Electro-thermal Simulation of a DC/DC Converter using a Relaxation Method

This paper presents a methodology for simulating the electro-thermal behaviour of a DC/DC converter. This technique is based on the coupling of computational fluid dynamics software (FLOTHERM) with an electrical circuit simulator (VHDL-AMS). This work is mainly focused in the description of the thermal component with special emphasis in the modelling of the active power devices (MOSFET and Schottky diode) included in the converter. Once these devices have been fully modelled, they are included in the DC/DC converter modelled as a double sided PCB including also some passive components. The simulations have been experimentally verified with the aid of infrared measurements