PCB Thermal Analyzer
A Python tool for analyzing thermal performance of PCB designs. Started because I wanted to predict hotspots on ESC boards before fabrication.
What it does
Takes a PCB layout and copper layer stack-up, runs thermal simulations with adaptive meshing to find problem areas. Only a basic prototype so far. Mostly I was just testing Claude’s coding abilities on a complex problem.
Current status
- Basic adaptive meshing works
- Can import KiCAD PCB file formats
- Probably lying to me
What I learned
Size of grid makes a huge difference in simulation time. Claude is getting very impressive. Need an adaptive grid to get good details for PCB work. Lots of potential for future projects with Kicad.
Next steps
- Check if outputs are actually legit
- Work on better visualisation
- Validate against real measurements
Probably non-functional. Do not trust.