In This Issue:

Thermal Conductivity of Printed Circuit Boards

Some components are designed to dissipate most of their heat through the PCB, and their packages are not necessarily designed to minimize Θ_jc. It may also be the case that the environment renders a heat sink less effective, and the heat dissipation depends on both the heat sink and the PCB. In these cases, how should the thermal performance of the PCB be analyzed? PCBs have their own copper traces, different numbers of fiberglass layers and copper planes, and many different patterns of vias. The question is what are the effects of these PCB features on the thermal conductivity of the board?

Passive Thermal Management Technology for Fuel Cells – Part II: Passive Cooling Plates

The author discusses, in part two of this two part series, the importance of fuel cells and illustrates this through a description of Burke’s study using passive thermal management technology to regulate the PEMFC stack temperature. This study demonstrated that passive thermal control of fuel cell stacks is feasible, and that passive removal of heat is controllable and provides the highly uniform thermal environment desired for fuel cell operation. This revolutionary thermal control approach was shown to reduce the components and parasitic power compared to the traditional pumped loop thermal control approach.

Industry Developments: Thermally Conductive Polymers

This article explores the importance, uses and advantages of thermally conductive polymers in providing heat transfer in various applications, such as lighting and automotive, and provides a summary of recent developments in industry and research underway at MIT.

Technology Review: Compliant Cold Plates, 1991-2007

In this issue our spotlight is on patents relating to compliant cold plates. There is much discussion about this subject in the electronics industry, and these patents show some of the salient features that are the focus of different inventors.

Cooling News – Product News