Articles from September 1998 Issue

Convection and radiation heat loss from a printed circuit board

September 1st, 1998

In last issue’s column, a method for calculating the thermal conductivity of a printed circuit board (PCB) was described. Now, we look at a more complicated heat transfer process, namely the loss of heat from…read more

Cooling electronics at high altitudes made easy

September 1st, 1998

Introduction High altitude air cooling has always been somewhat of a mystery to the uninformed. The first reaction to the situation is that there is just not enough air at altitudes greater than six kilometers…read more

Disk drive reliability and thermal management

September 1st, 1998

Disk drive reliability and thermal management Hard disk drives are electromechanical systems which store information. They are the most complex electronic sub-assembly within a computer. If a microprocessor can qualify as the “heart” of a…read more

Heat transfer measurements in electronics cooling applications

September 1st, 1998

Introduction Increased performance in electronic systems along with higher packaging densities have made temperature a critical parameter. Measurements of temperature, velocity and heat transfer in electronic systems are challenging due to complex materials, configurations, and…read more

Recent Japanese thermal solutions for portable computers

September 1st, 1998

Introduction Mobile computing is poised to shape the way we live our lives, allowing people to generate, retrieve, and process data anywhere and at any time. The infrastructure for mobile computing is rapidly developing, as…read more

The thermal conductivity of gases

September 1st, 1998

The value of thermal conductivity for most gases and vapors range between 0.01 and 0.03 W/mK at room temperature. Notable exceptions are Helium (0.15) and Hydrogen (0.18). The most common theoretical explanation of heat conduction…read more

Thermal testing and control by means of built-in temperature sensors

September 1st, 1998

Introduction This paper will discuss a new approach to the measurement of the thermal properties of PCBs and the packages mounted to them. It is intended to replace traditional solutions, such as using thermocouples and…read more