It seems that everybody knows that power density keeps increasing, inexorably. How are we going to manage that? In my discussions with otherwise knowledgeable folks, however, it becomes immediately apparent that there's a huge disconnect in what we mean by power. Case in point: someone mentioned to me last week a "1 cm cell phone." Now to be perfectly honest, I'm not really … [Read more...]
Why Not Just Shove a Heatsink on Top of it? Part 3: Pads, Vias and Undersinking
An appreciation of heat flow paths is a pre-requisite for good thermal design. If you attempt to augment heat flow where there is none then your expectations are as futile as your design skills. The real value of simulation for me is that it enables an insight into the behaviour of a proposed design (this is true for simulation of any design and any behaviour). Once you … [Read more...]
Radiative Cooling of Electronics (and Other Things)
In your basic heat transfer class, you should have learned that there are three primary modes of heat transfer: conduction (heat transfer through solids or stationary fluids), convection (heat transfer by virtue of moving fluids), and radiation. As a general rule, in electronics cooling situations, radiation is the least important mode, and is often neglected in first-order … [Read more...]
Why Not Just Shove a Heatsink on Top of it? Part 2: Heat Flow Budgets
Two different package styles, two very different thermal responses when a extruded plate fin heatsink is placed on each. At the very least a FloTHERM simulation can be used to observe the thermal behaviour of a product concept, beyond that it can be used to understand *why* the thermal behaviour is what it is. … [Read more...]
Why Not Just Shove a Heatsink on Top of it? Part 1
A common enough question. Heatsinks are often perceived to be the magic answer to all electronics cooling challenges. They should be called ‘area extenders’ as heat does not just disappear into them. Heat spreads throughout a heatsink passing to the air over a much larger area than it would otherwise do. Air can then do its magic, whisking the heat away thus keeping … [Read more...]
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