SIMULATION OF ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT THERMAL REGIME BASED ON THERMAL IMAGING RESULTS OF ELEMENT TEMPERATURE FIELDS

Subject of Research. The paper proposes a method for study of the electronic equipment thermal conditions. The method involves thermal imaging examination of electronic equipment under given external conditions and creation of thermal and mathematical model on its basis. Method.The development of thermal and mathematical models of the object under study was performed through the thermal regime research of the electronics object by a thermal imager. In contrast to the existing approaches, the proposed method provided significant acceleration of the thermal and mathematical model development and more accurate identification of the power of heat dissipation elements. Main Results. We have studied sealed electronic unit thermal conditions cooled by free convection and radiation in the air. The unit is installed in the casing with the air temperature of 50 °C. The heat generating electronic elements on the boards are installed inside the sealed housing. The thermal and mathematical models have been developed to calculate the heat transfer in the electronic unit. The necessary assumptions and their main elements have been determined. The calculation of free convective thermal conductivities and radiant thermal conductivities is performed by the method of successive approximations. According to the proposed method, the element temperature fields of the electronic unit have been measured by thermal imaging. By application of Flir SC620 thermal imager, thermograms have been obtained that determined the average surface temperatures of electronic unit components. The calculated average surface temperatures of the electronic unit elements determined from the thermal and mathematical models are compared with the measured values. Practical Relevance.The proposed method of thermal modeling is applicable for creation of an adequate model of the studied electronic device at various powers and ambient temperatures and for the design and development of various application electronic equipment including the objects located in a closed casing.