Robin Bornoff Bottleneck y Shortcut PDF

May 13, 2010 Copyright 2010 Mentor Graphics Corporation Page 1 of 78
AppNote 10811

Thermal Bottlenecks and Shortcut Opportunities; Innovations in
Electronics Thermal Design by Simulation

By: Byron Blackmore, Robin Bornoff, PhD, Mechanical Analysis Division
Last Modified: May 13, 2010

A P P N O T E S
SM
Thermal Bottlenecks and Shortcut Opportunities; Innovations in Electronics Thermal Design by Simulation
May 13, 2010 Page 2 of 78
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Description of Parameters ................................................................................................................................ 6
2.1. Bottleneck Number (Bn) ......................................................................................................................... 6
2.2. Bottleneck Example ............................................................................................................................... 8
2.3. ShortCut Number (Sc) .......................................................................................................................... 10
2.4. ShortCut Example ................................................................................................................................ 11
2.5. Bn and Sc Fields for a PCB Mounted Component ............................................................................... 16
3. Validation Cases ............................................................................................................................................. 18
3.1. Conduction Bottleneck Example .......................................................................................................... 18
3.2. Conduction Shortcut Example .............................................................................................................. 23
3.3. Conduction Labyrinth ........................................................................................................................... 29
3.4. Developing Boundary Layer in Channel with Fixed Temperature Walls .............................................. 36
3.5. Developing Boundary Layer in Channel with Local Fixed Temperature Walls .................................... 40
4. Real World Examples ...................................................................................................................................... 43
4.1. Package Level Modeling ...................................................................................................................... 43
4.2. Heatsink Design Optimization Worked Example ................................................................................. 58
4.3. System Level Refinement Worked Example ........................................................................................ 65
5. Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................... 75
6. Summary Usage Advice .............................................................................................................................. 77

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1. Introduction

Electronics thermal management involves the design of an electronics system to facilitate the effective
removal of heat from the active surface of an integrated circuit (the heat source) out to a colder ambient
surrounding. As the heat travels from the source it passes through various objects and scales; from the die
through the package to the board, into a chassis and out to an operating environment.

Figure 1 Heat flow from die to ambient

How easily the heat passes from the source(s) to the ambient will determine the temperature rise at the
source and all points in-between. The often complex 3D heat flow paths carry proportions of the heat with
varying degrees of ease. Those paths that carry a lot of heat and which offer large resistances to that heat
flow are considered thermal bottlenecks.

Figure 2 The complex 3D heat flows drawn as a thermal resistance network. Two of the thermal
resistances are identified as being the largest bottlenecks.

Identifying and relieving these bottlenecks through a redesign will allow the heat to pass to the ambient more
easily thus reducing temperature rises along the heat flow path, all the way back to the heat source.

The addition of new heat flow paths that allow the heat to pass to colder areas and on to the ambient more
easily will also result in a decrease in temperature rises. Identification of such thermal shortcut opportunities
would allow targeted design changes to be made with maximum effect.
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Figure 3 Introducing a new heat flow path to improve thermal performance.

Electronics thermal simulations have always provided an indication of component junction and case
temperature, information that can be used to judge thermal compliance by comparing the simulated
temperatures to maximum rated operating temperatures. Useful information of course, but provides very little
insight about why the temperature field is the way it is.

Figure 4 Typical thermal simulation results showing temperatures and air flows

Thermal simulations can allow further insights into the heat removal paths by, for example, examining heat
flux vectors. However, indications of the direction and magnitude of the heat flux vectors do not provide a
measure of the ease by which the heat is leaving the system, nor does it provide insight into where and how
the heat flux distribution could be better balanced or re-configured to improve performance.

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Figure 5 Typical thermal simulation results showing heat flux vectors

One of the innovations introduced here is the calculation of a new, 3D scalar field that represents the strength
of the local thermal bottleneck. This scalar is computed as a part of the thermal simulation and will pin point
areas of the design where there is high heat flow and that heat flow is finding it difficult to pass. Such a
property is called the Bn number; the BottleNeck number.

Figure 6 Thermal bottlenecks in a generic TO 220 Package

The second innovation presented here is a new 3D field that indicates where heat is travelling parallel to a
locally colder area, i.e. it is not moving towards a colder region of the design. This new field will identify
where there is an opportunity to bypass that heat to the colder area by the insertion of a new heat flow path.
Such a property is called the Sc number, the ShortCut number.
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Figure 7 Potential thermal Shortcuts in a generic TO 263 package

Together, the Bn and Sc fields offer tremendous insight into why the thermal performance of a design is
what it is, and better, provide graphical information as to where the best opportunities for design improvement
can be found. The Bn field provides clear identification of thermal bottlenecks and the Sc field indicates
opportunities for thermal shortcuts. As well see in this document, application and interpretation of the Bn and
Sc distributions within typical electronics design constraints offers a systematic method to determining what
thermal design modifications are most promising, and provides evidence beyond engineering intuition and
experience that such modifications should be pursued.

2. Description of Parameters

The mathematical description of the Bn and Sc post-processing parameters are described in this section.
The following description and its application to the post-processing of simulation data has been developed by
Mentor Graphics and a patent is pending at the time of publication.

2.1. Bottleneck Number (Bn)

Heat flow can be defined in terms of a heat flow through a given cross section area. This measure is known
as a heat flux.
The presence of a heat flux vector will always result in a temperature gradient vector. The temperature
gradient field is taken to be an indicator of conductive thermal resistance as, for a given heat flux, the greater
the temperature gradient is the larger the thermal resistance will be.

The dimensionalized Bn number is the dot product of the above 2 vector quantities. At each point where there
exists a heat flux vector and temperature gradient vector:
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Figure 8 Misaligned Heat Flux and Temperature Gradient vectors

The Bn scalar at that point is calculated as:

Heat Flux magnitude (i.e. length of the heat flux vector arrow) x Temperature Gradient magnitude (i.e.
length of the temperature gradient arrow) x |Cos()|

Note that |Cos()| is always positive
If the angle between the two properties is zero, i.e. the heat flux is aligned with the temperature gradient as it
would be for conductive heat flow in a homogenous thermally isotropic material, then the Bn number is the
product of the vector magnitudes (i.e., |Cos()| =1) . If the temperature gradient is orthogonal to the heat flux
then the Bn number is zero.
SI units for such a dot product are WdegC/m
3
, akin to a volumetric power density multiplied by a
temperature rise. In FloTHERM, the Bn number is normalized by dividing through by the maximum value of
that variable in a model, thus producing a range that always has a maximum value of 1 to facilitate results
inspection and interpretation (i.e., Bn =1 will always be the worst local bottleneck in the design). The Bn
number is therefore dimensionless.
Regions of the analysis that exhibit large values of Bn, will have three qualities:
A large value for heat flux, i.e., it will be on an existing heat transfer path of significance.
A large value of temperature gradient, i.e., there will be significant thermal resistance at that point.
The heat flux and temperature gradient vectors will be aligned
Therefore, areas that are thermal bottlenecks, i.e., are on an existing heat transfer path and experience
significant resistance to heat transfer, will result in large values of the Bn parameter. Once these bottleneck
areas have been designed out, heat will leave the model more easily thus reducing all upstream
temperature rises, all the way back to the heat source.
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As implied by the m
3
term in the original unit denominator, Bn is a per volume parameter. It is important
to recognize this and consider the integral value of Bn over a volume of interest when using Bn to analyze a
system. For example, a small pocket of large Bn may easily be less important that a vast area of moderate
Bn.

2.2. Bottleneck Example

To further illustrate what one can expect from the Bn number, and how it correlates with temperature, heat
flux and temperature gradient, well investigate the case of a point source of heat.
Consider a small radius, infinitely long cylindrical source of heat inset into a solid material with a constant
isotropic thermal conductivity. The source of heat is set with a fixed temperature of 100 C. The far periphery
of the solid is set to 0 C with a heat transfer coefficient of 1
10
W/m
2
K. The temperature drops off from the
maximum at the heat source as the heat spreads radially out toward the 0 C boundary condition:

Figure 9 Radial Temperature Distribution

The magnitude of the heat flux (W/m
2
) drops off even faster with radial distance from the heat source, visible
in both the scalar magnitude plot and the heat flux vector plot.

