& Construction

Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing

Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Set up and run electronics cooling simulations and review the results.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
6 min.
Transcript
00:15
Electronics cooling in Fusion 360 enables you to simulate the temperature
00:20
that components on an electronics board are likely to reach,
00:24
to determine whether the board is viable, or if changes should be made.
00:29
In this video, we set up an electronics cooling study
00:33
to analyze the effect of heat generating electronics components
00:37
on the board and surrounding air volume.
00:40
You can analyze an electronics design that was modeled in any CAD software.
00:45
In this video, we analyze a design that was created in Fusion 360.
00:51
This model is an assembly that includes 3 boards and an enclosure.
00:56
To create an electronics cooling study, we need to switch to the Simulation Workspace
01:04
and select Electronics Cooling.
01:08
Notice that the electronics cooling study is associated with a simulation model.
01:13
A useful feature in Fusion 360 is that you can create new simulation models, modify them,
01:21
and analyze the changes, without impacting the original model in the design workspace.
01:27
Let’s hide the data panel and set up the electronics cooling study, ready for analysis.
01:33
Often you can speed up a simulation analysis by manually removing details from the model components
01:39
using the tools in the Simplify environment.
01:42
In an electronics cooling analysis this simplification is done automatically by the solver.
01:48
The air volume around the board is also built automatically.
01:53
The first task is to check the materials.
01:57
Confirm that all the board components use appropriate materials
02:01
and fix any with warnings.
02:11
The only other study set up requirements
02:14
are to set a thermal load on appropriate board components,
02:18
and to define fan attributes, if the model includes fans.
02:22
Since this model has no fans, we need only set the heat loads.
02:27
For electronics boards modeled in Fusion 360,
02:31
if the Thermalloss for the materials were defined during the modeling process,
02:36
the heat loads are imported automatically into the electronics cooling study.
02:40
In this example, this wasn’t done and we’ll set the heat loads manually.
02:45
In the browser, expand the Model Components folder to see all the components.
02:50
We want to set heat loads on these three boards.
02:54
Use the browser to show and hide components to make the job easier.
02:59
On this main board we’ll set a heat load of 2 W on this component.
03:04
Click the Internal Heat icon to open the Thermal Loads dialog,
03:09
click on the component in the model to select it,
03:13
then type the heat load and press enter to accept the value.
03:17
Repeat the process to set 0.2 W on these components,
03:29
and 0.08 W on these components.
03:33
You can see the internal heat loads you’ve assigned
03:36
and edit them individually here in the browser.
03:39
Or you can see them all in one place in the load case attributes dialog
03:45
and edit them from here.
03:48
At this point, the pre-check status confirms that there is enough information to run the analysis.
03:55
While it’s not required to solve the analysis,
03:58
you can click Critical Temperatures to manually set critical temperatures on board components,
04:04
to highlight those that might overheat or fail.
04:07
If your electronics design was modeled in Fusion 360,
04:11
and the maximum temperature was set in the electronics design,
04:14
this information is brought into the electronics cooling study automatically.
04:22
Now we are ready to solve.
04:34
When the analysis is complete, results are streamed from the cloud
04:38
to provide you with immediate access to them,
04:41
and to eliminate the disk space requirements of large result files.
04:45
Click Results to open the results viewer.
04:48
The default result you see depends on your study setup.
04:52
If you set critical temperatures on components,
04:55
the risk factor result loads showing you only those components with critical temperatures.
05:00
This result helps you to focus on critical components that may fail due to over-heating.
05:07
If you haven’t set critical temperatures, then the temperature view loads instead.
05:13
This result view shows you the temperature of all the components in the model.
05:21
You can switch between these results using these buttons.
05:27
The section plane tool
05:29
enables you to examine both the temperature of the solid components on the board
05:33
and the temperature and velocity of the surrounding air volume more closely.
Video transcript
00:15
Electronics cooling in Fusion 360 enables you to simulate the temperature
00:20
that components on an electronics board are likely to reach,
00:24
to determine whether the board is viable, or if changes should be made.
