vPrimePCBA
vPrimePCBA aims to develop, implement, and validate a virtual design for encapsulated electronics with protection against chemical cleaning and steam sterilization in medical technology. The use of virtual product development is intended to contribute to permanent resource savings of electronic components in the development of new designs for electronic medical devices.
Project Partners
- Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, Coordinator
- Elastic Simulations GmbH
- Ottronic Regeltechnik GmbH
Motivation and Goals
vPrimePCBA aims for the development, implementation and validation of a concept for virtual prototyping of encapsulated electronics with protection against chemical cleaning as well as steam pressure sterilization in the medical sector. The objective of vPrimePCBA is to increase the efficiency of the current development process and production testing for electronic medical devices, and thus, to enable a sustainable use of resources and raw materials.
In the commonly implemented production process of encapsulating printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) with thermoset molding compounds the curing degree, which varies due the crosslinking reaction, and the associated changes of material properties (strength, stiffness, viscosity) are the driving force for high stresses in the solder joints of surface mounted devices (SMDs), which consequently can suffer from damage in the encapsulation process. Therefore, vPrimePCBA seeks an innovative virtual analysis of the stresses induced by the encapsulation process. This enables the assessment of the stresses in the solder joints of modern ball grid array (BGA) or land grid array (LGA) interconnection techniques to an unprecedented level of detail. To this end, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is linked to the thermo-mechanical finite element analysis of PCBAs via suitable interfaces to reproduce the encapsulation process. The automatization of the modeling process as well as the use of open-source software and cloud computing will enable an evaluation of the reliability of PCBAs and solder joints that has not yet been implemented in practice.
Enabled by extensive and thorough material characterization as well as suitable material models, which are the basic prerequisite for obtaining meaningful and high-quality simulation results, highly precise virtual predictions are achieved.
Based on the developed methodology for virtual prototyping, a virtual optimization of the component placement can be realized. Currently, this can only be realized with a very high testing and inspection effort. Furthermore, the developed methodology enables an efficient virtual feasibility study for introducing bio-based encapsulation materials as an alternative to classic thermoset molding compounds to realize customized solutions, for instance, regarding skin compatibility and recyclability.
The established knowledge along with the virtual design of the entire production process of encapsulated PCBAs enables a permanent saving of resources of PCBAs in medical technology while at the same time meeting the high standards of product quality and reliability. Thus, the efficiency and the competitive advantage of the consortia is increasing. Furthermore, by reducing the required design variations and the associated reduction of physical tests, vPrimePCBA enables a reduction in the use of resources and raw materials by saving ≈ 10000 SMD as well as ≈ 2000 trough hole technology (THT) components per developed PCBA along with a total energy saving potential of 684 kWh per year.
Main Goals
- Virtual Prototyping of the encapsulation process developed and commonly used by Ottronic GmbH
- Detailed modeling of PCBAs and solder joints as well as optimization of the PCB design with respect to manufacturing constraints
- Increase the efficiency of the current development process and production testing for electronic medical devices and thus enable a sustainable use of resources and raw materials
- Valuable contribution to the UN‘s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
-UN SDG Goal 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth)
- UN SDG Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure)
- UN SDG Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)
- UN SDG Goal 13 (Climate Action)
Objectives and Approach
The current state of technology allows for the calculation of global load conditions of solder joints using highly simplified PCB structures, which can subsequently be assessed in finely resolved submodels for cyclic thermo-mechanical loads. However, in the field of special electronics, as in the case of medical technology, the almost static loads during the encapsulation process are the primary driver for damage and component failure. Here, vPrimePCBA advances the state of the art by enabling the coupling of a CFD simulation of a thermosetting molding compound with the analysis of damage to the solder joints of modern BGA or LGA connection techniques during the manufacturing process, at a level of that has not been realized before. Furthermore, based on this, an optimization of component placing for injection molding can be realized, which has not been possible until now or can only be realized with very high testing effort.
„Digitalization is fundamental for both current and future sustainability issues by supporting companies to use resources more efficiently, reduce energy consumption and increase awareness for environmental issues. “
Funding Body
The research work within the project “vPrimePCBA – Virtual Prototyping of Reactive Injection Molding for Enhanced Sustainability of Printed Circuit Board Assemblies” is performed at the Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL, Austria) within the framework of the “Produktion und Material 2023, national”-program of the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI) with contributions by Ottronic GmbH and Elastic-Simulation GmbH. The program is managed by the FFG.
