Simulation software simplifies thermal/EMI solution design

Simulation software simplifies thermal/EMI solution design

As more OEMs seek to combine EMI and thermal solutions, a new development in design simulation software could make the process easier and more reliable than ever before. Laird Technologies (St. Louis, MO) has released a thermal/EMI combination shield design case study, titled “Optimization of Thermal/EMI Solution Reduces Design Time from Weeks to Days.” Available for download at www.lairdtech.com, the study documents the efforts of Shahi Riaz, a thermal design engineer at Laird Technologies, to help an OEM customer create, using thermal simulation software, a single assembly that deals with EMI and thermal issues.

By completely simulating the intial concept, the designers were able to work with the accurate outcome of the potential designs without having to build an actual prototype. The designers manipulated and tested the virtually modeled parts of the combination shield in a number of configurations, which significantly reduced the complexity of the model itself, as well as the amount of time spent designing and performing simulations. The software also allowed the designers to perform multiple optimization runs, and generated a response that displayed the value of the design goals for all the variable combinations. Once the optimum values were selected, Laird technicians were able to build and test an actual prototype, which provided performance that closely matched the simulated values.

cdairo@hearst.com