Sometimes the ability to apply artistic interpretation of your virtual product to your simulation model of it is limited or dictated (take your pick) by the available capabilities of that simulation tool. CFD simulation is quite a young technology, application to electronics cooling newer still, a mere 21 years old. Always pushing the limit of available computing resource, … [Read more...]

Never trust a TLA (three-letter acronym) or those who use them, unless the abbreviation provides some value in terms of repetitive usage  or is accepted as an industry standard. Too often TLAs are used as a screen between those who are listening and the incompetence of the person talking. TIGs (thermally insignificant geometries) as a TLA is neither useful nor accepted, I just … [Read more...]

Wiki quote: “A grille is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.” For electronic products that need to be kept cool, getting cool air in through grille work is commonplace, thermal designers love them, EMC/EMI … [Read more...]

Considering that CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is an advanced mathematical method for predicting fluid flow and heat transfer using a computational software approach I find it paradoxical that it is often as much an art as it is a science. A model by its very definition is a representation of something. A computer model is a virtual representation of a system (e.g. … [Read more...]