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When pharmaceutical giant, Abbott Labs, developed a unique server for its specialized needs, the
company asked New Hampshire based Byrd Technology Group, LLC (www.byrdtechnology.com) to verify its
thermal design and recommend performance enhancements. The multi-chambered system contained the usual
assortment of processor, function boards, power supply and fans. But it also contained one item that made
thermal modeling particularly challenging - a spiral heat sink mounted on the processor board.
"Most people probably don't realize how efficiently Coolit can pull in a complex, curved surface
model", notes Byrd Technology's president. "The import tool is very easy to use and you can adjust the
amount of detail wanted."
The heat sink was imported via a STEP file and placed in the overall model where the consultant could
observe airflow spiraling through the fins, note the effect of heat sink temperature rise on the system,
and identify where the hot air exhausted and where it traveled after exiting.
Coolit quickly predicted that the original configuration would exceed its thermal limits and helped
redesign the layout and resize the fans for an optimal configuration. "The Coolit solver is so fast,"
observes Byrd Technology's president. "It can run multiple iterations much faster than other thermal
products."
"FEA-based products look good visually - like a real CAD model, but you have to do a lot of model
simplification. Then if you want to change the model, you have to repeat the whole simplification process.
For CAD modeling, you want all the details, but for thermal analysis you just want the results - is it
overheating or not. Using Coolit, we quickly delivered a thermal design that met all of Abbott's
requirements."
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