Creating and Positioning the Components

Follow these steps to define the geometry, placement, and physics of the components in your electronics device.

When setting up the various components of your device—such as PCBs, chips, heatsinks, or resistances—consider the following recommendations:

Simplify or eliminate components away from the primary heat flow path.
Eliminate any parts such as fasteners that are not critical to the heat flow path.
Fill any holes that are created by eliminating irrelevant parts, and any irrelevant gaps.
Simplify components such as connectors, threaded stand-offs, and transformers.
For sheet metal parts, remove the rounds resulting from bends, and fill or remove small features that are created by bend reliefs and the gaps resulting from rip corners.
Eliminate interferences.

Start with creating PCBs and associated electronic components:

If you have IDF (Intermediate Data Format) files that contain the layout definitions of the board and its components, import the files:
1. Right-click the QuickParts node and select Import IDF file.
2. In the Open dialog, navigate to the folder that contains the IDF board file.
  The IDF board file includes information about the outline of the board, its thickness, and the positions of the components on the board.
3. Select the file and click Open.
  The IDF library file must be in the same directory to load the complete circuit board. If no library file is found, you are asked to locate it manually. The IDF library file includes information about the outline of the components and their thickness.
4. In the Import IDF Options dialog, set the desired import options (see Import IDF Options Panel) and click OK.
  A composite QuickPart—named after the imported file—appears in the tree. The composite contains PCB, Generic, and Chip QuickParts representing the board, mechanical components, and electronic components, respectively.
  If your IDF file does not contain information about the thickness of the board or its components, or if the thickness is set to zero, then the Electronics Cooling Toolset sets a default thickness of 2 mm. You can change the thickness after import.
If you have ODB++ (Open DataBase) files that contain PCB design information, import the files:
1. Make sure that you downloaded the ODB++ extraction package from the Support Center portal and set the path to the extraction package in the Electronics Cooling Toolset environment. See Defining the Setup.
2. If your ODB++ file is compressed, umcompress the file using a decompression tool such as 7-Zip.
  The Electronics Cooling Toolset only supports the import of uncompressed ODB++ files.
3. Right-click the QuickParts node and select Import ODB++ file.
4. In the Open dialog, navigate to the uncompressed ODB++ parent directory.
  The ODB++ parent directory is the directory that contains all the ODB++ subdirectories.
5. Select the ODB++ parent directory and click Open.
6. In the Import IDF Options dialog, set the desired import options (see Import IDF Options Panel) and click OK.
  The QuickParts that are created after import are the same as for an IDF import, except that the board is represented as a detailed multi-layered PCB QuickPart.
To create PCBs and its components directly:
1. Right-click the QuickParts node and select New QuickPart > PCB > [Geometry], where [Geometry] is one of the built-in shape templates for the PCB.
  Example: New QuickPart > PCB > Rectangular.
  
  The initial position of the local origin of the new QuickPart corresponds to the origin of the Laboratory Coordinate System.
2. To create a component, such as a chip, on a PCB, in the Graphics window, select the face of the PCB on which you want to place the chip.
3. Right-click and select New QuickPart > Chip > [Geometry].
  The position of the mouse pointer when selecting the face determines the initial position of the local origin of the new chip.

Add additional components such as chips, heatsinks, fans, resistances, or other generic elements:

Create QuickParts of the relevant types from within the tree or interactively as described in step 3. Creating QuickParts interactively in the Graphics window usually reduces the time for placing new QuickParts on previously created components.

When you create a new QuickPart, an Edit dialog automatically appears that displays the QuickPart properties.

To define the QuickPart properties:
1. Enter the Name of the QuickPart under which it is stored in the tree.
2. In the Geometry section, set the shape-specific properties.
  Example: For a rectangular PCB, you set X, Y, and Z dimensions and the Local Origin of the geometry.
  
  Alternatively, dimension the geometry interactively and in reference to other objects. See Dimensioning Objects Interactively.
3. In the Placement section, set the Location, Rotation Axis Vector, Angle, and Coordinate System properties.
  Alternatively, place the geometry interactively and in reference to other objects. See Placing Objects Interactively.
4. To preview your geometry and placement settings, click Update at the bottom of the dialog.
5. In the Physics section, set the QuickPart specific physical properties—like Material or Heat Source—to suit the represented component.
6. For a Chip QuickPart, you can mimic the performance of the respective chip package by using a Compact Thermal Model (CTM):
  1. In the Physics section, set Thermal Specification to a resistor network that suits the heat flow paths within the chip package.
    Example: For a leaded package, the package temperature is affected not only by the heat transfer through the top and bottom surfaces but also by the heat flow path through the sides. To consider heat transfer through all sides of the package, set Thermal Specification to Star Network. See Chip Reference—Resistor Network Types.
  2. Set the resistor network properties as required.
7. Click OK.
  For more information on QuickPart specific properties, see QuickParts Reference.
To change QuickPart properties after import or direct creation:
1. Right-click the QuickPart node and select Edit.
  The Edit dialog re-launches.

If the built-in geometry templates for QuickParts are not suitable for the components of your device, you can create Custom QuickParts whose geometries are based on Construction Geometries that you specify. Custom QuickParts are particularly useful for defining advanced components, such as cooling loops.

To create a Custom QuickPart:
1. Create a Construction Geometry that defines the shape and position of the component. See Creating Construction Geometries.
2. Create a new QuickPart from within the tree or interactively as described in step 3. For [Geometry] select Custom.
  Example: For the tubes of a cooling loop, select Generic > Custom.
3. In the Select Construction Geometry dialog, select the created Construction Geometry, set the QuickPart options to suit your requirements, and click OK. See Select Construction Geometry Dialog.
4. To define the physics properties, right-click the QuickPart node and select Edit.
5. In the Edit dialog, set the properties as required and click Apply, then Close.

Usually, complex devices are composed of different electronic modules. Organize the components of your device using composites:

To create a composite:
1. Using <Ctrl>, multi-select the relevant QuickParts.
2. Right-click and select Composite.
  A new composite part (assembly) node appears.
To move a QuickPart to a previously created assembly:
1. Select the QuickPart and drag and drop it onto the composite part node.

To speed up the process of creating the components, you can save previously created QuickParts to a QuickPart library and re-use them in new simulations. For more information, see Creating and Editing QuickPart Libraries.