Thermal Characterization Testing with a Three-Resistor Finite Difference Model

This manuscript outlines a mathematical methodology for developing a three-resistor, four-node finite difference numerical model representing a thermal characterization (or thermal survey) of a hardware system. The numerical model was calibrated to experimental data by determining the hardware system's characteristic thermal resistance-capacitance (RC) values for each resistor and node, respectively. Further, the construction of the numerical model was validated by a separate computational thermal model in Icepak (ANSYS) using the same RC value inputs. The numerical model outlined herein is straightforward to implement on a spreadsheet and can be used to quickly and easily predict the transient thermal response of a hardware system that has been characterized. Implementing the finite difference model presented herein can enable potentially significant time savings during environmental stress screening (ESS) procedures of hardware by developing time-efficient temperature cycling and burn-in profiles.