An experimental assessment of numerical predictive accuracy for electronic component heat transfer in forced convection - Part I: Experimental methods and numerical modeling

Numerical predictive accuracy is assessed for component-printed circuit board (PCB) heat transfer in forced convection using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software for the thermal analysis of electronic equipment. This is achieved by comparing numerical predictions with experimental benchmark data for three different components, mounted individually on single-component PCBs, and collectively on a multi-component PCB. Benchmark criteria are based on measured steady-state component junction temperature and component-PCB surface temperature profiles. The benchmark strategy applied permits the impact of both aerodynamic conditions and component thermal interaction on predictive accuracy to be quantified In the accompanying Part II of this paper the experimental measurements are reported and numerical predictive accuracy is assessed.