100degC
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Figure 10 Heat Flux Distribution

The temperature gradient is what drives the heat flux, the gradient will be positive in the direction that points
towards the heat source (heat flows downhill, from hot peak to cold trough). Again, the gradient decreases
with radial distance away from the heat source:

Figure 11 Temperature Gradient Distribution

The Bn number is the dot product of both the temperature gradient and heat flux vectors, normalized by the
maximum Bn value in a simulation model. For a conduction situation within a homogenous material both
vectors will always be aligned so the Bn number is simply the product of both heat flux and temperature
gradient scalars (Figure 10 and Figure 11). Being the product of the two, the drop off in Bn radially away from
the source is much more pronounced than either the heat flux or temperature gradient. This Bn region is
indicative of the increase in thermal bottleneck close to the source only.

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Figure 12 Bn Distribution

The radial Bn field implies that there is no preferred direction for the heat to flow. It is the perfect
conduction situation in a way, as there is no thermal resistance dependency on conduction path. Heat will
find it equally easy/difficult to leave the system regardless of the direction.
2.3. ShortCut Number (Sc)

The Sc number is also calculated from the heat flux and temperature gradient vector values. The Sc scalar
value at any point is calculated as the magnitude of the cross product of the two vector quantities:

Heat Flux magnitude (i.e. length of the heat flux vector arrow) x Temperature Gradient magnitude (i.e.
length of the temperature gradient arrow) x |Sin()|

Note that |Sin()| is always positive
If the angle between the two properties is zero, i.e. the heat flux is aligned with the temperature gradient, then
the Sc number is zero. If the temperature gradient is orthogonal to the heat flux then the Sc number is simply
the product of the vector magnitudes (i.e., |Sin()| =1).
Like the Bn number, SI units of such a cross product are WdegC/m
3
. In FloTHERM, the number is
normalized by dividing through by the maximum value of that variable in a model, thus producing a range that
always has a maximum value of 1, again for reasons of facilitating results interpretation. The Sc number is
therefore dimensionless.
Regions of the analysis that exhibit large values of Sc will have three qualities:
A large value for heat flux, i.e., it will be on an existing heat transfer path of significance.
A large value of temperature gradient orthogonal to the heat flux direction, i.e., there will be areas of
lower temperature adjacent to the heat flux path
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The heat flux and temperature gradient vectors will be misaligned, i.e., existing heat transfer path is
not moving heat toward the largest temperature gradient.
So areas that exhibit high levels of heat flux, but have it moving in the wrong direction will produce large
values of Sc. Its the potential benefit gained by establishing a new heat transfer path in the direction of the
colder area of the design (thus aligning the heat flux and temperature gradients) that is important here.
As implied by the m
3
term in the denominator, Sc is also a per volume parameter. It is important to
recognize this and consider the integral value of Sc over a volume of interest when using Sc to analyze a
system. For example, a small pocket of large Sc may easily be less important that a vast area of moderate
Sc.
Considering the definition of Sc in the realm of conduction, one will note that within a homogeneous,
isotropic material, Sc will always be zero as the heat flux and temperature gradient vectors will always be
aligned. However, at the interface of two or more dissimilar isotropic materials, or within an orthotropic
material, this will not be the case. Sc will thus typically manifest itself with non-zero values at the interfaces
between materials, highlighting the areas where conduction shortcuts should begin or end.
Evaluating Sc in a moving fluid will have a very different interpretation. Efficient convective heat transfer is
characterized by a large temperature gradient, usually normal to the solid surface and a large heat flux
convected with the fluid, usually parallel to the solid surface. As the vectors are misaligned in this
circumstance, we can use Sc near a convection surface to gauge where convective heat transfer is most
effective.

2.4. ShortCut Example

To illustrate what one can expect when working with the Sc field in a conduction situation, well investigate a
model which is similar geometrically to traces on a PCB. The geometry is shown below in Figure 13. A
constant width, unnecessarily twisty, copper path moves 10 W from one location to another thats held at 0 C.
For the purposes of this example, the only design consideration that is important is the reduction of
temperature at the 10 W injection point.
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Figure 13 Copper conduction path within a dielectric material.

The temperature results are shown in Figure 14 for this simulation.

Figure 14 Temperature Field
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The heat flux field in Figure 15 is nearly uniform within the copper. This indicates that virtually all of the 10 W
travels the long copper path in preference to traversing the short segment of dielectric material.

Figure 15 Heat Flux Magnitude
The temperature gradient field shows a very large gradient in the region between the 10 W source and the
fixed temperature sink as implied by the temperature plot in Figure 14.

Figure 16 -Temperature Gradient
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The Sc distribution for this case is shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17 Sc Distribution. Largest areas of Sc = 1 are highlighted. Thermally connecting the two
red areas would create a shortcut for heat flow.

The largest values of Sc are found on the faces of the vertical copper strips nearest the 10 W source and sink.
This is indicating the area between the copper strips would be an excellent place to insert a new conduction
path. This observation certainly agrees with intuition, as building a copper bridge in this location would
eliminate nearly all of the copper track length and thus would serve as a great thermal shortcut.
Other shortcuts are revealed when the Sc scale is reduced. Each one is an area where a new conduction
path would eliminate a large fraction of the copper track length.
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Figure 18 Sc field with a smaller range. Additional thermal shortcuts are highlighted here.

Its important to note that the temperature gradient vector field is an excellent partner to the Sc results. The
Sc field can be used to identify promising areas for the start or end of a new thermal shortcut, the temperature
gradient vectors will point out the direction of the shortcut if its not obvious. Figure 19 superimposes
temperature gradient vectors on top of the Sc distribution in the vicinity of the topmost shortcut highlighted in
Figure 18.

Figure 19 Sc field with Temperature Gradient Vectors
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2.5. Bn and Sc Fields for a PCB Mounted Component

Consider a 100 mm x 100 mm x 2 mm PCB with a centrally mounted cuboidal representation of an active IC
package dissipating 10 W. Both component and PCB have an isotropic thermal conductivity of 10 W/mK. The
PCB is placed in a computational wind tunnel with an approach air speed of 3 m/s and temperature of 0 C.

Figure 20 Velocity vectors over the component and PCB

Temperature contours show the heating up of the component and the board around the component as well as
the heating up of the air above and below the PCB.

Figure 21 Temperature Distribution
Examining the temperature gradient vectors show the largest gradients to be up into the underside of the PCB
beneath the component and from the air down into the top of the component.
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Figure 22 Temperature Gradient Vector Distribution
80% of the heat dissipated in the component passes down into the PCB whereupon it spreads outwards to be
convected away from both top and bottom PCB surfaces. 20% of the heat is convected directly away from the
top surface of the component.

Figure 23 Heat Flux Vector Distribution
The Bn number distribution shows higher values in the PCB at the edge of the component/PCB interface,
bottlenecks as the heat spreads outwards, areas where there is an opportunity to relieve the bottlenecks thus
reduce source temperatures. There is also a local jet of higher Bn number in the air as it leaves the top of the
component in the flow direction. This convective Bn area is due to the air flow (thus heat flux) direction , as
such it is not considered an area of potential bottleneck improvement, just a by product of the flow field.

Spreading resistance
bottleneck
Convective Bn jet
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The Sc number is highest in the thermal boundary layers on the top of the component and below the PCB
under the component. For solid/fluid interfaces, where there is heat transfer occurring across those interfaces,
the Sc number in the air adjacent to those surfaces is actually indicative of the effectiveness of that heat
transfer. This is opposed to the interpretation of Sc number in conductive situations which will be more
indicative of the opportunity to add new heat flow paths. For this application where all solids have the same
thermal conductivity there are low Sc numbers within those solids as the heat flux vectors will all be aligned
with the temperature gradients.

Figure 25 Sc Distribution

3. Validation Cases

In this section, several simplistic examples will be investigated. The Bn and Sc fields will be inspected and
used to determine the best locations to apply thermal corrections so as to improve overall thermal
performance. Such an approach will be validated by either correlating such a location with one of many
locations that a design modification is made at or alternatively validated against empirical correlations for
Nusselt number.

3.1. Conduction Bottleneck Example

Motivation

This example is focused on validating usage of the bottleneck number. The model discussed in this
section will involve a clear and obvious thermal restriction with the intention of demonstrating that the Bn
number can capture and display the bottleneck. Further to this, proof will be provided that the locations of the
largest values of Bn are indeed the optimal locations to investigate when selecting a thermal design solution
to an existing heat transfer path.

