Optimizing Thermal Design for Autonomous Vehicle Electronics

Thermal design considerations for autonomous vehicle sensors and sensor fusion systems using CFD simulation.

Today's approach to autonomous vehicles includes many sensors and electronics placed in various locations that each serve a different purpose. The exponential number and importance of those systems (lidars, cameras, ECUs, etc.) require design exploration of thermal management strategies. For example, low power sensors can present challenging thermal issues depending on where they are mounted on the vehicle. The thermal design choices for high power sensor fusion systems might be constrained by the mounting location on the vehicle. Thermal design for electronics in sealed systems, external heat loading, forced convection and liquid cooling will be explored.

During this webinar, we will discuss thermal design considerations when integrating electronics that enable autonomous vehicles. We’ll introduce the complexity of systems to design, and address the following concepts:

• Thermal design considerations for sensors in sealed systems
• The advantages and disadvantages of externally mounted sensors
• Cooling options for high powered sensor fusion systems
• Transient thermal response of a sensor between various drive states
• Thermal design using CFD based design tools

About the speaker:
John Wilson joined Mentor Graphics Corporation, Mechanical Analysis Division after receiving his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Denver. Since joining in 1999, John has worked on or managed more than 70 thermal and airflow design projects. His modeling and design knowledge range from component level to Data Centers, heat sink optimization and compact model development. John has extensive experience in IC package level test and analysis correlation through his work at Mentor Graphics' Fremont based thermal test facility.