Now that we’ve noticed that some of the chips are exposed to slow moving air,
let’s modify the design to get better airflow over the components,
so that the air can extract more heat from the chips.
This will help the components operate at lower temperatures and avoid overheating.
For convenience, let’s go back to the model stage and show all the objects.
Now we can reorient the model to the top view
by clicking the Z axis on the Orientation tool in the bottom left corner of the window.
Make sure that the top face of the fluid volume is hidden.
Go to the model tree and expand the entries for Components 1 and 2,
then hold Ctrl and select both of the solid bodies in the model tree.
Activate the Move tool by pressing M on the keyboard
and move both solid bodies to the right towards the center of the PCB.
This will automatically update the extracted volume.
Examine the new location of Components 1 and 2.
The instance of Chip 2 immediately to the right, or downstream, of these bodies is very close.
As seen in the previous part, about half of Chip 2
is in a region of slow-moving air directly behind Components 1 and 2.
The slow speed of the air would not help the fluid to extract substantial heat from the chip.
To solve this dilemma, we need to move the chips to a new location.
Remember that the fans are drawing air into the enclosure,
and that airflow is moving from left to right.
Keeping that in mind, it looks like our solution is to move the parts that are currently behind
the small heat sink into different locations, so they are more exposed to the incoming airflow.
Note that the three small rectangular chips are called Chip 1
and the two larger square shaped ones are called Chip 2.
First let’s move the instance of Chip 2 that
is currently in the center of the board closer to the fans.
Expand the first Chip 2 component in the structure tree and select the solid body.
Once the chip is selected use the Move tool.
You can move it to the left first,
and then up a small amount so it’s roughly aligned with the components 1 and 2.
One of the smaller chips is also downstream of different components.
We can improve the exposure of this chip to the incoming air
by moving it towards the opposite side of the PCB and more towards the fan.
Expand the 2nd instance of Chip 1 in the structure tree and click the solid body.
Use the Move tool to bring the chip into the desired position.
Then, rotate it 90 degrees by double clicking on the curved arrow here.
The new orientation exposes a larger surface area to the incoming airflow.
Now that we’ve completed our adjustments, we can restart the simulation.
Looking at the results we can see that the two chips we moved are now exposed to better airflow.
This will help reduce the chips’ temperatures during operation.
Also, moving the smaller heatsink, with its component,
away from the fans improved the overall airflow.
Notice how the slow-moving air regions have been modified, using the particle tracers.