Effective solid/fluid
convective heat transfer
May 13, 2010 Page 19 of 78
Description

The geometry for the first example considered is shown in Figure 26.

Figure 26 - Model setup for Conduction Bottleneck Validation Example

There are two areas defined with a fixed temperature, connected by a 30 mm long, variable cross section
conduction path (k =100 W/mK). The path is 1.5 mm wide for the right and left sections and tapers down to
0.5 mm wide in the central region. The conduction path is completely surrounded by an insulating material
with k =0.01 W/mK. All external boundaries are defined as adiabatic. The primary result of interest in this
example is the heat conducted from the 100 C area to the 0 C area.

Expectation

The expected result is that most of the heat will flow along the 100 W/mK conduction path. The largest
values of dT/dx and heat flux will be observed along the portion of the path with the smallest cross-sectional
area. As Bn is the product of those figures, and within a isotropic material, one can expect the heat flux and
temperature gradient to be aligned, we expect Bn to have large values along this narrow portion of the path.

The expectation for the validation phase of this example is that the best locations for a design modification
will be proven to be in the vicinity of the narrow section of the path as well.

Results
Figures 27-30 show temperature, heat flux, temperature gradient, and Bn distributions for this model. The
heat flow through the system is 315 mW.

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Figure 28 Heat Flux Magnitude Distribution

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Figure 29 Temperature Gradient Magnitude Distribution


The plot of Bn indicates two items of interest. 1) The largest value of Bn is located at the bottom corners
of the tapers as the cross sectional area reaches its minimum and 2) The entirety of the reduced cross
section area of the bar shows a Bn value of ~0.5. The moderate value of Bn in the middle section, combined
May 13, 2010 Page 22 of 78
with its large area, makes it the optimal location to pursue thermal design improvement by bottleneck
reduction.

Validation

The validating design modification for this case will be a copper block with dimensions of 1.5 mm x 0.5
mm. The block will always be centered on the conduction path. The 1.5 mm dimension is selected so as to
enable the block to completely replace the original conducting material at any given cross section. The block
will start at the 100 C boundary and parametrically be moved at 0.5 mm intervals over the length of the
model as shown in Figure 31. The heat flow from the 100 C boundary is measured for each case.

Figure 31 Copper block size and range

Figure 32 shows the normalized increase in heat flow from the original design versus the lateral position
of the copper block. The optimal location for this copper block is seen to be between 10 mm and 20 mm.
Figure 32 also plots normalized Bn along the bar centerline for the original simulation (without the copper
block). There is an excellent level of correlation between the observed values of Bn and the amount of heat
flow increase for each block location.
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Figure 32 Plot of additional normalized heat flow and normalized Bn number distribution versus
lateral location. The increase in heat flow is the value recorded when the center of the copper block
was simulated at that lateral location. The Bn values are taken from along the bar centerline in the
original simulation.

Its important to note that the absolute maximum values of Bn were found in the corners of the taper and
did not cover a large area of the model. When considering Bn as an integral property, this would be
considerably less important than the rather large coverage of moderate Bn values predicted along the center
section of the bar. This integral nature of the Bn parameter is captured well by the validation exercise in this
section.

3.2. Conduction Shortcut Example

Motivation
This example is focused on validating usage of the Shortcut number. The model discussed in this section
will involve a clear and obvious thermal shortcut that is not utilized in the original design with the intention of
demonstrating that the Sc number can capture and display the shortcut. Further to this, proof will be provided
that the regions with the largest integral values of Sc are indeed the optimal locations to consider when
selecting a thermal design solution that addresses a potential heat transfer path.
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Description
The geometry for the second example considered is shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33 Model Setup

In this example, there are three fixed temperature boundary conditions. A fixed temperature of 100 C is
thermally connected to a fixed temperature of 30 C by a 30 mm long, thin Aluminum bar. A short distance
below that is a 13 mm, wider, bar of copper that is connected to a fixed temperature setting of 0 C. Filling
the rest of the model is dielectric material. This serves as a thermal break between the two metallic bars and
inhibits heat from flowing from the aluminum bar to the copper bar. The key result again is the total amount of
heat that flows from the 100 C fixed temperature boundary.

Expectation

The expectation for the initial design is that a large percentage of the heat from the 100 C boundary condition
will flow directly along the aluminum bar to the 30 C boundary condition. The layer of dielectric material will
effectively block access to the potential thermal shortcut available in the form of the copper bar connected to
the 0 C boundary condition. The overlap area between the copper bar and thin aluminum bar is expected to
have the largest values of Shortcut number. The validation stage of this section should reveal that creating a
thermal conduction path down to the existing copper bar (which is connected to the 0 C boundary) in this
overlap area will best increase the amount of total heat flow. The optimal locations for the new thermal
conduction path are expected to be indicated by the Sc distribution.

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Figure 34 The yellow block arrows indicate the expected heat flow route after the shortcut is in place

Results
Figures 35-39 show temperature, heat flux, temperature gradient, Bn, and Sc distributions for this model.
The heat flow through the system is 0.267 W.


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Figure 36 Heat Flux Distribution


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Figure 39 Sc Distribution

The plot of Bn indicates that nearly all of the bottleneck in this design is along the aluminum bar. Looking
at this model from only a Bn perspective the best improvement would be to increase the cross sectional area
of the bar.
The plot of Sc for this analysis shows the area on the bottom of the aluminum bar immediately above the
copper bar has Sc values ranging from 0.5 to 1. The largest values of Sc are located near the left most end
of the copper bar. This meets expectations, as the sooner the heat can be utilizing the copper block, the
lesser the distance it must conduct through the more thermally resistive aluminum bar.
Again, the validation approach for this scenario is to introduce a copper block to the analysis. The block in
Figure 40 is 1 mm wide and 3 mm high, which matches exactly the vertical distance between the aluminum
LocationofMaximum
Scat~18mmfrom
100Cedge
May 13, 2010 Page 28 of 78
and copper bars. A parametric study moved the copper block horizontally at 1 mm intervals and recorded
the heat flow from the 100 C surface.

Figure 40 The range of copper block locations investigated.

Figure 41 is plotting the normalized increase in heat flow and Sc distribution along the bottom of the
aluminum bar versus location. The optimal location for this copper block is seen to be 17 mm which is an
excellent match with the pocket of large Sc observed in Figure 39 (the maximum value of Sc is at roughly 18
mm).

Figure 41 Normalized increase in heat flow and Sc on the bottom of the Aluminum bar versus
lateral position
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The correlation between Sc and +Q for locations greater than 17 mm is excellent, with the curves nearly
parallel in this section of the plot. The lack of correlation for locations smaller than 17 mm is due to the
chosen shape of the copper block shortcut introduced. The Sc parameter has elevated values along this
range as it is detecting possible shortcuts at an angle as shown in Figure 42. The validating copper block test
was only able to consider pure vertical shortcuts as a consequence of it being an axis aligned rectangle.

Figure 42 The yellow arrows indicate angled potential shortcuts from the aluminum bar to the
copper bar. The Sc field will detect these shortcuts, but the validating copper block used in this
section will not.

Once more, the integral nature of these parameters is shown in this example. The best range of positions
to introduce a thermal shortcut was predicted well by the large pocket of Sc predicted.

3.3. Conduction Labyrinth

Motivation

This example is focused on validating usage of the Bottleneck number and Shortcut number
simultaneously. The model discussed will not have a clear and obvious best answer, but instead present a
scenario that has many different conduction paths of unknown (or at least, unknown via geometric inspection)
thermal resistance. The intent is to demonstrate that the relative importance of thermal problems can be
captured with Bn and Sc and to demonstrate that considering Bn and Sc as integral values can be more
important that determining the absolute maximum value.

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Description

The geometry for this example is shown in Figure 43.

Figure 43 Conduction labyrinth of variable kx, ky, and kz.

In this example, the geometry consists a 100 mm x 100 mm x 1 mm block consisting of a 100 x 100
regular array of orthotropic materials. Each orthotropic material has different values for kx, ky, and kz. The
colors of each section in Figure 43 give a qualitative measure of percentage copper in that section: yellow
indicates pure copper (k =385 W/mK), green indicates pure dielectric (k =0.3 W/mK). The entire left edge of
the model is fixed at 100 C and the right edge is fixed at 0 C. Again, the key result is the total amount of
heat observed flowing out of the 100 C edge.

