Electronic Cooling Simulator Enhanced

Mentor Graphics Corp., a Siemens business, announced the latest release of its FloTHERM XT electronics cooling thermal simulation solution. This new version of FloTHERM XT, says Mentor, offers many new functionalities developed from customer feedback to effectively simulate thermal effects of complex geometries. Among the key new capabilities in this release are the ability to simulate spinning parts in electronic enclosures; temperature-dependent power simulations; enhanced DOE (design of experiments) parametric studies functionality; and thermal territory simulation when using various component materials.

FloTHERM XT is designed to provide designers and thermal specialists electronic cooling simulation capabilities for all stages of the mechanical design process from concept development through manufacturing. Image courtesy of Mentor Graphics Corp.

FloTHERM XT can be used by designers and thermal specialists at all stages of the electronic design process from design concept through manufacturing, the company says. Mentor describes FloTHERM XT as an integrated mechanical design automation (MDA) and electronic design automation (EDA) electronics cooling solution based on its FloTHERM electronics cooling technology and its FloEFD CAD-centric concurrent CFD (computational fluid dynamics) meshing and solver technologies. It can be used to simulate simple and complex electronics systems.

The company says that FloTHERM XT tightly couples mechanical CAD and EDA design flows and cuts design process times by a factor of at least two compared with traditional general-purpose simulation products. Features include a CAD-centric user interface, SmartParts and library capabilities and an integrated environment for parametric design studies. The software provides CAD connectivity with major mechanical CAD systems and all major neutral file formats. It also supports a direct interface to Mentor Xpedition PCB (printed circuit board) systems design environment, and its ODB++ interface supports such EDA systems as Altium, Cadence and Zuken.

Mentor says FloTHERM XT's CAD-centric user interface has been specifically engineered to serve a diverse user group. Image courtesy of Mentor Graphics Corp.

According to Mentor, key features in the latest release of FloTHERM XT include the folowing:

• Explicit Models for Spinning Parts: A new sliding mesh capability meshes the rotation region to simulate the effects of spinning parts such as fans and rotors used in electronics enclosures.
• Temperature-Dependent Power Simulation: When attached to an object or planar source, FloTHERM XT will use the object’s own average temperature goal to adjust the applied power.
• Thermal Territory Simulation: This is a new feature for detailed copper “under the component” designs used to draw heat away from that component.
• Enhanced Parametric Study Functionality: The addition of a DOE scenario table allows users to set up a number of studies to ensure the best coverage of a design field. These scenarios can also be sent to remote machines with more capacity.
• Improved User Interface: Enhancements to the user interface reportedly make it easier to set model parameters and find mesh controls for improved thermal design predictability.
• Design Tool Integration: Two approaches are now available for tool interoperability in this release. Files can be directly imported through the FloEDA Bridge module. Features include undo/redo, and access to power displayed in tree and graphical representations of component types. The second approach uses a neutral file format, which allows users to interact with the setup of a model outside of the standard interface.

FloTHERM XT's Design of Experiments scenario table allows users to set up studies to ensure the best coverage of the design field. Image courtesy of Mentor Graphics Corp.

“The latest release of FloTHERM XT is based on listening to our customers and delivering the optimum thermal simulation solution to address their thermal design challenges,” said Roland Feldhinkel, general manager of the Mentor Mechanical Analysis Division, in a press statement. “Our continued investment in FloTHERM XT will allow our customers to verify and prototype their designs with greater ease and confidence. These new features are vital for electronics systems designers who are creating innovative, high-performance products for the transportation, mil-aero and automotive industries.”

FloTHERM XT is a member of Mentor's FloTHERM family of electronics simulation solutions. FloTHERM XT is shipping now. For more information, visit Mentor Graphics.

Watch a video overview of FloTHERM XT.

Explore a library of FloTHERM XT applications by industry.

Download the FloTHERM product line brochure.

Watch an on-demand webinar introducing FloTHERM XT.

Learn to drive FloTHERM XT in this hands-on virtual lab.

See why DE's Editors selected FloTHERM XT as their Pick of the Week.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.