Overview
PCAnalyze ™ is an engineering application used to mathematically model and predict the thermal behavior of printed circuit board (PCB) designs. Component placement, cooling strategies, or “worst case” conditions can be quickly evaluated using this software.PCAnalyze will calculate the temperature of the board and its individual components, using its integrated steady state and transient solver. This is the same solver used in the TAK2000 Pro™ thermal analyzer.
Once temperatures have been calculated, a color contour temperature map of the circuit can be displayed, printed, or copied to the clipboard. Numerous text reports can be automatically generated, ranging in complexity from simple component summaries to detailed network maps of the entire model.
In special cases, where transient analysis must be performed,
PCAnalyze’s contour plotter can display a “movie” of
the temperature contours. In addition, a very flexible X/Y temperature
plotter is also available to plot transient temperatures for board or conductor
nodes.
PCAnalyze ™ is a stand-alone application with its own built-in solver. No third-party compiler, linker, or graphics package is required.
PCAnalyze ™ performs sophisticated thermal analyses but is very easy to use. Unlike other thermal analysis applications that are integrated into a PCB CAD system, the learning curve for PCAnalyze is very short. You will be able to complete a thorough thermal analysis of a PCB during your first session.
PCAnalyze now has the ability to import component and board data that has been exported from any ECAD system via Intermediate Data Format (IDF) “universal” files.
IDF files are used for exchanging data between electrical and mechanical/thermal CAD/CAE systems for use in design and analysis of printed wiring assemblies and are supported by most ECAD systems.
The IDF standard supported by most ECAD system is version 3.0. Unfortunately, this version is not a full thermal implementation and does not fully define all thermal parameters necessary to create a thermal model. PCAnalyze solves this limitation by providing a translator that can read IDF files and perform a part lookup using any standard PCAnalyze component library file.
WHAT IS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENE?
Before the solver can be run, a mathematical model must be created. PCAnalyze
automatically creates a finite difference model of your printed wiring
assembly (PWA) just prior to executing the solver. This math model will
be comprised of “nodes” that represent physical entities such
as components, regions of a circuit board, and the boundary conditions
(e.g., wedge locks or adjacent circuit boards). These nodes will be interconnected
with thermal “conductors.” These conductors represent the path
between nodes through which heat flows. Don’t worry if you
don’t understand finite difference modeling because PCAnalyze will
calculate all of this for you. The important thing to know is
that PCAnalyze will be calculating temperatures for each node and the heat
flow in each conductor. When performing your analysis, you can review these
results and use them to help develop a thermal design for your circuit
board.