Tag Archives: electronics cooling

Latest Qpedia Issue Marks New Milestone

Posted on February 25, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Qpedia Thermal eMagazine | Volume 6 | Issue 12The latest Qpedia Thermal eMagazine has just been released and can be downloaded at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Back-Issues.

This month’s featured articles are:

Pin-Fin Heat Sink Performance Under Air Jet Impingement

This paper summarizes the research on pin fin heat sinks under single confined jets, conducted by El-Sheikh and Garimella, and the study of pin fin heat sinks under single free jets, completed by Issa and Ortega Their experimental tests shows that the thermal performance of pin fin heat sinks behave similarly under some circumstances and act differently under some other configurations for confined jet impingement and free jet impingement. For engineers, this has implications for their use of jet impingement as a cooling method.

The Challenges of TIM Selection in Today’s Demanding Electronics Cooling Environment

With ever hotter running devices, users often rely quite heavily on thermal interface material (TIM) to provide an added factor in obtaining the margins that they require to meet product qualification. Thus, TIM continues to play a critical role in todays electronics environment, proving a viable heat conductive medium between the silicon heat source and the heat dissipating device, and serving to decrease the thermal resistance between chip and heat sink. This paper explores some of the test approaches undertaken by researchers with regard to TIM and why users must be particularly careful in selecting TIM.

Industry Developments: Cooling Automotive Electronic Control Units

As the numbers of ECUs increase, so do their design differences and the complexity of their software. And, as more operators and passengers rely on ECUs for a better driving experience, designers and OEMs must ensure that their performance lives up to expectations. In this piece, the writer explores the various thermal challenges facing ECUs.

Technology Review: Cold Plates 2010 to 2012

Qpedia continues its review of technologies developed for electronics cooling applications. We are presenting selected patents that were awarded to developers around the world to address cooling challenges. After reading the series, you will be more aware of both the historic developments and the latest breakthroughs in both product design and applications.

This release marks the final issue of Volume 6. Qpedia has now published 72 issues and 288 articles in 6 volumes and hardbound book sets. Thank you to the editors and guest contributors who have spent countless hours researching, writing, and sharing their technical expertise with the engineering community. We are proud to be the only monthly publication dedicated to the thermal management of electronics.

Want to be a Qpedia guest editor? Submit a study, white paper, patent release, or technical article at www.qats.com.

Not subscribed to Qpedia? Register now for free at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Back-Issues.

In need of Advertising? Reach over 18,000 engineers by advertising in Qpedia. Contact Andrea Koss at: akoss@qats.com or 781-949-2522 for package rates & additional information.

Leave a comment

Posted in Qpedia Thermal eMagazine

Tagged , , , , ,

Touch Screen Scanner Simplifies Temperature and Air Velocity Measurement for Thermal Characterization

Posted on February 22, 2013 by | 3 comments

ATVS-NxTThe ATVS-NxT hot wire anemometer is a fully-portable scanner that provides rapid and highly precise temperature and air velocity measurements for the thermal characterization of electronic packages. The ATVS-NxTis member of our temperature & velocity measurement instruments, along with the ATVS-2020 and eATVS-8, but its touch screen feature and embedded pc speaks to its truly unique capability.

The unique touch screen feature allows users to control the stageVIEW software at their fingertips, quickly acquiring temperature and air velocity data, analytics, and reports. It includes an 8 GB hard drive and a CD/RW drive. Ethernet connections allow the scanner to be operated over an intranet or the Internet.
Watch the quick 30 second video showing the ATVS-NxT touch screen feature

The ATVS-NxT supports up to 32 sensors for simultaneous, single-point air velocity and temperature measurements in environments where single or multipoint measurements are required. The sensors are calibrated for both low (natural convection) and high velocity flow rates.

The easy to use ATVS-NxT collects heat and airflow data useful to heat sink manufacturers, IC houses, board designers, and other electronics manufacturers. The scanner’s single-point measurement of temperature and air velocity provides faster, more precise data enabling more efficient thermal management solutions. Visit qats.com to learn more or to request a quote.

3 Comments

Posted in ATS News, Instrument

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ATS Design Services Contacted for ECL’s New Recycled LED Street Light

Posted on February 7, 2013 by | 7 comments

Eco City Lights (ECL), a leading supplier of commercial and industrial LED lighting products, recently contacted ATS design services for help in solving thermal challenges on a newly developed application.

ATS performed a full thermal analysis on ECLs retro-fit solution for cobra head street lights. Services provided by ATS included simulation, validation and reporting for the heat sink, enclosure and system level applications. Experimentation was done in order to validate and optimize the current design and the thermal solution. Using IR Technology and multiple sensors throughout the fixture, LED, heat sink, and power supply, testing was performed to determine the true temperatures of the output and enclosure parameters. After numerous studies were conducted, in addition to reviewing 3D CAD models of the enclosure and application components, ATS was able to successfully analyze the existing thermal management solution for the retro-fit street light.

ATS performed testing and analysis on the LED application

ATS performed testing and analysis on the LED application

Eco City Lights felt it was most important to find a thermal management company to evaluate, analyze, and comment on our led lighting solutions. “After researching our options ECL determined that ATS was the best qualified to handle our project. After personally visiting with Joe Gaylord of ATS and talking with their engineers, we now have a product line that is thermally tested, proven, and cost effective. As our company continues to grow, we will be adding addition products and look forward to working with ATS in the future” said Ken Moeller, President of Eco City Lights.

