Product category:
Design and Development Software
News Release from: Flomerics | Subject: Version5 integrated suite
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 20 August 2004
Integrated suite unites physical design
concepts
A new suite of software products is billed as the first to integrate the major contributors to the physical design of electronics into a single analysis environment.
A new suite of software products is billed as the first to integrate the major contributors to the physical design of electronics into a single analysis environment The Flomerics Version5 integrated suite consists of Flo/PCB for conceptual thermal design of printed circuit boards, FloTherm for system-level thermal design and optimisation of electronics systems, Flo/EMC for electromagnetic compatibility simulation, and Flo/Stress for predicting thermomechanical stresses
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 6 Aug 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The Flopack web-based wizard quickly produces accurate models of integrated circuits and other components.
The new suite dramatically reduces design lead time by addressing many different aspects of physical design in a single analysis environment, and eliminating communications barriers between the different people involved in the process.
"Using a single environment for thermal and EMC analysis helped us bring a new ruggedised computer to market 20% faster by providing performance information prior to the prototype stage that helped us optimise the tradeoff between cooling management and EMC", said Jean Philippe Tigneres, Environmental Group Manager for Barcoview, Toulouse, France.
The new integrated design process enabled by the suite typically begins when the systems architect develops the initial concept design by creating a functional block diagram in Flomerics' Flo/PCB software.
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Flotherm provides tools that allow users to assemble models from libraries, avoiding the need to create them from scratch.
Hardware design engineers can then derive the first physical layout directly from the block diagram.
A powerful 3D computational fluid dynamics solver predicts airflow and temperature, for both sides of the board, in minutes.
Cooling management can thus be considered from the earliest stages of the design process.
Changes made to the functional block diagram are instantly reflected in the physical layout and thermal representations.
This keeps all team members in sync and enables them to contribute to concept development in real time.
As mechanical engineers begin to develop the physical design, they can drag the Flo/PCB model and drop it into a system level thermal design that they develop with Flotherm software.
The integrated environment not only ensures the transmittal of accurate information to mechanical engineers but also provides immediate notification of design changes.
The result is that mechanical engineers can identify thermal issues in the early stages of the design process, long before prototypes are available, and perform design studies to resolve them.
The same model that is created for system level thermal analysis can also be used to address EMC issues far earlier than is normally possible.
A step-by-step approach to EMC analysis enables generalist mechanical engineers to optimise the shielding effectiveness of their enclosures with little additional effort and without calling in an EMC specialist.
Being able to address thermal management and EMC issues within a single environment makes it possible for mechanical engineers to get a head start on the difficult design tradeoffs that are frequently required between these two disciplines.
The design of the Barcoview ruggedised computer provides a good example of how this process can work in the real world.
Long before prototypes were built, Tigneres resolved thermal issues by increasing the size of the inlet and outlet grilles on the panel of the computer.
Then, instead of waiting for physical tests to see if this caused EMC problems, he analysed the system with Flo/EMC and used the information he gained to reshape the openings to reduce emissions to acceptable levels.
Flomerics' new integrated analysis environment is supported by www.SmartParts3D.com, an extensive web-based library of ready-to-run models for common parts such as fans, heatsinks, IC packages and standard enclosures, which further reduces the engineering time required for creating simulations. Request a free brochure from Flomerics ...
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