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 data acquisition equipment. The basic idea of this approach is that the IC chips themselves will be used to measure and acquire temperature data. It will be … [Read more...]
Cooling Electronics at High Altitudes Made Easy
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 (20,000 ft). At times this may be true, but many things can be done to improve the cooling and obtain an acceptable design. The most important thing to remember when … [Read more...]
Disk drive reliability and thermal management
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 computer system, a disk drive can qualify as the "brain". Drives store and retrieve data in milliseconds, measured as access and transfer … [Read more...]
Forced convection cooling inside an electronics enclosure
Introduction One of the more complex thermal problems in electronics is the modeling of complete systems, such as an enclosure containing electronic components. A typical example would be a power supply, including heat sinks and a cooling fan. This problem becomes more difficult when there are multiple heat sinks and other large components arranged in an arbitrary manner inside … [Read more...]
Interaction of the system and module-level thermal phenomena- a flip-chip/BGA example
Fig. 1: Levels in a computer environment. Introduction Increasing demands for higher performance in microprocessors have a direct effect on chip power and heat generation. Increased function and miniaturization of the packages result in thermal challenges that require a thorough understanding of the system's thermal performance under all possible field conditions. Regardless … [Read more...]