It's no surprise. Power levels in the data center keep rising. In fact, the cost of powering the computers in the data center is beginning to exceed the cost of the computers themselves. The computer architects have responded by designing systems that use multi-core processors. These processors can use less energy to perform the same workload as their single-core brethren by … [Read more...]
Cooling Options And Challenges Of High Power Semiconductor Modules
Introduction Trends in power electronics systems and devices over the last decade have placed increasing demands on the efficiencies of the thermal management systems used for power Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) modules. The pressure to decrease the size of power electronics systems and, subsequently, the … [Read more...]
Communication Network Power Efficiency Assessment, Limitations and Directions
Introduction Despite the slowdown in the communication industry, Internet traffic continues to grow rapidly, fueled by the explosion in data communications, mobile Internet, e-commerce, content rich applications, and multi-media services. Internet traffic has increased by approximately 80% yearly in each of the last three years, and will continue to grow at 60 - 80% annually … [Read more...]
Critical Cooling Issues in High Power Radio Frequency Transmitter Amplifiers
Introduction While emerging methodologies correctly insist that thermal engineers should be involved right from the early conceptual stages of electronics product design [1], many situations still require thermal analysis well after the introduction of the product to its intended application. Military transmitters installed in the 1980's and 1990's and still in operation today … [Read more...]
A Few Design Techniques On How To Reduce The Power
There will always be the need to get heat out of high power circuitry, but with a little extra design effort up front, we may be able to reduce overall power needs. Here are two techniques that can help do that. Turn Idle Circuits Off A circuit that is not always used can be turned off until needed. This is a technique widely used in battery powered electronics, but it can be … [Read more...]