Coupled electro-thermal simulation of a DC/DC converter

Electro-thermal simulation of a DC/DC converter using a two-step methodology and its experimental validation are presented in this paper. The simulation technique is based on the coupling of a thermal simulator (FLOTHERM) and an electrical one based on VHDL-AMS language. This work is mainly focused on the description of the thermal component with special emphasis in the modelling of the active power devices (MOSFETs and Schottky diodes) included in the converter. Once these devices have been electro-thermally modelled, they are implemented in the DC/DC converter including a 10 layer PCB and some passive components. The modelling results have been experimentally checked by means of infrared measurements.