Articles from August 2005 Issue

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Heatsink

August 1st, 2005

Introduction When faced with the task of calculating the temperature of an IC in a package, which has an external heat sink mounted to it, a thermal engineer usually obtains a values of three thermal…read more

High Powered Chip Cooling — Air and Beyond

August 1st, 2005

Introduction Over the past few years many people in the electronics industry have become concerned with the increases in heat density at both the chip and module level of packaging. This trend is not new…read more

Latest Developments In Thermoelectrically Enhanced Heat Sinks

August 1st, 2005

Nomenclature Q Heat load (W) COP Coefficient of Performance I Electrical current (Amps) T Temperature (°C) R Electrical resistance (Ohms) Z TE Figure of Merit (1/K) where Z = α2 / (ρ λ)    …read more

Liquid Cooling is Back

August 1st, 2005

Introduction IBM announced its return to water cooling on April 19, 2005 with the introduction of a water cooled heat exchanger mounted to the back cover of a 19 inch rack. This is the first…read more

Metals For Thin Wires – Criteria Of Choice

August 1st, 2005

When a designer has to deal with thin current-carrying wires, a number of thermal issues pop up: Joule heating, heat losses and temperature measurement. For standard lead wires, one usually wants minimal Joule heating and…read more

Vibration Analysis For Electronic Equipment

August 1st, 2005

This topic is rather esoteric and usually an afterthought in commercial and industrial applications. In military and defense electronics, it is one of the major drivers for design and product architecture early on in the…read more