Hitachi Mito Engineering Co.,Ltd engineers a diverse line of transport infrastructure systems including elevators, escalators, and railway. Robust electrical equipment is critical for operating and controlling these systems, and the Hitachi Mito Engineering Circuit System Design Group designs printed circuit boards for them. Cradle HeatDesigner has been successfully used for electrical system thermal analyses. However, applying the tool to printed circuit board (PCB) thermal analyses has been more complex even though Cradle introduced several specialty functions to streamline the analysis process.

In this narrated interview, Mr. Naohisa Usui from the Circuit System Design Group at Hitachi Mito Engineering, discusses how the close working relationship between his company and Cradle conceived, developed, and successfully implemented Cradle PICLS, an easy to use, real-time, PCB thermal analysis tool for electrical designers. PICLS enables electrical designers to instantly evaluate how changes to the circuit board design affect thermal performance. Better upfront designs result in less rework downstream and dramatically reduce design cycle time.