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Expectation

It is expected that multiple heat transfer paths will be observable in the results where the largest
concentrations of high percentage copper are found, and the narrowest of these heat transfer paths will result
in largest Bn values. Similarly, its expected that the pockets of relatively low percentage copper will not
conduct much heat and will result in the largest values of Sc in those regions.

Results

The heat flow in this original design is 18.92 W and plots of the field variables are provided below.


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Figure 45 Heat Flux Magnitude Distribution

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Figure 47 Bn Distribution. The solid white ovals indicate where the integral value of Bn within is
high.

Figure 48 Sc Distribution. The dashed white ovals indicate the areas of the model where the
integral value of Sc is high.
May 13, 2010 Page 34 of 78

The plot of heat flux in Figure 45 meets expectations. The highly randomized copper distribution has
resulted in a number of distinct heat transfer paths throughout the conduction maze. The plot of temperature
and temperature speaks to the torturous paths available for heat flow as well.
The Bn plot in Figure 47 shows that are several areas in the model where the integral value of Bn would
be relatively large. The largest such area is found near the upper half of the right side, where there are
several pockets of maximum Bn values. Note that the Bn field is qualitatively much different than that the
heat flux field. This wasnt the case for the earlier examples. For more complicated scenarios like this
conduction maze, the variation in thermal conductivity along the heat flow path causes the different behavior,
and leads to more valuable information than heat flux alone.
The Sc plot in Figure 48 shows that are several areas in the model where the integral value of Sc would be
relatively large. The largest such area is again found near the upper half of the right side, where there are
several pockets of maximum Sc values. There is significant overlap between the Bn ovals and the Sc ovals
on the right edge. This would be an excellent place to begin when determining the optimal location to
investigate thermal design changes, as it contains both bottlenecks to correct and shortcuts to leverage.
For this case well determine the optimal location for a 10 mm x 10 mm block of copper and compare this
with the maximum Bn and Sc locations. The block of copper will be simulated in 100 different locations by
shifting it in steps of 10 mm so as to cover every section of the model individually.
Figure 49 shows the results of this investigation. For each block position considered, the surface plot is
showing the increase in heat flow due to the inclusion of the block at that position.

May 13, 2010 Page 35 of 78

Figure 49 Map of improvement to heat flow (W) with the inclusion of 10 mm x 10 mm block at
various locations. The solid and dashed white ovals are transferred directly from Figures 47-48

The areas of large Bn and Sc integral values show an excellent correlation with the measured
improvement to heat flow. Every block position that resulted in a heat flow increase of greater than 1 Watt is
accounted for with an oval. Recall, the ovals were originally drawn around those regions of the model
deemed to have a large Bn or Sc integral values in Figures 47-48. The maximum improvement is found
along the right edge showing excellent correlation with the locations of where both the Bn and Sc integral
values are estimated to be highest.
Its important to reiterate that in complicated conduction scenarios like this, the heat flux and temperature
gradient fields in isolation cannot provide sufficient data to draw the conclusions made here. Its the
combination of heat flux and temperature gradient, and their relative alignment, in the form of Bn and Sc that
provides the insight.

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3.4. Developing Boundary Layer in Channel with Fixed Temperature Walls

Motivation
This example is intended to show a qualitative correlation between the variation in local Nusselt number and
shortcut number on the surface of a fixed temperature wall that is transferring heat to a cooler developing
boundary layer across it. A condition encountered in flow between say heatsink fins. A local Nusselt number
provides a measure of the effectiveness of heat transfer from a surface to the surrounding fluid. It is
notoriously difficult to fully automate the extraction of a local ambient temperature used in the Nusselt
number definition. By showing a correlation of Nusselt number with Sc number, and the fact that the Sc
number is itself much simpler to define, use of the Sc number to identify and appreciate areas of effective
convective heat transfer can be proposed. Note that this appears to be in contradiction to the previous
ascertation that the Sc number is indicative of where there is an opportunity to insert new heat transfer paths
where currently there exists none. However the nature of the Sc number, involving a temperature gradient
orthogonal to a predominant heat flux path, when examined at solid/fluid interfaces where the air flow is
parallel to the surface, should also be indicative of the local effectiveness of the heat transfer.

Description

Figure 50 - Parallel Fixed Temperature Plate Model Geometry
A solid wall at a fixed temperature of 0 C is defined with a length of 0.2 m. A constant velocity of air is
introduced over the wall at a speed of 1 m/s and at a temperature of -100 C. Symmetry boundary conditions
are applied on the upper plane of the model at a height of 5 mm above the fixed temperature wall. This
equates to a parallel wall channel type flow with a channel gap of 10 mm. A Reynolds number of 1261
100degC
1 m/s
0degC
May 13, 2010 Page 37 of 78
(laminar flow) is realized. Symmetry boundary conditions are applied on the two sides of the model
representing an infinitely wide channel.

Expectation

For a fixed wall temperature, the effectiveness of heat transfer will be seen as the ratio of the amount of heat
that is transferred to the air and how close that air temperature is to the wall temperature. More heat moved
for less temperature difference is the result of effective heat transfer! This effectiveness will be high in the
entrance to the channel as the fluid is still relatively cold compared to the wall and the local velocity gradient is
high thus the wall friction will be high and thus, due to the Reynolds analogy, heat transfer will be more
effective.
A Nusselt number is defined as:
Nu =
qI
(I
wuII
-I
umbcnt
)k

Where:
L =characteristic length (m)
k =thermal conductivity of fluid (W/mK)
q =heat flux (W/m
2
)
T
wall
=local wall temperature
T
ambient
=local ambient temperature**

**taken as flow weighted average vertically across the channel at a plane adjacent to where the local heat flux
is recorded

The effectiveness of heat transfer is inherent in its definition, i.e. the ratio of q and dT.
The Sc number will be large where the predominant heat flow direction is perpendicular to the local
temperature gradient. For this geometry the predominant heat flow direction is in the direction of the air flow:

Figure 51 - Parallel Fixed Temperature Plate Heat Flux and Temperature Gradient Directions
Dominanttemperature
gradientdirection
Dominantheatflux
direction
May 13, 2010 Page 38 of 78
As the air heats up as it flows through the channel the perpendicular temperature gradient will reduce thus the
Sc number should also reduce. So, although the Sc number is NOT a direct analogy to the local Nusselt
number, it should be high where there are symptoms that are indicative of high Nusselt number conditions.

Results

Plots of temperature, heat flux, temperature gradient and Sc number are shown in the following figures (for a
few channel heights in the flow direction only for clarity).

Figure 52 - Parallel Fixed Temperature Plate: Temperature Distribution

Figure 53 - Parallel Fixed Temperature Plate: Heat Flux Distribution
May 13, 2010 Page 39 of 78

Figure 54 - Parallel Fixed Temperature Plate: Temperature Gradient Distribution

Figure 55 - Parallel Fixed Temperature Plate: Sc Number Distribution
Validation
Validating the defined expectations involves correlating the variation in Nusselt number to Sc number. Local
Nusselt number variation on the surface of the fixed temperature wall is calculated for each grid cell face at
that interface in the model and plotted against the flow direction. Similarly the Sc number is plotted for the row
of air cells immediately adjacent to the wall surface, again in the flow direction. As we are looking for a
qualitative correlation between the two parameters, the Nusselt number is normalized along that profile. The
Sc number is itself already normalized.
Figure 56 shows the variation in normalized Nusselt number and Sc number plotted against the flow direction
May 13, 2010 Page 40 of 78

Figure 56 - Sc and Normalized Nusselt Number vs. Development Length
The main difference is seen in the local spike in Sc very near the entrance to the channel. This is due to the
detachment of the maximum Sc area from the wall surface as seen in Figure 55 where the line of maximum
Sc number is not parallel to the surface whereas the Nusselt number line is by its definition is taken along the
solid/fluid interface. Apart from this entrance effect difference there is a strong enough correlation between
the two parameters, enough to consider Sc variation near walls as a parameter that will indicate where the
local solid to fluid heat transfer is effective

3.5. Developing Boundary Layer in Channel with Local Fixed Temperature Walls

Motivation

This example is almost identical to the previous example apart from only a small section of the wall being held
at a fixed temperature. This configuration being more indicative of heat transfer from a locally heated PCB
surface.

