electro-thermal | PartQuest™ Explore

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Designer19

Member for

11 years 11 months

1,922

designs

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Member of the PartQuest Explore Development Team. Focused on modeling and simulation of analog, mixed-signal and multi-discipline systems covering a broad range of applications, including power electronics, controls and mechatronic systems.

Description

This example shows the capability of modeling the electrothermal aspects of power dissipating circuits. The design is a 5V regulator (non-switching), driven from a 120 Vac/60 Hz input and using a transformer/rectifier circuit to step down to a much lower DC-link voltage.

The load current capability is 5A, which is well above the current limit of the linear regular component itself. This is thanks to the load sharing role of the bypass PNP transistor. The design is based on an example application circuit shown in Figure 11 of the On Semiconductor Datasheet MC7800/D, November 2014 - Rev. 27.

All of the power dissipating electronics' models are from the "Thermal and Electro-thermal" Components Library. They have a thermal port that connects to the thermal network (i.e. red wires). These models output all the power dissipated in the device as a thermal heat-flow into that network. This includes the rectifier diodes, the linear regulator and the BJT, as well as the current sense resistor and the effective winding resistances of the transformer primary and secondary.

The thermal network includes the heat-sink's heat capacitance (0.1 J/degC) and heat transfer resistance to the ambient (1 degC/Watt), as well as the datasheet published values for the junction-to-lead thermal resistances of all the active electronic components. An assumed value for the thermal capacitance of the BJT (0.005 J/degC, not provided by the manufacturer) was added for purposes of illustration. Obtaining the actual value would require deeper analysis or measurement of this important component characteristic. However, in this example, both thermal capacitance values were selected solely to give sufficiently fast thermal time constants, so that steady-state operating temperatures could be reached with minimal simulation time.

This design is based on another shared design:

<a href="https://explore.partquest.com/node/666395">https://explore.partquest.com/node/666395</a>

That design has been modified not only to add the electrothermal aspects, but it was also adjusted to improve its observed thermal performance. For example, the DC-link capacitance (c3) was increased from 4700uF to 22000uF, to allow a reduced DC-link operating voltage (i.e. to improve efficiency) while avoiding regulation drop-out at AC zero-crossings under heavy load conditions.

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Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Thermal Network

Designer19

Member for

11 years 11 months

1,922

designs

10

groups

Member of the PartQuest Explore Development Team. Focused on modeling and simulation of analog, mixed-signal and multi-discipline systems covering a broad range of applications, including power electronics, controls and mechatronic systems.

Description

This example shows the importance of modeling thermal interaction effects, or "thermal crosstalk", in power dissipating circuits. The "design" is a simple transistor amplifier, using just an 8 Ohm pull-up resistor and an active pull-down NPN BJT. Both of these models are from our "Thermal and Electro-thermal" Components Library, so they have a thermal port that can connect to an external thermal network. These models output all power dissipated in the device as a thermal heat-flow into that network.The thermal network includes the heat-sink's heat capacitance (0.1 J/degC) and heat transfer resistance to the ambient (10 degC/Watt). This assumes the resistor and transistor contribute heat to the same heat-sink. The transistor's thermal heat-flow path also includes an 8.8 degC/Watt resistance, to represent the Junction-to-Lead Thermal Resistance as published in the device datasheet (Diodes Inc. FZT869).From the simulation results it is clear that the heat-sink temperature rises to nearly 120 degC (purple waveform), causing the transistor's junction temperature to approach 150 degC (average, red waveform). This is significantly higher than the value predicted in the companion design example: "Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Hot Part Monitor", which assumed the two devices were thermally isolated.

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Copy of Analog LED Driver with Thermal Protection using FloTHERM Netlist - on Thu, 10/09/2025 - 17:35

Designer248415

Member for

2 years 2 months

21

designs

4

groups

Welcome to the community!!

