Heatsink
The Smartparts toolbar provides a number of features that are specifically designed to improve model definition and analysis of electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic interference issues.
Plate fin and pin fin heatsinks can be created. For plate fins the orientation of the fins, number of fins and their dimensions are required. The end fins can be defined to have different dimensions and configuration to the interior fins. For pin fin heatsinks the pin dimensions and shape are needed, and the pin arrangement can be set to inline or staggered.
There is an option to model heatsinks using a compact representation, in which case a solid block covering the bounding box of the heatsink is used instead of modelling the fins in detail. This is helpful for situations where you do not want the fin details to be meshed, since this can lead to a significant number of additional cells, and only an approximate model of the heatsink is required.
This is a representation of a fan without the blades. The inner hub diameter, the outer cowl square cross-sectional length and the fan thickness needs to be defined.
An enclosure is a quick way of constructing a thin walled box for electronic equipment. The box dimensions are specified and each of the 6 sides can be individually controlled. The sides can be removed completely or modelled as thick or thin. If the sides are modelled as thin, then the mesh will not attempt to include cells in the thickness of the walls. Modelling the wall thickness can sometimes lead to very small cells and a consequent small timestep. The actual wall thickness can still be defined, and it will be used as the default depth of air vents or slots that are added to the enclosure.
Slots are used to represent a narrow aperture in a thin metal face. It is intended for apertures that are too narrow to be effectively modelled as features in the geometric model. A slot is characterized by Width across slot, Depth into slot, Relative Permittivity, Conductivity and a list of points describing the location (Path) of the slot. The point list must form a path on the surface of the metal face.
To create a new slot, enter a label, the characteristics of the slot and pick a face to which the slot will be attached using the Pick metal face button. After entering all the point data which defines the slot path, press Create to complete the creation of the slot.
The list at the top of the window shows all slots that have been defined for the current model. On selecting a slot from this list, the parameters of the slot and the path are displayed below. Any of the parameters can be altered and pressing Modify will apply the changes to the selected slot.
The Auto-mesh tool does not take slots into account and the user should examine the mesh to ensure that the discretized slot will be representative.
The air vent entity is used to represent a perforated plate in a thin, planar metal face, see Perforated Metal Screens - Air Vents. It is intended for a plate with holes that are too small to be effectively modelled as features in the geometric model.
This feature allows the user to very quickly create a series of round or square holes on a metal face. The user has great flexibility in determining the hole width, depth, coverage and where the holes are created.
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