Description

May 13, 2010 Page 41 of 78

Figure 57 - Parallel Plate Fixed Temperature Region Model Geometry
Setting the wall to have a thermal conductivity of 5 W/mK allows for lateral spreading of the heat.

Results

Plots of temperature, heat flux, temperature gradient and Sc number are shown in the following figures.

Figure 58 - Parallel Plate Fixed Temperature Region: Temperature Distribution
100degC
1m/s
0degC
May 13, 2010 Page 42 of 78

Figure 59 - Parallel Plate Fixed Temperature Region: Heat Flux Distribution

Figure 60 - Parallel Plate Fixed Temperature Region: Temperature Gradient Distribution

Figure 61 - Parallel Plate Fixed Temperature Region: Sc Number Distribution
Validation

As with the previous example, validating the defined expectations involves correlating the variation in Nusselt
number to Sc. The normalized Nusselt number variation at the wall surface and the Sc variation in the first
row of grid cells in the air adjacent to the wall are plotted in Figure 62. The extent of the fixed temperature
region is shown by the two vertical red lines.

May 13, 2010 Page 43 of 78

Figure 62 - Sc and Normalized Nusselt Number vs. Development Length
Overall an excellent correlation is seen, more than enough to give confidence in using the Sc variation in a
model to determine the areas that are being most effective in transferring heat from a solid surface to the air.
4. Real World Examples

4.1. Package Level Modeling

Motivation
The following exercise will explore the application of Bn and Sc results to a typical package scale
application. Using Bn and Sc as a guide, well attempt to reduce junction temperature by reducing the
thermal resistance between the junction and the board.

Description
The application is shown in Figure 63. There is a typical 44 lead SOIC package centrally located on a
PCB and dissipating 2 Watts. The PCB has 6 layers and features a molybdenum core to enhance lateral heat
transfer within the board. The PCB is wedge-locked in place with the chassis temperature being fixed at 12
C.

May 13, 2010 Page 44 of 78

Figure 63 Package Scale Application

The SOIC is modeled with much of its geometry explicitly included. There are objects present for the die,
die attach, bond wires, tie bars, lead frames, and the encapsulant. Each of the metallic layers on the PCB is
modeled as a single object with a uniform material property appropriate for its metallic content and
distribution. The junction temperature will be measured at the center of the active surface of the die. The
board temperature is measured in the top signal layer, at the middle of the longest side of the package, and 1
mm away from the leads (towards the chassis wall). In the forthcoming results sections, the thermal
resistances presented will be referring to the temperatures at these locations.

May 13, 2010 Page 45 of 78

Figure 64 SOIC-44 Geometry

Results
The initial simulation had the following summary results:

Design Tjunction (C) Tpcb (C) Rth J B (C/W)
Original 104.3 42.7 30.8

Figures 65-68 illustrate the temperature field, and interesting locations where there are large volumes of
increased Bn and Sc levels.
May 13, 2010 Page 46 of 78

Figure 65 Temperature distribution along the three package centerlines.

May 13, 2010 Page 47 of 78

Figure 66 Maximum Bn values along the tie bar. The horizontal red line indicates the vertical
position

May 13, 2010 Page 48 of 78

Figure 67 A small area of maximum Sc along the top of the tie bar

Figure 68: A large area of Sc ~ 0.1 on the top of the signal layer
May 13, 2010 Page 49 of 78

The location of maximum Bn in these results is inside the tie bars, at the ends where they meet the die
attach. This is demonstrating that in the initial design most of the heat is bypassing the bond wire-lead frame
route and opting instead to move downwards through the die attach and into the tie bar, dispersing then
through the lead frame to reach the board and then the ambient.

Figure 69: The primary heat flow paths from the die to the lead frame. Most of the heat uses the tie
bar to reach the lead frame.

There are two locations of interest with respect to Sc. The maximum value of Sc in these results is nearly
in the same spot as maximum Bn, but occupying the top side of the tie bars, i.e., the face of the tie bar
nearest the lead frame structure as shown in Figure 67. The identified thermal shortcut in this case is
conduction from the tie bar up to the lead frame and then out to the leads.

May 13, 2010 Page 50 of 78
More noteworthy is the large continuous area of Sc ~0.1 on the top layer of the PCB immediately below
the die shown in Figure 68. The integral value of Sc here would be much larger that the small pocket of
maximum Sc on the tie bars. This indicates a potential (and commonly used) thermal shortcut is available
from the bottom of the encapsulant to the PCB. This Sc information forms the basis of the next design
change; the addition of an exposed solder pad and associated copper land to the package design

Design Change One

The first design change is therefore to add a solder pad to the bottom of the package as shown in Figure
70. The pad dimensions match that of the die flag, which in turn is a reasonable approximation to the shape
of the Sc field seen earlier.

Figure 70 Addition of a solder pad to the bottom of the package to take advantage of the thermal
shortcut highlighted by the Sc distribution

May 13, 2010 Page 51 of 78
The updated results:

Design Tjunction (C) Tpcb (C)
Rth J B (C/W)
[% Decrease from
Previous Design]
Original 104.3 42.7 30.8
Added solder pad 88.7 41.6 23.6 [-23.4%]

A reduction of over 20% in Rth J B is achieving by addressing areas of note in the Sc distribution with a
practical engineering solution.

Its important to recheck the Sc and Bn fields after making a design change, as the heat flow topology will
have changed. The new Sc field looks like this

Figure 71 Sc from the side. Scale truncated at 0.05 for clarity

May 13, 2010 Page 52 of 78

Figure 72 Sc from the top. Plane positioned at the top of layer 2 as indicated by the horizontal
red line.

May 13, 2010 Page 53 of 78
With the solder pad and copper land now included in the design, the Sc field is very clearly indicating that
the best opportunity to build a thermal shortcut is downward, into the PCB, from the copper land to the 2
nd

layer and molybdenum core beyond. The next design change will create this shortcut with the introduction of
an array of thermal vias.

Design Change Two

The 2
nd
design change is the addition of 60 filled thermal vias under the solder pad and copper land as
shown in Figure 73. The vias are 0.3 mm in diameter, 0.025 mm plating thickness, and are arranged in a
uniform staggered pattern. The thermal vias are disconnected from the signal layers but do make contact
with the internal plane layers.

Figure 73 The locations of the 60 thermal vias

With the vias in place, the updated results are:
May 13, 2010 Page 54 of 78
Rth J B (C/W)
[% Decrease from
Previous Design]
Original 104.3 42.7 30.8
Added solder pad 88.7 41.6 23.6 [-23.4%]
Added thermal vias 72.5 40.7 15.9 [-32.6%]

A further reduction in Rth J B of 32.6% is achieved by again applying valid engineering changes to areas
suggested by the Sc field.
As before, best practice is to re-check the Sc and Bn fields to understand the effect the new heat flow
patterns have on the design. Now the most promising Sc distribution is shown in Figure 74.

Figure 74 Sc Distribution. The red line indicates the vertical position of the contour plane.
May 13, 2010 Page 55 of 78
With the creation of the shortcut down to the molybdenum layer in place, the largest area of increased Sc
is now along the top surfaces of the tie bars nearest the die. While this may represent a good opportunity to
improve thermal, well have to reject the pursuit of this shortcut due to electrical design constraints.
Now that all of the major Sc opportunities have been considered, its an appropriate time to investigate
where the bottlenecks may lie. The most interesting area of the design from a Bn distribution is shown in
Figure 75.

Figure 75 Bn Distribution in the center of the package

There are three regions of potential interests: 1) The bond wires, 2) the volume immediately under the die
flag, and 3) the spreading of the heat outwards from the thermal via field within the molybdenum core. While
the values of Bn are highest within the bond wires, the volume between the die flag and the solder pad has
the largest integral value of Bn and it is the most promising area to consider for a design change.

Further note that reducing the scale of Bn considered in a plot is an excellent manner in which to spot
areas that have moderate Bn numerical values but have large volumes. These generally are more important
than small pockets of maximum Bn as stated previously.

1
2
3
May 13, 2010 Page 56 of 78
Design Change Three

With this information in mind, well adopt a common design change to address the bottleneck between the
die flag and solder, namely, well drop the entire die structure down so as to have the die flag residing directly
on top of the solder pad. This is an excellent strategy in this case as it completely removes this identified
bottleneck from the heat transfer path. The geometry change is shown in Figure 76.

Figure 76 Die structure dropped downwards to meet the solder pad. The bond wires (yellow) are
now longer so as to reach up and make contact with the unchanged lead frame structure.

