Investigation of Thermal

Aspect of the Optical Systems

Tunç Taylan ARSLAN

Opto-Mechanical Design Engineer
 Thermal Aspects Of the Project
Below are the critical thermal aspects that need to be gone through
until the completion of the final product.

1. Thermal Analyses

2. Thermal Design

3. Thermal Tests
 Results of Temperature Change

1. Failure or Diminished Life Cycle for Electronics

2. Distortion or Decrease in the Performance of Optics

 Thermal Requirements of the Project

• Operating Temp: -40°C to + 85°C

• Storage Temp: -40°C to + 105°C

• Thermal Shock: -40°C to +85°C

All the components used in the design must withstand the temperature
requirements above.
 Thermal Analysis of Electronics

Critical elements should be identified.

What are those?

 High heat dissipating components,

 Components with low operating temperature limit,

 High CTE components, etc.

 Thermal Analysis of Electronics
• Conduction, convection and radiation (if necessary) analysis should be
done to acquire temperature distrubition over the critical
components.

• Passive or active cooling methods can be incorporated based on the

outputs of the analyses.
 Thermal Analysis of Optics
Change of temperature induces two main effects on optical components.

1. Thermoelastic Effect: Change in position and shape of the optics and

mounts due to thermal stresses and strains

2. Thermo-optic Effect: Change in refractive index of the components

and hence focus shift in the system
 Thermal Analysis Tools
1. Thermal analysis of electronics can be done through common
analysis softwares such as Ansys, Mentor FloEFD, Comsol.
(Solidworks Thermal Analysis Tool may be insufficient and difficult to
implement detailed features since there are limited users in the
industry and academy. Needs to be checked and contact the reseller.)

2. Thermal analysis of optics should be done in the Zemax since Zemax

takes all the thermoelastic and thermooptical effects into account and
allow user to optimize the design over a range of environments.
 References for Thermal Analysis in Zemax
• https://wp.optics.arizona.edu/optomech/wp-content/uploads/sites/53/2016/12/
Presentation_Tutorial_Trumper_Isaac.pptx
• http://docs.eao.hawaii.edu/UKIRT/WFCAM/optical/design/010/optics_thermal_a
nalysis.pdf
• https://wp.optics.arizona.edu/optomech/wp-content/uploads/sites/53/2016/10/
J.-Champagne_Athermal-Lens-Mount-Design.pptx

Many more paper and study can be found in the literature and the internet.
 Thermal Analysis Tools
Combination of Structural, Thermal and Optical Performance analyses,
also known as ‘STOP’. (e.g. COMSOL STOP analysis)
 Thermal Analysis Tools
To implement extensive thermal study while also adding the effects of
other disciplines, software and hardware that are being used should be
carefully selected. They may cost quite an amount of money and the
option of outsourcing should also be considered.

• Separate licences for different multiphysics diciplines

• Workstation requirement
 Thermal Design Considerations for
Electronics
The main task during thermal design for electronics is to keep junction temperatures of all electronic
components at safe values under all operating conditions. Also keeping PCB temperature below 105 ◦ C is
another rule of thumb. Fundamental design considerations for electronics are:

• Packaging Design – integrated heat spreaders, multi-core technology, etc.

• Thermal vias – use board ground plane as heatsink
• Heat sink
• Thermal pads
• Airflow determination
Natural or forced convection
Required amount of airflow
• Orientation
• Sensors
• Optimize Layout
minimize shadow effect
Locate hotter components in favored areas
 Thermal Design Considerations for Optical
Systems
Compensation of thermal effects in an optical system is called
athermalization of the system. To have an athermalized design,
followings can be done:
• Low CTE material selection for support structure
• Using radially symmetric adhesive-bonded lens
• %25 percent larger optical windows than the required clear aperture
(to eliminate the optical aberrations at the edge of the window due to
radial thermal gradient)
• Making mirros and mounts from the same material (Al, Be)
• Using bimetallic compensators to avert focus shift due to temperature
 Thermal Testing Procedures
Testing furnaces and chambers will be needed when it is time to
validate the technical requirements customer requested.

• High and low operating temperature limits needs to be verified.

• After being stored at 105 ◦ C , system needs to be restarted and

verified that it is still working.

• Thermal Shock (rapid change of temperature) needs to be verified.