger and in more detail than ever before
- New Gridding technique reduces the number of grid cells
required to calculate an accurate solution
- Reduces the computing resources required to solve
models

26. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 26
- Remove many of the limitations and inefficiencies of
existing unstructured solvers.
- Automatic grid generation refines solution grid only
where necessary to create an accurate solution.
- Complex curved geometry is no problem
- Reduces the requirement for simplification of CAD
Geometry.
Unstructured Grid

27. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 27
Conclusion
• 6SigmaET is designed exclusively for thermal simulation of electronics equipment and
components
• 6SigmaET is intuitive and easy to use and with R9 is even easier
• Built-in intelligence reduces the time it takes to build your model
• Importing PCB design and Mechanical CAD is simple
• Complex tasks like grid generation are automatic
• Revolutionary new solver which will enable you to solve faster, larger and in more detail than ever
before

28. Company Confidential – Copyright ©2014 Slide 28
Visit at stand J32 for a demo of
6SigmaET