Fairy tales… perpetual motion machines… Not all fairy tales are perpetual motion machines, but all perpetual motion machines are certainly fairy tales. Before I get into the specifics of thermoelectric coolers, however, it seems appropriate to set the stage for this particular category of fairy tales. There are two classical types of perpetual motion “machines,” called (not … [Read more...]
Radiative Cooling of Electronics (and Other Things)
In your basic heat transfer class, you should have learned that there are three primary modes of heat transfer: conduction (heat transfer through solids or stationary fluids), convection (heat transfer by virtue of moving fluids), and radiation. As a general rule, in electronics cooling situations, radiation is the least important mode, and is often neglected in first-order … [Read more...]
