Thermal design in the consumer electronics business is about dealing with two difficult challenges: The first is to fulfill, and if possible surpass, customer expectations. The second is to do this in ever shortening design cycles. After a main initial use of flat displays as computer monitors, larger flat display screens are now emerging for video purposes: the Flat TV. … [Read more...]
The treacherous streams
During the development of a telecommunications product, an unpredictable phenomenon of air streams within the maze of cards and module was encountered. It could only be compared to suddenly confronting powerful inner streams in a calm ocean. Unlike the ocean, however, these streams appeared in a man-made machine. It seemed as if someone had rewritten the laws of physics. It was … [Read more...]
CFD: One measly letter away from CAD
"The stuff you engineers design is too good," the guy from Marketing said, "I need shoddier! Can you make them less efficient and cheaper?" I was working for a small company that made electric power conditioning equipment. Our devices protected against spikes, sags and brownouts in the AC power for mission-critical equipment like air traffic control radar and the computer … [Read more...]
Beyond the arrow plot – New methods for flow visualization
Within the realm of CFD-based flow analysis, the presentation of data is a vital issue. Researchers and developers need to gain insight, and non-technical managers and commercial staff have a critical need to understand the true ramifications of the data. Unfortunately, current methods for visualizing flow have limitations that make it difficult to interpret vast quantities of … [Read more...]
Thermal interface under a plastic quad flat pack
Introduction Plastic components are designed so that the heat is dissipated by forced or natural convection. The use of plastic packages under conditions where neither cooling method is available introduces new challenges. High heat-dissipation plastic packages require a large-area solid heat sink in order to transfer the heat into the copper thermal lands on the printed … [Read more...]