Description

This&nbsp;LED spotlight example demonstrates the value of simulating both the electrical and thermal&nbsp;aspects of power dissipating circuits together, simultaneously.In this design, a Vishay NTCLE100&nbsp;Thermistor is used in a detection circuit to monitor&nbsp;the enclosure temperature. It is used for&nbsp;thermal shut-down protection, to keep the enclosure temperature well below the "Tg" (glass transition temperature) of the spotlight's Nylon 6 polymer&nbsp;lens. This is particularly helpful when operating at higher&nbsp;external ambient temperatures.The "Thermals" (thermal dynamics) model was automatically generated from a full 3D-CFD analysis of the spotlight board layout and enclosure, using FloTHERM. The model is in the IEEE Standard VHDL-AMS format, so it can be directly imported into the SystemVision "1D" circuit and system simulation context. The ability to include an accurate model of the thermal environment is key to having&nbsp;"thermally-aware" circuit function design&nbsp;and board layout&nbsp;processes.

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Copy of Analog LED Driver with Thermal Protection using FloTHERM Netlist - on Thu, 10/09/2025 - 15:23

Designer248415

Member for

2 years 2 months

21

designs

4

groups

Welcome to the community!!

Description

This&nbsp;LED spotlight example demonstrates the value of simulating both the electrical and thermal&nbsp;aspects of power dissipating circuits together, simultaneously.In this design, a Vishay NTCLE100&nbsp;Thermistor is used in a detection circuit to monitor&nbsp;the enclosure temperature. It is used for&nbsp;thermal shut-down protection, to keep the enclosure temperature well below the "Tg" (glass transition temperature) of the spotlight's Nylon 6 polymer&nbsp;lens. This is particularly helpful when operating at higher&nbsp;external ambient temperatures.The "Thermals" (thermal dynamics) model was automatically generated from a full 3D-CFD analysis of the spotlight board layout and enclosure, using FloTHERM. The model is in the IEEE Standard VHDL-AMS format, so it can be directly imported into the SystemVision "1D" circuit and system simulation context. The ability to include an accurate model of the thermal environment is key to having&nbsp;"thermally-aware" circuit function design&nbsp;and board layout&nbsp;processes.

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Copy of Analog LED Driver with Thermal Protection using FloTHERM Netlist - on Thu, 10/09/2025 - 18:19

Designer244519

Member for

2 years 11 months

6

designs

1

groups

I'm a member of the PartQuest Explore community.

Description

This&nbsp;LED spotlight example demonstrates the value of simulating both the electrical and thermal&nbsp;aspects of power dissipating circuits together, simultaneously.In this design, a Vishay NTCLE100&nbsp;Thermistor is used in a detection circuit to monitor&nbsp;the enclosure temperature. It is used for&nbsp;thermal shut-down protection, to keep the enclosure temperature well below the "Tg" (glass transition temperature) of the spotlight's Nylon 6 polymer&nbsp;lens. This is particularly helpful when operating at higher&nbsp;external ambient temperatures.The "Thermals" (thermal dynamics) model was automatically generated from a full 3D-CFD analysis of the spotlight board layout and enclosure, using FloTHERM. The model is in the IEEE Standard VHDL-AMS format, so it can be directly imported into the SystemVision "1D" circuit and system simulation context. The ability to include an accurate model of the thermal environment is key to having&nbsp;"thermally-aware" circuit function design&nbsp;and board layout&nbsp;processes.

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Copy of Analog LED Driver with Thermal Protection using FloTHERM Netlist - on Thu, 10/09/2025 - 18:01

Designer244519

Member for

2 years 11 months

6

designs

1

groups

I'm a member of the PartQuest Explore community.

Description

This&nbsp;LED spotlight example demonstrates the value of simulating both the electrical and thermal&nbsp;aspects of power dissipating circuits together, simultaneously.In this design, a Vishay NTCLE100&nbsp;Thermistor is used in a detection circuit to monitor&nbsp;the enclosure temperature. It is used for&nbsp;thermal shut-down protection, to keep the enclosure temperature well below the "Tg" (glass transition temperature) of the spotlight's Nylon 6 polymer&nbsp;lens. This is particularly helpful when operating at higher&nbsp;external ambient temperatures.The "Thermals" (thermal dynamics) model was automatically generated from a full 3D-CFD analysis of the spotlight board layout and enclosure, using FloTHERM. The model is in the IEEE Standard VHDL-AMS format, so it can be directly imported into the SystemVision "1D" circuit and system simulation context. The ability to include an accurate model of the thermal environment is key to having&nbsp;"thermally-aware" circuit function design&nbsp;and board layout&nbsp;processes.

