Electronic component manufacturers and their customers can now easily share design models between different thermal simulation toolsets thanks to the new open neutral file format developed by ANSYS. The open model format will promote interoperability and ease the exchange of data throughout the supply chain – saving manufacturers time, reducing import errors and improving accuracy.

Thermal analysis is critical for new designs in the electronics industry, making it more important for suppliers and customers to exchange information and models. Many suppliers support the major industry leading tools with their component models to allow larger system modeling and a common format for data exchange. The release of a standard file format enables component suppliers to create a single compact model file to describe its thermal characteristics that work with any simulation software tool that adheres to the standard and will save users valuable time and reduce errors. 

ANSYS collaborated with several industry leading companies, led by Intel, to develop thermal model exchange standards that would facilitate easy data exchange and consolidate the many different file formats currently being used. The companies validated that the file exchange format met the necessary criteria and have endorsed the ANSYS open neutral file format standard.

"Thermal engineers at Intel support this collaborative effort to enable a direct method of tool interoperability and multi-disciplinary simulation," said David Ochoa, data center platform applications engineer, Intel. "Productivity is expected to increase with automation and custom tools that will be directly compatible with commercial software via this standard. Intel's customer support for thermal simulation will be simplified and streamlined since we can provide customers a single format rather than spend time developing, validating and supporting multiple types."

"Open standards and interoperability in the simulation industry are very important and together with guidance from the industry group, we are excited to release this file format," said Steve Pytel, director of product management for the Electronics Business Unit, ANSYS. "This model will work with all simulation tools that support the standard – saving customers a tremendous amount of time, improving accuracy and reducing import errors."