The updated results with the new die structure:

Rth J B (C/W)
[% Decrease from
Previous Design]
Original 104.3 42.7 30.8
Added solder pad 88.7 41.6 23.6 [-23.4%]
Added thermal vias 72.5 40.7 15.9 [-32.6%]
Dropped die structure 53.5 39.1 7.2 [-54.7%]

The bottleneck identified in Figure 75 has been completely removed and an improvement of 54.7% in Rth
J B is the result. Its reassuring to note that sequential inspection of the Sc and Bn fields is able to provide
sound reasoning for each of these design changes. The end result of applying engineering judgment to the
courses of action suggested by the Sc and Bn fields is massive improvement in the thermal performance of
the package; a cumulative reduction of 76.6% in Rth J B.
There is no alternative systematic approach based on simulation or experimental results inspection that
could yield the same results in the same timeframe. Performing a Design of Experiments simulation set to
identify shortcuts and restrictive areas of the design is the most efficient alternate approach, and even that
would require hundreds and hundreds of simulations to accurately identify problem areas. As the heat flow
May 13, 2010 Page 57 of 78
topology changes with each design modification, the Design of Experiments simulations would need to
redone to determine the next design change. This is prohibitively expensive when compared with the
methodology used in this paper.

As a recap, the procedure followed in this example was to sequentially address the major areas indicated
by Sc for improvement and then use the Bn parameter to reduce the bottlenecks on the new heat flow
topology. The changes made and associated improvements in Rth J B are given in Figure 77.

Figure 77 Summary of Package Design Modifications

May 13, 2010 Page 58 of 78
4.2. Heatsink Design Optimization Worked Example

Motivation

Examination of the Sc number variation in and around an oversized heatsink should provide an indication of
regions of the heatsink that are not performing optimally. Knowing this, design modifications can be made so
as to reduce the size of the heatsink without unduly affecting its thermal performance.
Examination of the Bn number should indicate regions of the heatsink that are restricting the flow of heat from
the heat source to the air. Knowing where these areas are will allow design modifications to be made so as to
improve the thermal performance of the heatsink.

Description

An extruded plate fin heatsink with a width of 300 mm, length of 300 mm, base thickness of 5 mm with 52
1mm thick equispaced 295 mm high fins is placed in a computational wind tunnel with no allowance made for
by pass (Figure 78). Air is blown through the heatsink with a mean air speed of 1 m/s at an inlet temperature
of 0 C through each fin channel. The heatsink has a thermal conductivity of 137 W/mK. A 100 W 5 mm x 5
mm heat source is placed at the geometric center of the base.

Figure 78 Heatsink and Heat Source

Expectation

As described in Section 3.4, taking the near wall Sc variation as being correlated to the local Nusselt number,
identifying regions of low Sc number will determine areas of the heatsink that are not contributing to the
effectiveness of the heatsink and therefore can and should be removed. This will be done by changing the
extruded profile outline.
May 13, 2010 Page 59 of 78
Areas of the large Bn number will be those that are most restrictive and therefore require remedial design
modifications, most commonly changing the geometric cross section of either the base or fin widths. The
intention is to smooth out the variation in Bn number. There will always be a biggest Bn number in any
simulation; an optimal design will be one where there is no one heat flow path that carries the lions share of
the overall thermal resistance.

Results

The original heatsink design has a maximum temperature of 106degC, equating to an overall thermal
resistance of 1.06 C/W. The Sc variation through the center of the heatsink perpendicular to the air flow
direction is shown in Figure 79 (the heatsink itself is hidden for clarity).

Figure 79 - Sc Number Distribution through the Heat Source
Note that a log scale is used to plot the Sc variation. Such an approach will better indicate large areas of
medium Sc. The thin vertical lines of higher Sc number in Figure 79 are in the air immediately adjacent to the
fin surfaces.
A similar plot parallel to the flow direction, in the air immediately next to the central fin, is shown in Figure 80.
May 13, 2010 Page 60 of 78

Figure 80 - Sc Number Distribution through the Heat Source (Parallel to the air Flow Direction)
Figures 79 and 80 can be used to qualitatively determine the Sc number that demarks the interface between
effective and non effective heat transfer regions. For this application that interface is taken to be at Sc =0.002.
Plotting iso-surfaces of the Sc number at that value will produce a 3D geometric description of the volume of
the heatsink that is effective. Various views of such a surface are shown in Figure 81. Note that the surface is
colored according to air speed at that surface though no correlations are being sought, the choice was simply
to provide a color variation to aid inspection of the shape of that surface.

Airflowdirection
May 13, 2010 Page 61 of 78

Figure 81 - Iso-Surface of Sc = 0.002
The shape of the iso-surface is then used to redefine the profile of the extrusion. This is shown in Figure 82
where the original heatsink is shown in wireframe for reference.

Figure 82 - Reduced Heatsink Extrusion Profile
Airflowdirection
Airflowdirection
May 13, 2010 Page 62 of 78
The thermal performance of the reduced profile heatsink is 1.12 C/W, an increase of 5.5% but with large
decreases in the overall volume (88% lower) and pressure drop (23% lower).
Now that the Sc motivated design modification is made, examination of the Bn number distribution will allow
subsequent changes to be made to reduce thermal bottlenecks and to improve the thermal performance. Bn
variation through the heat source perpendicular to the flow direction is shown in Figure 83.

Figure 83 - Bn Number through the Heat Source

Figure 84 - Zoomed-in View of Bn Number through the Heat Source
A log plot is used again to better show the extents of the high and medium Bn region. When determining what
changes to make based on the Bn variation it is important to speculate as to what the preferred Bn variation
should be. This situation is very similar to that of Section 2.2, where a point source was considered in a 2D
homogeneous material. The ideal Bn field was observed there, a radial distribution of Bn that removed any
bottleneck dependency on direction. The 3D analog of that case is a spherical Bn distribution centered on a
heat source. In this heatsink example, a spherical distribution of Bn is not possible (as the heat source is
May 13, 2010 Page 63 of 78
fixed on the bottom of the heat sink base), but creating a hemisphere of Bn values certainly is. Applying that
to this application, modification to the fin thickness and heatsink base thickness so as to achieve a more
hemispherical Bn variation should lead to a more improved, if not fully optimized, thermal effectiveness.
To investigate this, the fins that offer the largest restriction to heat flow are made wider and the base
thickness in the region of the Bn hemisphere is thickened to the extent of that hemisphere. The value that
demarks the edge of this hemispherical Bn region is taken to be 0.001, 1/1000
th
of the maximum.

Figure 85 - Bn Number through the Heat Source after Base and Fin Modifications
The result is an increase in thermal performance. The overall thermal resistance is 0.95 C/W, a decrease of
10% compared to the original oversized heatsink.
Having refined the heat sink base and fin thickness to achieve a desired Bn semi-sphere in the base there is
now the option of further improving the thermal performance by increasing the thermal conductivity in that
high Bn region. This is investigated by placing a copper slug over the extents of the Bn hemisphere.

Figure 86 - Iso-surface of Bn = 0.001

May 13, 2010 Page 64 of 78

Figure 87 - Copper Slug in the Heatsink Base
Thermal performance is dramatically increased, with the overall thermal resistance dropping to 0.5 C/W, a
decrease of 53% compared to the original oversized heatsink. This is a good example of how the Bn number
can be used to make much more (cost) effective thermal design modifications, targeting thermal remedial
changes to exactly where they will be most effective. To verify this, a final simulation with the entire heatsink
made of copper is performed. The overall thermal resistance drops to 0.42 C/W, 40% of the original
oversized heatsink, a further reduction of 13% compared to the use of the slug but likely an increase in costs
that is much higher than the decrease in thermal resistance.

Summary

An initially oversized heatsink with a small heat source on the underside of the base was reduced in its
extrusion profile shape based upon examination of the extents of the Sc number distribution. Values of Sc <
0.002 were taken to represent areas of the heatsink that were not contributing efficiently to its thermal
performance. This resulted in a slight drop in performance with the thermal resistance increasing by of 5.5%
but more than balanced by a drop in volume of 88% and a drop in pressure drop of 23%. Examination of the
Bn number distribution led to design modifications of increasing central fin thicknesses and increasing the
base thickness around the heat source so as to achieve an uninterrupted Bn distribution of values of Bn >
0.001 that was hemispherical in shape. This resulted in a decrease of 10% of the thermal resistance
compared to the original oversized design. The volume of the base that the Bn hemisphere occupied was
then replaced by a copper slug. This resulted in a decrease of 53% of the thermal resistance compared to the
original oversized design. Finally, the entire heatsink was modeled as copper resulting in only a modest
further improvement.