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Copy of Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Thermal Network - on Wed, 09/24/2025 - 12:23

Designer247997

Member for

2 years 2 months

25

designs

1

groups

Welcome to the community!!

Description

This example shows the importance of modeling thermal interaction effects, or "thermal crosstalk", in power dissipating circuits. The "design" is a simple transistor amplifier, using just an 8 Ohm pull-up resistor and an active pull-down NPN BJT. Both of these models are from our "Thermal and Electro-thermal" Components Library, so they have a thermal port that can connect to an external thermal network. These models output all power dissipated in the device as a thermal heat-flow into that network.

The thermal network includes the heat-sink's heat capacitance (0.1 J/degC) and heat transfer resistance to the ambient (10 degC/Watt). This assumes the resistor and transistor contribute heat to the same heat-sink. The transistor's thermal heat-flow path also includes an 8.8 degC/Watt resistance, to represent the Junction-to-Lead Thermal Resistance as published in the device datasheet (Diodes Inc. FZT869).

From the simulation results it is clear that the heat-sink temperature rises to nearly 120 degC (purple waveform), causing the transistor's junction temperature to approach 150 degC (average, red waveform). This is significantly higher than the value predicted in the companion design example: "Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Hot Part Monitor", which assumed the two devices were thermally isolated.

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Copy of Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Thermal Network - on Wed, 09/17/2025 - 20:36

Designer263565

Member for

3 weeks 6 days

3

designs

1

groups

Welcome to the community!!

Description

This example shows the importance of modeling thermal interaction effects, or "thermal crosstalk", in power dissipating circuits. The "design" is a simple transistor amplifier, using just an 8 Ohm pull-up resistor and an active pull-down NPN BJT. Both of these models are from our "Thermal and Electro-thermal" Components Library, so they have a thermal port that can connect to an external thermal network. These models output all power dissipated in the device as a thermal heat-flow into that network.

The thermal network includes the heat-sink's heat capacitance (0.1 J/degC) and heat transfer resistance to the ambient (10 degC/Watt). This assumes the resistor and transistor contribute heat to the same heat-sink. The transistor's thermal heat-flow path also includes an 8.8 degC/Watt resistance, to represent the Junction-to-Lead Thermal Resistance as published in the device datasheet (Diodes Inc. FZT869).

From the simulation results it is clear that the heat-sink temperature rises to nearly 120 degC (purple waveform), causing the transistor's junction temperature to approach 150 degC (average, red waveform). This is significantly higher than the value predicted in the companion design example: "Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Hot Part Monitor", which assumed the two devices were thermally isolated.

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Copy of Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Thermal Network - on Wed, 09/17/2025 - 08:04

Designer247997

Member for

2 years 2 months

25

designs

1

groups

Welcome to the community!!

Description

This example shows the importance of modeling thermal interaction effects, or "thermal crosstalk", in power dissipating circuits. The "design" is a simple transistor amplifier, using just an 8 Ohm pull-up resistor and an active pull-down NPN BJT. Both of these models are from our "Thermal and Electro-thermal" Components Library, so they have a thermal port that can connect to an external thermal network. These models output all power dissipated in the device as a thermal heat-flow into that network.

The thermal network includes the heat-sink's heat capacitance (0.1 J/degC) and heat transfer resistance to the ambient (10 degC/Watt). This assumes the resistor and transistor contribute heat to the same heat-sink. The transistor's thermal heat-flow path also includes an 8.8 degC/Watt resistance, to represent the Junction-to-Lead Thermal Resistance as published in the device datasheet (Diodes Inc. FZT869).

From the simulation results it is clear that the heat-sink temperature rises to nearly 120 degC (purple waveform), causing the transistor's junction temperature to approach 150 degC (average, red waveform). This is significantly higher than the value predicted in the companion design example: "Modeling Transistor Amplifier Self-Heating - Hot Part Monitor", which assumed the two devices were thermally isolated.

About text formats