Introduction For the consumer, natural convection cooling or fan-less cooling is the method of choice. It is silent, it is reliable, it is simple, and it is environmentally sound because no additional energy is used to remove the excess heat. For the thermal engineer, fan-less cooling is more problematic. On the plus side, no fan is needed, so there is an attractive cost … [Read more...]
Use of Power Law Regression in Packaging Thermal Calculations
Introduction In today’s demanding business climate, thermal engineers are often called upon to produce thermal analyses rapidly. For example, there is frequently the need for a quick calculation of a JEDEC-standard thermal performance metric, such as ΘJA (junction-to-ambient thermal resistance), for specific IC package designs on the basis of limited data. These metrics are in … [Read more...]
Direct Spray Cooling and System-level Comparisons
Introduction As power densities of embedded electronics increase, cooling becomes a challenge especially in harsh environments. Liquid cooling is accepted as an attractive cooling method for an increasing number of applications. Direct spray is a particularly efficient form of liquid cooling that has recently been included on several manned and unmanned military platforms. This … [Read more...]
Technical Data Summary
ElectronicsCooling magazine has been providing a technical data column since 1997 with the intent of providing you, the readers, with pertinent material properties for use in thermal analyses. We have largely covered the most common materials and their associated thermal properties used in electronics packaging and as a result, this column will evolve into additional topics. … [Read more...]
Lowering a Notebook CPU Temperature Using a Dual-Tunnel Blower
Figure 1. Side by side comparison of blower technologies. Introduction Notebook computers on the market today may be classified in three categories. In the first category are the super slim and powerful notebooks such as the ThinkPad X300. In the second are the slim and light netbooks such as the ASUS Eee PC, and in the third are the high-end mobile workstations for … [Read more...]