ECL's Cobra Head Street Light

ECL’s Cobra Head Street Light

Eco City Lights LED products are used in street, sidewalk, parking lot and warehouse applications for municipal, government, and commercial enterprises. It is crucial that the LEDs thermal performance is maximized, ensuring product reliability and an extended lifespan. The new recycled LED streetlight module is proven to save customers over 60 percent of energy consumptions costs, providing long lasting, low maintenance, and energy efficient LED lighting.

From its computational facilities and thermal/fluids laboratories in Massachusetts, ATS specializes in providing thermal analysis, mechanical and design services for the telecommunications, networking, medical, aerospace, defense, embedded computing, and automotive industries with high performance electronic products. To learn more about ATS Design Services, call 781-769-2800, email ats-hq@qats.com, or visit www.qats.com.

7 Comments

Posted in Consulting

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Qpedia Thermal eMagazine Published!

Posted on January 28, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Qpedia Thermal eMagazine, Volume 6, Issue 11, has just been released and can be downloaded at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Back-Issues. Featured articles in this month’s issue include:

Honeycomb Heat Sinks for LEDs

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are a form of solid-state lighting. An LED light is often made of a small piece of semiconductor, an integrated optical lens used to shape its radiation pattern, and a heat sink, used to dissipate heat and maintain the semiconductor at low operating temperature. LED lights present many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size and faster switching. This article examines Ma et al’s  findings with respect to the honeycomb heat sink design employed in LEDs, which has proven to be highly efficient.

Characteristics of Thermosyphons in Thermal Management

With the increase of heat fluxes and shrinking chip sizes in electronics applications, there is a need to spread the heat from the small chip to the larger heat sink or to transport the heat to a location where there is ample space to remove the heat. Heat pipes, vapor chambers and thermosyphons have been introduced to undertake this task and, in this article, we focus on some aspects of the design of thermosyphons. The advantage of thermosyphons is that they have no capillary limit and can transport large amounts of heat over long distances.

Industry Developments: Heat Pipes Providing High Performance

Heat pipes are increasing in type and use for the benefits they provide. Because of their lower total thermal resistance, heat pipes transfer heat more efficiently and evenly than solid aluminum or copper. Heat pipes contain a small quantity of working fluid (e.g. water, acetone, nitrogen, methanol, ammonia). Learn the conclusions of a recent study that focused on the best working fluid and another study of heat pipes in outer space.

Technology Review: Cold Plates, 2010 to 2012

Qpedia continues its review of technologies developed for electronics cooling applications. We are presenting selected patents that were awarded to developers around the world to address cooling challenges. After reading the series, you will be more aware of both the historic developments and the latest breakthroughs in both product design and applications.

Cooling News featuring the latest product releases and buzz from around the electronics cooling industry.

Download the issue now.

Not a Qpedia subscriber? Subscribe Now for free at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Subscribe-to-Qpedia and see why over 18,000 engineers read Qpedia.

Leave a comment

Posted in Qpedia Thermal eMagazine

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ARM Microprocessors and ATS superGRIP: Attached at the Clip

Posted on January 18, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc., (ATS), has introduced a line of heat sinks compatible with the Sitara ARM Microprocessor family from Texas Instruments.

AM1707 from Texas Instruments

AM1707 from Texas Instruments

The Sitara ARM Microprocessors feature ARM Cortex-8 and ARM9 MPUs, which are used in a wide variety of Industrial, Medical, and Consumer Electronics applications.

The AM17x family consists of low-power ARM microprocessors that enable OEMs and ODMs to maximize product offerings by providing high processing performance life, advanced operating systems and rich user interfaces. Compatible operating systems include Neutrino, Integrity, Windows, Embedded CE, Linux, VXWorks and Android.

ATS patented maxiFLOW heat sinks with superGRIP clip attachment ensure long-term product reliability and maximum performance from the Sitara ARM Microprocessors. maxiFLOW high performance BGA heat sinks feature a low profile, spread fin array that maximizes surface area for more effective convection air cooling. The unique maxiFLOWTM design provides thermal performance that is 30-200% better than conventional heat sinks.

ATS' maxiFLOW Heat Sink with superGRIP Attachment

ATS’ maxiFLOW Heat Sink with superGRIP Attachment

maxiFLOW is available with pre-assembled phase change material, maxiGRIP clip attachments, and superGRIP clip attachments. The superGRIP attachment system features a plastic frame clip that fastens securely around the perimeter of a component and a metal spring clip that slips through a heat sinks fin field and locks securely to both ends of the plastic frame. The resulting superGRIP assembly applies steady even pressure to the component throughout the product lifecycle, improving thermal performance and long-term reliability. The ATS superGRIP heat sink attachment system permits the use of high performance phase changing thermal interface materials that improves heat transfer by as much as 20 times more than typical double-sided adhesive thermal tapes. It also allows for the heat sink to be detached and reattached without damaging the component or the PCB, an important feature for applications where PCB rework and ease of assembly and disassembly are important. The full range of ATS products compatible with Texas Instruments products can be viewed in the new heat sink selection tool on http://qats.com/Distributor/AE-Dist.php

To learn more about maxiFLOW heat sinks and the superGRIP clip attachment, please visit www.qats.com, email ats-hq@qats.com, or call 781-769-2800.

Leave a comment

Posted in heat sink

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,