Using commercially available finite element analysis (FEA) software is easier today than it has ever been. Software vendors have made great progress toward providing programs that are as easy to use as they are powerful. But, in doing so, software suppliers have created a perilous quagmire for unwary users. Some engineers and managers look upon commercially available FEA … [Read more...]
Radial nozzles
In a quest to increase surface heat removal rates for electronics packaging, impinging jet cooling promises to be effective and inexpensive. Most impingement cooling systems use open pipes. These are effective but have drawbacks such as high impingement forces on the target surface. In the last 10 years radical nozzles have been shown in the laboratory to benovel and … [Read more...]
How to Select a Heat Sink
With the increase in heat dissipation from microelectronics devices and the reduction in overall form factors, thermal management becomes a more a more important element of electronic product design. Both the performance reliability and life expectancy of electronic equipment are inversely related to the component temperature of the equipment. The relationship between the … [Read more...]
Evaluation of different heat transfer coefficient definitions
The analysis of convective heat transfer problems pivots on the accurate knowledge of the heat transfer coefficient, h. The heat transfer coefficient is affected by many parameters which have been defined differently by various investigators. for natural convection cases, the temperature distribution is the governing parameter, while for forced convection problems, the fluid … [Read more...]
Elements of device thermal characterization
The increased power dissipation of today's integrated circuits has made knowledge of thermal resistance important to those who manufacture and use these devices. Thermal resistance is a device (i.e. semiconductor chip mounted in a package) parameter that is used to calculate junction temperature if the device power dissipation is known or can be estimated. This parameter is a … [Read more...]