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Before releasing a new solid state drive (SSD) to production, SanDisk uses CFD analysis to verify
that its design will meet the thermal requirements.
The SSD is a dense sandwich structure made of plastic materials and enclosed by two stainless
steel covers. Inside the sandwich resides the memory and CPU PCBs separated by a thermal pad. A
second thermal pad separates the memory PCB and the cover.
To perform the analysis, SanDisk relied on Coolit, CFD software designed for electronics cooling
application. In this project, Sandisk was assisted by CAS Ltd a leading thermal design consultancy.
The design had to be tested at high altitude conditions with an ambient temperature of up to 70C.
Coolit analysis quickly determined the temperature distribution, as well as case and junction
temperatures of components to verify that the module did not exceed its maximum allowable design
limits permitting reliable operation between 0-70C ambient. The model also found no hot
spots in the system. The design was approved for production and the new SSD drive, designed as a
drop-in replacement for the hard disk drives delivered superior durability, performance and power
efficiency - keeping mobile PCs working optimally in the toughest of conditions.
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