Requirements for the industrial automation of compact thermal model creation using CFD simulation

The generation of Compact Thermal Models (CTMs) for electronics packages with simulation tools has long been a task for thermal engineers. One of the challenges traditionally associated with this task is the engineering effort required to reliably create a high quality detailed simulation model of a package family and any design variants in a consistent manner. Implementation of an automated methodology to produce CTMs would introduce much efficiency to this process, freeing up valuable engineering expertise for higher value activities within the organization. Achieving such an automated workflow has however several pre-requisites. These are introduced and discussed in this paper, and illustrated by way of a case study.