Accurate thermal & air flow simulations for electromagnetic systems

Heating is an important consideration for many high-power applications and compact electronic systems. Excess heat can damage components and cause thermal expansion that detunes sensitive components. Natural convection and fan cooling can significantly affect how a component heats up, which makes understanding the air flow through and around a device a key part of multiphysics design.

The CHT solver, currently being previewed, is a thermal solver that includes computational fluid dynamics technology. The CHT solver simultaneously calculates heat transfer and fluid flow around components and can consider effects such as turbulence and thermal radiation. The CHT solver will be integrated into CST STUDIO SUITE, allowing the results from electromagnetic simulations to be used as the basis for a thermal simulation, therefore accurately captures full heating effects of a component during its operation.

Peter Thoma, Managing Director, R&D, CST, commented: “The interactions between components and the multiphysics effects at play mean that cooling has to be considered in parallel with the other areas of design. The integration of many solvers in CST STUDIO SUITE, including the new CHT solver, makes it possible to analyse performance, system integration, electromagnetic compatibly, thermal effects and other phenomena in a single interface at every stage of the design process.”

The CHT solver will be officially released in CST STUDIO SUITE 2017. A preview can be seen at the CST IMS booth, #739.