00:29
In this video, we set up an electronics cooling study
00:33
to analyze the effect of heat generating electronics components
00:37
on the board and surrounding air volume.
00:40
You can analyze an electronics design that was modeled in any CAD software.
00:45
In this video, we analyze a design that was created in Fusion 360.
00:51
This model is an assembly that includes 3 boards and an enclosure.
00:56
To create an electronics cooling study, we need to switch to the Simulation Workspace
01:04
and select Electronics Cooling.
01:08
Notice that the electronics cooling study is associated with a simulation model.
01:13
A useful feature in Fusion 360 is that you can create new simulation models, modify them,
01:21
and analyze the changes, without impacting the original model in the design workspace.
01:27
Let’s hide the data panel and set up the electronics cooling study, ready for analysis.
01:33
Often you can speed up a simulation analysis by manually removing details from the model components
01:39
using the tools in the Simplify environment.
01:42
In an electronics cooling analysis this simplification is done automatically by the solver.
01:48
The air volume around the board is also built automatically.
01:53
The first task is to check the materials.
01:57
Confirm that all the board components use appropriate materials
02:01
and fix any with warnings.
02:11
The only other study set up requirements
02:14
are to set a thermal load on appropriate board components,
02:18
and to define fan attributes, if the model includes fans.
02:22
Since this model has no fans, we need only set the heat loads.
02:27
For electronics boards modeled in Fusion 360,
02:31
if the Thermalloss for the materials were defined during the modeling process,
02:36
the heat loads are imported automatically into the electronics cooling study.
02:40
In this example, this wasn’t done and we’ll set the heat loads manually.
02:45
In the browser, expand the Model Components folder to see all the components.
02:50
We want to set heat loads on these three boards.
02:54
Use the browser to show and hide components to make the job easier.
02:59
On this main board we’ll set a heat load of 2 W on this component.
03:04
Click the Internal Heat icon to open the Thermal Loads dialog,
03:09
click on the component in the model to select it,
03:13
then type the heat load and press enter to accept the value.
03:17
Repeat the process to set 0.2 W on these components,
03:29
and 0.08 W on these components.
03:33
You can see the internal heat loads you’ve assigned
03:36
and edit them individually here in the browser.
03:39
Or you can see them all in one place in the load case attributes dialog
03:45
and edit them from here.
03:48
At this point, the pre-check status confirms that there is enough information to run the analysis.
03:55
While it’s not required to solve the analysis,
03:58
you can click Critical Temperatures to manually set critical temperatures on board components,
04:04
to highlight those that might overheat or fail.
04:07
If your electronics design was modeled in Fusion 360,
04:11
and the maximum temperature was set in the electronics design,
04:14
this information is brought into the electronics cooling study automatically.
04:22
Now we are ready to solve.
04:34
When the analysis is complete, results are streamed from the cloud
04:38
to provide you with immediate access to them,
04:41
and to eliminate the disk space requirements of large result files.
04:45
Click Results to open the results viewer.
04:48
The default result you see depends on your study setup.
04:52
If you set critical temperatures on components,
04:55
the risk factor result loads showing you only those components with critical temperatures.
05:00
This result helps you to focus on critical components that may fail due to over-heating.
05:07
If you haven’t set critical temperatures, then the temperature view loads instead.
05:13
This result view shows you the temperature of all the components in the model.
05:21
You can switch between these results using these buttons.
05:27
The section plane tool
05:29
enables you to examine both the temperature of the solid components on the board
05:33
and the temperature and velocity of the surrounding air volume more closely.
For more, see Electronics cooling analysis.
How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
Sign in for the best experience
Save your progress
Get access to courses
Receive personalized recommendations
May we collect and use your data?
Learn more about the Third Party Services we use and our Privacy Statement.May we collect and use your data to tailor your experience?
Explore the benefits of a customized experience by managing your privacy settings for this site or visit our Privacy Statement to learn more about your options.