Advanced Heat Removal, an Electronics Overmolding Advantage

The growing demand for high-performance and compact electronic devices has led to increasing power densities, resulting in thermal challenges that impact packaging, performance, and reliability. This paper describes controlled viscosity molding (CVM) applied heat transfer material to a printed circuit board assembly compared to heat removal of mainstream methods. Passive thermal management is chosen as a basis for comparison but is not limited in design. This paper does not include active or advanced heat transfer methods, such as heat pipes or advanced thermally conductive materials, as early developments remain focused on consumer grade technologies and serve as a more acceptable form for comparison. It is focused on demonstrating suitability as a heat transfer method while preserving electronic functionality and in some cases increasing system performance while preserving damaging temperature limits. Thermal simulations have been performed in parallel to confirm and build confidence in some baseline tests. Thermal simulations can serve as a proxy for functional prototypes saving time and money while mitigating risk to product development. A commercially available Battery Management System (BMS) is used for the basis of comparison because of its availability, cost, and use of common heat generating electrical components. CVM with heat transfer material on a printed circuit board can replace aluminum heat sinks as a passive heat control method [3].