Feature: Thermal management


Figure 1: Lee Deforest’s wireless audio signal amplifier – i.e., the first radio (left) and, right, Lee Deforest Trends and methods of thermal


management in electronics By Ray Rasmussen, Managing Partner, Occam


E


lectronic products are an integral part of our daily lives and at the heart of many products that have risen from being “nice to have” to “indispensable”.


Tere is, however, a harsh reality that


accompanies electronics: as these systems and devices become more powerful and compact, they generate more and more heat, which is known to severely impact performance and longevity. Termal management in electronics has thus become a critical concern for engineers and manufacturers.


Thermal management Heat generated by electronics has been known since the days of the glowing vacuum tubes invented by Lee Deforrest and originally used in the first radios (Figure 1), and later in televisions. Tey were also found in the first massive


computers like ENIAC, which used some 18,000 of these tubes, requiring major cooling of the room where ENIAC was located. One apocryphal tale has it that technicians were moving around the room on roller skates, changing the tubes as they frequently burnt out. Te transistors significantly reduced


the power requirements but with their concentration doubling every 18-24 months, in accordance with Moore’s Law (Gordon More pesented this in his landmark paper “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits”, published in Electronics magazine in 1965), the challenge of thermal management has not abated, but become even more problematic, making thermal management increasingly important. Fundamentally, thermal management is


the process of controlling the temperature of electronic components to ensure they remain reliable and efficient. Terefore,


34 November 2023 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


effective thermal management is essential for the continued development of smaller, more powerful and more energy-efficient electronics, as well as those required for high-energy and high-power applications. In response, engineers continue to develop innovative solutions such as advanced cooling systems and materials with superior thermal conductivity. Another power-hungry, hence large


heat-dissipating sector, is that of the high-performance computing required by data analytics, scientific research and artificial intelligence. Liquid cooling and phase-change materials are regularly found in data centres, and supercomputers are located near bodies of water and flowing rivers for their cooling needs. In the automotive industry, too,


especially electric vehicles (EVs), powerful battery systems and electric motors generate substantial heat during operation. Evidence shows EVs bursting into flames


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54