May 13, 2010 Page 65 of 78

Figure 88 Summary of Design Changes and Results

4.3. System Level Refinement Worked Example

Motivation

System level applications offer the best opportunity to demonstrate the value of Bn and Sc inspired design
modifications. Even the simplest system level model often has a number of different heat sources and
complex intertwined heat removal paths. This example will involve sequential design modifications based on
identification of high value Bn and Sc areas.

Description

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May 13, 2010 Page 66 of 78
A wall mounted sealed system contains a motherboard and two canned daughterboards (Figure 89). A plate
fin heatsink forms the rear of the enclosure with a critical component (Comp1) conduction cooled to the
heatsink via a thermal pad and aluminum block on the underside of the motherboard directly beneath Comp1
(Figure 90). Note this is the Wall Unit application example installed with FloTHERM.

Figure 89 - Wall Unit Application Example

Figure 90 Wall Unit Motherboard
Expectation

Examination of the variation of Bn throughout the model will identify those areas that are bigger bottlenecks to
the removal of heat than others. Such a relative scale will enable a prioritization of which design modifications,
and where, should be investigated first.
May 13, 2010 Page 67 of 78
Examination of the variation in Sc number throughout the model will identify two things. Generally it will
identify where in the model there is an opportunity to insert a new heat flow path so as to shortcut the heat
more directly to colder areas. More specifically, at solid/fluid interfaces it will provide an indication of where
the heat transfer across that interface is effective.

Results

The following figures show the variation in temperature and air speed on a plane bisecting Comp1, the edge
of one of the canned PCBs and through the center of a heat sink plate fin. The images have been rotated by
90 degrees so that gravity is acting from right to left.

Figure 91 - Temperature Distribution

Figure 92 - Air Speed Distribution
To determine the effectiveness of any design modifications, comparisons against Basecase temperature rises
above ambient of Comp1 and the air in the two PCB cans. Such temperature rises in C for the Basecase are
shown in the following table:

Model
Temperature Rise Over Ambient (C)
Comp1 Air in Can1 Air in Can2
Basecase 36.3 87.3 86.6

May 13, 2010 Page 68 of 78
1
st
Bn Design Modification

Figure 93 has a plane plot showing the variation in Bn, taken at the same location as in Figure 91. The Bn
range has been reduced to 0-0.2 to better identify the relative levels of Bn that would otherwise be swamped
by the locally very large values in the connectors where they join the PCB can to the motherboard.

Figure 93 - Bn Distribution
It is at those locations that Bn number is at or near its maximum value of 1.0. A large proportion of heat
dissipated in the sealed cans conducts down through the connectors into the motherboard. Despite a relative
high conductivity of 180 W/mK, their cross sectional area is quite small and they abut a much lower
conductivity PCB. To break down this bottleneck at the connector/PCB interface the connectors from both
cans are modeled as punching through the motherboard, not abutting it as shown in Figure 94.

Figure 94 - Can Connector Design Modification
The effect on this modification is shown in the following table. The temperature rise in the two cans drops by
10%. The temperature rise in Comp1 increases by a small amount, due to the increased amount of heat that
now passes into the motherboard.

May 13, 2010 Page 69 of 78
Model
Temperature Rise Over Ambient (C) : [% of Basecase]
Basecase 36.3 87.3 86.6
Bn Modification 1 -
Connectors through PCB
37.3 [+2.8%] 78.1 [-10.5%] 78.0 [-10.0%]
2
nd
Bn Design Modification

Figure 95 has a plane plot showing the variation in Bn, taken at the same location as in Figure 93.

Figure 95 - Bn Distribution
Note that now that the first bottleneck has been relieved, the relative difference between the bottlenecks in the
canned PCB, at the can/motherboard connector interface and under Comp1 have been reduced. The
remaining candidate targets for Bn remedial action are
1. In the canned PCB
2. Where the canned PCB connects to the internal side of the can
3. In the motherboard around the can connectors
4. In the motherboard under Comp1
Choice of where a remedial action can be performed will always be constrained by other design goals, be
they electrical performance, manufacturability, cost etc. In this case an increase in PCB copper content so as
to increase in-plane effective thermal conductivity could be considered as a possible remedial action for 1 and
3. We will however focus on 4 where it should have a direct effect on the temperature of Comp1. To relieve
this bottleneck an array of thermal vias will be placed in the motherboard, increasing the effective through
plane thermal conductivity of the motherboard in that area as shown in Figure 96.
May 13, 2010 Page 70 of 78

Figure 96 - Thermal Vias Under Comp1
The effect of this modification is shown in the following table. A 24% decrease in Comp1 temperature rise
over ambient compared to the Basecase. A small improvement in the Can temperatures is also seen, due to
the fact that some of the heat leaving the cans also passed through that area of the PCB down to the heatsink.

Model
Basecase 36.3 87.3 86.6
Bn Modification 1 -
37.3 [+2.8%] 78.1 [-10.5%] 78.0 [-10.0%]
Bn Modification 2
Comp1 Thermal Vias
27.4 [-24.1%] 77.6 [-11.1%] 77.6 [-10.5%]

1
st
Sc Design Modification

Further Bn motivated design modifications could be investigated, further chasing down remaining bottlenecks.
At this stage however we turn to examination of the Sc field to identify where new heat flow paths could be
added to more effectively shortcut the heat from its source to the ambient.
Figure 97 has a plane plot showing the variation in Sc, taken near the same location as in Figure 95 but with
the plane positioned so as to be in the air gap between heatsink fins. A log scale is used this time to better
highlight the relative variation in Sc over the model. To better understand existing the heat flow paths Figure
98 is positioned back to bisect a heatsink fin, showing the heat flux distribution with the lower heat flux vectors
clipped away for clarity.
Arrayof
thermalvias
Thermalpad
Aluminum
connectorto
heatsink
Heatsink
Comp1
May 13, 2010 Page 71 of 78

Figure 97 - Sc Distribution

Figure 98 - Heat Flux Distribution
The Sc number will be highest where the heat flux vector is at 90 degrees to the local temperature gradient.
For point 2 this occurs where the heat flux in the thin enclosure runs orthogonally to the temperature gradient
between the enclosure and the local air. Heatsinking of the enclosure may capitalize on the opportunity to
pass the heat more effectively to the cooler air although as the enclosure is made of plastic such area
extension methods may not be effective. Point 3 indicates the area of the heatsink that is providing efficient
heat transfer from the fins to the air. Point 1 has the largest value of Sc and it is at this location that the first
Sc design modification is considered.
Further extending the can connectors down onto the heatsink base should shortcut the heat most directly to
the ambient, this is shown in Figure 99.
May 13, 2010 Page 72 of 78

Figure 99 - Further Can Connector Design Modification
The effect of this modification is shown in the following table. Can temperature rises over ambient reduce by
47% of the Basecase values. There is a slight increase in the Comp1 temperature rise, this time due to an
increase in the heatsink temperature with more heat passing directly down to it.

Model
Basecase 36.3 87.3 86.6
Bn Modification 1 -
37.3 [+2.8%] 78.1 [-10.5%] 78.0 [-10.0%]
Bn Modification 2
Comp1 Thermal Vias
27.4 [-24.1%] 77.6 [-11.1%] 77.6 [-10.5%]
Sc Modification 1
Connectors dropped to
Heatsink
28.9 [-20.2%] 46.9 [-46.2%] 46.7 [-46.1%]

May 13, 2010 Page 73 of 78
2
nd
Sc Design Modification

Re-plotting the Sc variation shows a much more even distribution of Sc, Figure 100. A completely uniform
distribution of Sc (and Bn) would indicate a perfectly balanced design, where heat finds it equally easy to pass
to the ambient regardless of the path it took and where there is no advantage to shortcut the heat to cooler
areas from any one location to another. Successive design modifications based on Bn and Sc should evolve
the design closer to this perfect condition.

