Thermal considerations for distributed power converter systems

Thermal design examples are presented for typical DC-DC systems. A three-dimensional thermal modeling tool is used to predict temperature rise. The simulations presented show that great care must be taken in accurately modeling or thermally testing even a simple power system such as the single DC-DC converter on a PC board. When natural convection cooling is used, the temperature changes can be very counter-intuitive. Software for predicting temperature profiles can be a powerful design aid for reducing wasted experimental effort and laboratory testing.<
>