In many cases, especially in the earliest phases of the product creation process, it may be necessary for the Designer to make rough calculations as to the thermal behavior of the proposed product. If a problem is identified, alternative cooling technologies should be considered in the next design phase.
In such cases, it is useful to have some idea of the limits of the proposed cooling technology.
The table presents an overview of the heat transfer coefficients, which can be expected in ‘standard’ natural and forced convection dominated electronic cooling situations for air, inert liquids and water.
The data is based on experience and some educated guesses (although, not wind tunnel data), on the grounds that many forced convection applications include a fan with a high degree of turbulence, the effects of which are usually filtered out in a research measurement facility
