Below are the questions asked during the event, along with their respective answers.
Q: If there is a design change in CAD, is there an update process for Celsius so that you don’t have to reassign all of the materials and boundary conditions each time?
A: For material properties, yes. When users using Celsius, they can build their own material library and save it. Later if there are changes in the CAD model, they can re-use/import the material file, as long as the materials remain the same. For boundary conditions (BC), it would depend on the BC types. For example, the ambient temperature will not be changed once it is assigned even for subsequent CAD model changes, But the heat transfer coefficients (HTC) assigned to specific surfaces may need to be re-assigned if the CAD model and/or the surface configurations are changed.
Q: Can this software communicate with Intel Quartus or Xilinx Vivado to create floorplan information?
A: At this moment Celsius can directly communicate with various file databases of Cadence tools, such as Voltus, Virtuoso, Allegro, etc. And the generic 2D/3D CAD files can be directly imported into Celsius. So if the output files of those two software mentioned can be translated into Cadence file databases or the generic CAD format, Celsius surely can take them in. We can have our filed teams to help you explore further.
Q: Is it possible to model a liquid cooling phenomenon, like using a jet impingement and/or a phase change material in Celsius?
A: Liquid cooling can be model through a thermal resistance model in Celsius, and jet impingement should be able to be taken care of using the Celsius CFD module. As for the phase change process, the exact physics mechanism has not been included in Celsius, while the heat pipe/heat sink combination could be analyzed/modeled as thermal resistances based on respective component specifications.
Q: How are thermal vias differentiated from normal electrical vias?
A: No matter if the vias are for electrical or thermal purposes, as long as they are included in the design files they can be imported into Celsius for simulation.
Q: How are copper planes handled?
A: Similarly, the copper planes should exist in the package or PCB design files, and then they can be resolved and simulated.