Articles from May 2004 Issue

CFD Prediction of Electronic Component Operational Temperature on PCBs

May 1st, 2004

Introduction The thermal design of today’s electronic equipment relies significantly on the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software for the prediction of electronics operational temperature. In the early to intermediate product design phase, CFD…read more

Critical Cooling Issues in High Power Radio Frequency Transmitter Amplifiers

May 1st, 2004

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…read more

Modeling Heat Conduction in Printed Circuit Boards Using Finite Element Analysis

May 1st, 2004

Introduction Heat transfer in and around a printed circuit board (PCB) is generally very complex. Some of the heat generated in components is conducted away through the multiple conducting (trace) layers, vias, and dielectric layers…read more

Nostradamitech

May 1st, 2004

The big electronics design show was in town. Gino suggested we blow off work for the day and check it out. I was a little short on promotional pens and key chains, so I fell…read more

Simple Formulas for Estimating Thermal Spreading Resistance

May 1st, 2004

A problem commonly encountered in the thermal analysis of electronic packages is that of thermal spreading resistance. Thermal spreading resistance occurs as heat flows by conduction between a source and a sink with different cross-sectional…read more

Surface Flatness

May 1st, 2004

Surface flatness is an important issue for thermal designers as it is directly related to thermal contact resistance between surfaces. In this column, the definitions of surface flatness related parameters are discussed. These definitions are…read more