Figure 100 - Sc Distribution
As discussed in Section 3.4, the Sc number in the fluid, adjacent to a heatsink fin, is correlated to local
Nusselt number and thus indicative of regions of effective heat transfer. For the current state of this design
that region is (qualitatively) determined to be bound by the red box. The heatsink outside of this area is not
operating as effectively and so can be removed. This design modification is shown in Figure 101.

Figure 101 - Heatsink Fin Length Design Modification
The effect of this modification is shown in the following table. The results are initially surprising in that
foreshortening the heatsink actually improves the thermal performance slightly. This is due to an increase in
air flow through the heatsink as, being shorter, it offers less flow resistance.
May 13, 2010 Page 74 of 78

Model
Basecase 36.3 87.3 86.6
Bn Modification 1 -
37.3 [+2.8%] 78.1 [-10.5%] 78.0 [-10.0%]
Bn Modification 2
Comp1 Thermal Vias
27.4 [-24.1%] 77.6 [-11.1%] 77.6 [-10.5%]
Sc Modification 1
Connectors dropped to
Heatsink
28.9 [-20.2%] 46.9 [-46.2%] 46.7 [-46.1%]
Sc Modification 2
Reduce Heatsink Length
26.6 [-26.7%] 45.2 [-48.1%] 45.0 [-48.1%]

Summary

Successive Bn and Sc prompted design modifications result in a series of thermal improvements of the
original design. Examination of the initial Bn variation, using a reduced range of Bn 0-0.2 to better highlight
the main bottleneck areas, indicated that the largest bottleneck was at the interface between the can
connectors and the motherboard. This bottleneck was relieved by having the connectors bisect, not abut, the
motherboard. Examination of the subsequent Bn variation led to the inclusion of an array of thermal vias
under Comp1. Two Sc inspired modifications were then implemented. Firstly the can connectors were pushed
further down so that they abutted the heatsink base. Finally the heatsink was foreshortened based on
identification where Sc number was biggest in the heatsink fin gaps. This resulted in a further decrease of the
temperature rises due to an increase in air flow rate through the heatsink.

May 13, 2010 Page 75 of 78

Figure 102 - Summary Results

5. Discussion

An Alternative to Parametric Design Optimization
The inspection of thermal bottlenecks and shortcut opportunities provides a thermal engineer with the ability
to identify where in a design specific modifications could be made so as to reduce temperature rises. Such a
methodology will enable a design to be improved until such time as it is judged to be thermally compliant. Bn
and Sc prompted design modifications should be viewed as an alternative to a parametric and optimization
approach. Specifying design parameter bounds, defining and solving a design of experiments then
determining an optimum configuration of input parameters by minimizing a cost function that encapsulates a
thermal design goal will also lead to an improved if not optimized design. This however can be
computationally expensive. Also, a design might be overly constrained to the extent where the freedom to
May 13, 2010 Page 76 of 78
arbitrarily change design parameters is severely limited by electrical, manufacturing and cost considerations.
Examination of Bn and Sc distributions simply offers insights into where the design might benefit from being
changed. It is then up to the designer to apply knowledge of whatever constraints exist to select which high
and/or large Bn or Sc area a modification should be made in.

Serial and Parallel Heat Flow Paths
Relieving a thermal bottleneck through a redesign will enable heat to pass more easily through that area. Real
world electronics systems exhibit complex 3D heat removal path topologies that contain combinations of
thermal resistances in parallel and in series. Relieving a thermal bottleneck may not have as large an effect
as expected should there be other resistances further along that part of the heat removal path (nearer
ambient) that lie in series. For a system that has one heat source then a collection of thermal resistances all
in parallel connecting the source to the ambient (e.g. a star type network with spoke resistances) then
relieving the largest bottleneck will have the maximum effect. Examination of the heat flux vector field in
conjunction with the Bn field should provide additional insight into the topology of the heat removal paths such
that more informed prioritizations of which bottlenecks to relieve first could be made.

Shortcutting Directly to Ambient
The Sc field will provide an indication of where there is high heat flow adjacent, and running in parallel to,
cooler areas. Insertion of a new heat flow path will allow heat to flood down to that cooler area. If however
that cooler area itself is surrounded by high resistances, blocking off its path to the ambient, then the benefit
of the insertion of the heat flow path may be limited. Peripheral short cut opportunities, those that lie on the
edge of the system, where the cooler area is the ambient itself, are the ones where, when acted on, should
provide the biggest benefit.
The concept of insertion of a new heat flow path is a slight misnomer in that heat will be passing, to varying
degrees, though all parts of a system. A new heat flow path should be considered as the reduction of an
existing extremely high resistance down to a level where a more appreciable amount of heat will flow.
Geometric Resolution
It is important to appreciate that high Bn or high Sc areas also indicate where the temperature prediction is
sensitized to modeling assumptions. For example, if a large Bn feature is present under a component, and
the PCB under that component is modeled as a simple orthotropic block, you may need to enhance the
geometric resolution of the PCB in that area (to include the layer stack, copper distribution, etc) to better
resolve the heat flux, temperature gradient, and Bn predictions locally.
The important Bn and Sc features identified in the results should be considered in the same way as other
important outputs (e.g., maximum temperatures) and should be given appropriate levels of detail and meshing.

May 13, 2010 Page 77 of 78
Interpretations of Sc in Solid and Fluid
It is important to recall that the interpretation of Sc is dependent on location:
1. Within a solid object: High values of Sc indicate the start or end of a new thermal shortcut that
could be created. Low values indicate there is little scope to consider a thermal shortcut at this
location.
2. Within a fluid: Adjacent to a solid-fluid interface: High values of Sc indicate where efficient
convective heat transfer is occurring and where the local Nusselt number will be relatively large.
Low values indicate where the convective heat transfer is not efficient or not occurring.
3. Within a fluid: No thermal design implications. The heat flux and temperature gradient vectors
are dominated by the fluid velocity distribution.
Interpretations of Bn in Solid and Fluid
It is important to recall that the interpretation of Bn is also dependent on location:
1. Within a solid object: High values of Bn indicate that there is a thermal bottleneck present at this
location.
2. Within a fluid: No thermal design implications. The heat flux and temperature gradient vectors
are dominated by the fluid velocity distribution.

6. Summary Usage Advice
This section contains a summary of the usage advice mentioned in previous sections.
Iterative Design
Each time you make a design modification based on either the Bn or Sc fields, it is important to re-analyze the
Bn and Sc fields before making the next thermal design decision. Addressing a Bn issue or Sc opportunity
will always change the heat flow topology of your design, sometimes drastically, and will invalidate previous
Bn and Sc observations. The correct workflow is to:
1. Evaluate the Bn and Sc fields for a design
2. Implement a design modification
3. Re-solve the model
4. Evaluate the new Bn and Sc fields for the design
5. Repeat Steps 2-4 as needed
ShortCuts First, Bottlenecks Second
In general, and especially for single heat source problems, it is best practice to consider Sc opportunities prior
to investigating Bn issues. The reason is that introducing a new heat flow path based on a Sc feature usually
has a stronger disruptive effect on the heat flow topology than relieving a bottleneck on an existing heat flow
path. For example, its quite possible to completely bypass a serious bottleneck by creating a thermal
May 13, 2010 Page 78 of 78
shortcut, which of course pushes that existing bottleneck into irrelevance. Any previous design modifications
that addressed this serious bottleneck will have their effectiveness lessened.
Note that this is not a hard and fast rule, as significant changes to heat flow topology can arise from
bottleneck relief measures as well.

Integral Nature of Bn and Sc
When inspecting the Bn and Sc fields, recall that that area/volume of the Bn or Sc feature identified is
important. If there are two Bn features that exhibit equal Bn levels, the most problematic bottleneck will be
the larger feature. Similarly, a 1 mm
3
cube of Bn =1 would be considered less important than a 100 mm
3

feature of Bn =0.2. The same volumetric considerations are valid for Sc as well.

Display Ranges
The normalized display of Bn and Sc in FloTHERM can occasionally mask large areas/volumes of smaller Bn
and Sc. There are two techniques that can be used to identify these areas:
1. Switch to a logarithmic scale for Bn or Sc. This has the effect of reducing the disparity in color
between medium and large values of these parameters and can improve the findability of large
feature with small levels of Bn or Sc.
2. Reduce the range displayed. Decreasing the maximum Bn or Sc for display purposes can
effectively screen out all of the large numerical values of Bn and Sc that you are not interested in.
Work with these techniques individually or together to most efficiently locate areas of interest for your design.

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