PCB is a software package that tells board designers the temperature of the components placed on the printed circuit board. By knowing component temperatures, the PC board designer can determine the reliability of his product before it is even manufactured. This knowledge gives the designer more flexibility in board development. A library containing thousands of electrical components is included with the program for user selection. The heat transfer modes include conduction, radiation, and forced or free convection. For better heat dissipation, localized or full size heat spreader plates may be included in the model. PCB allows the user to create boards of any shape; no need for plain rectangular boards here.

Printed circuit board grid size may be set or varied by the user. The zoom feature allows the analyst a close look at the model he is building. Resultant board temperatures may be sent to the printer, viewed on screen, or pictorially displayed through a topographical color contour plot on the computer screen. The contour plot may be rotated in space for viewing at any angle or it may be zoomed in for better local definition. The contour plot may be rotated on screen by simply selecting the angle and direction of rotation.

Solution of the PC board analysis is obtained through the capabilities of our THERMAL routine, of which a copy is provided. The PCB routine can perform the actual component placement and layout of a printed circuit board or data files may be read from other compatible software. Then the THERMAL routine provides temperature analysis of the designed board. The temperature analysis portion of PCB supports phase change materials, variable heat generation and transient or steady state conditions.

The analysis is done by dividing the PC board into sections. The THERMAL routine then provides temperatures for each section. The present size limit for PCB is 2000 nodes for analysis performed on a IBM Personal Computer or its compatibles. A 2000 node version will solve a board with a 30 by 30 grid containing over 1000 components.