Temperature Distribution on a circuit board

Blackadder

Hi there!

I have been given the task to simulate a reflow-soldering process. As I have never used CFD before, I hope that somebody here in this forum can help me with that. A link to some helpful resources on the net would also be very much appreciated.

The most interesting part to me is to simulate the temperature distribution on the circuit board while it goes through a convection-soldering oven. If possible, I would also like to simulate the temperature distribution in a condensation-soldering oven in a later stage of the project.

The convection oven has a length of about 4m and consists of 5 different temperature zones ranging from about 450K to 550K. The circuit board is transported through the oven with the help of a chain. The software should be capable of simulating the movement of the circuit board, as the board passes several air guide plates. While the board is transported through the oven, hot air is blown at it through a number of nozzles. In the first stage of the project, the board will be "naked". Later, the model should be extended and components like ICs will be placed on the board.

Maybe somebody here also knows how to model the process in a condensation-soldering oven. Again, what interests me is the temperature distribution in the circuit board. The difference is, that this time there is no air blowing at the circuit board. Instead, the board moves through saturated steam, which leads to film condensation on the board and the components located on it.

My first problem now is to find the best software for the given task. My predecessor, who already built a model, was using CFDesign 4.1. The software I have considered so far is FLOTHERM, ICEPAK, CFDesign 5.0 and StarCD.

Thx a lot,

Christian