Thermal Design on a Radio Frequency Board Using Mathematical Programming

The design of radio frequency boards may be under the purview of an engineering manager, or the boards may be instrumental to a larger project overseen by an engineering manager. Regardless, the optimal design is essential to engineering managers. In this research, we use mathematical programming and genetic algorithm to find the optimal values for design parameters that affect a high power amplifier’s target junction temperature, Tj, subjected to a transient power condition and stack-up configurations. This research considers period, duty, board thickness, and the number of vias as the parameters that affect the component’s Tj. This work assumes a high power amplifier component soldered to a ceramic board. The board’s bottom face transfers the heat to an ambient temperature of 25C via forced convection. This study compared the solutions to a finite element model for validation purposes. For a target, Tj of 50oC and assuming a power dissipation of 15 W, the optimal values obtained using mathematical programming were 15.49 seconds for the period, 43.4% for the duty, 0.091 inches for the board thickness, and 40 as the number of vias in the ceramic. The optimal parameters were used as inputs in a Finite Element Model (FEM) model for validation purposes and the solution error found was 0.5%. This research demonstrates that applying mathematical programming is an effective and reliable method to define parameters in radio frequency board design.

Author

• Montanez, Roberto

Language

• en

Keyword

• Optimization
• Mathematical Programming
• Electronics Cooling
• Thermal Network
• Genetic Algorithm

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Engineering Management

Degree

• D.Engr.

Advisor

• Young, Stephen D.

Committee Member(s)

• Etemadi, Amir
• Stirgwolt, Ben

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/8336h280j