Electronics cooling encompasses thermal design, analysis and experimental characterization of electronic systems as a discrete discipline with the product creation process for an electronics product, or an electronics sub-system within a product (e.g. an engine control unit (ECU) for a car). On-line sources of information are available and a number of books have been published on this topic.

Computer cooling Computer cooling is required to remove the waste heat produced by computer components, to keep components within permissible operating temperature limits. Components that are susceptible to temporary malfunction or permanent failure if overhea ...

is a sub-topic.

Heat sink A heat sink (also commonly spelled heatsink) is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant, where it is dissipated away from the device, th ...

s are devices that are used to extend the surface area of

electronic component An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not ...

s available for

air cooling Air cooling is a method of dissipating heat. It works by expanding the surface area or increasing the flow of air over the object to be cooled, or both. An example of the former is to add cooling fins to the surface of the object, either by maki ...

, helping to lower the components case temperature. Fans are used to increase the air flow. Thermal design and analysis is performed using hand calculations or

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...

s, based on design rules or heat transfer correlations.

Computer-aided engineering Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering analysis tasks. It includes , , , durability and optimization. It is included with computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) ...

tools such as

computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...

are also used.

Active electronics cooling

Besides passive heat conduction, active cooling consuming electricity can be achieved through the thermoelectric coolers. When electrical voltage is added to an ''n''-type (''p''-type)

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

material, the electric filed will drive electrons (

holes A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

) from one end to the other, which will also carry the electronic

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its accele ...

and

entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynam ...

. A temperature gradient will be finally built up to balance the driven force of

electrical field An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field fo ...

. This is called the

Peltier effect The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple. A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when ...

, and the refrigeration or cooling device made based on this effect is called the Peltier cooler. One Peltier cooler is at least consisted of one ''n''-leg and one ''p''-leg, which is also called a Peltier junction. Although, Peltier coolers are generally only around 10-15% as efficient as a reversed

Carnot cycle A Carnot cycle is an ideal thermodynamic cycle proposed by French physicist Sadi Carnot in 1824 and expanded upon by others in the 1830s and 1840s. By Carnot's theorem, it provides an upper limit on the efficiency of any classical thermodynam ...

, or as 40–60% efficient as a vapor-compression cycle, it may be the only choice for applications in some special scenarios, including electronics on

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

s, in

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, and at an extremely compact space, due to their solid state nature, low maintenance need, compact size and noise-free operation. Multiple Peltier junctions, taking care of each specific temperature window, can usually be stacked to further enhance the overall performance on electronics cooling. As active heat pumps which consume power, thermoelectric coolers can produce temperatures below ambient, which is impossible with passive heatsinks, radiator-cooled

liquid cooling Liquid cooling refers to cooling by means of the convection or circulation of a liquid. Examples of liquid cooling technologies include: * Cooling by convection or circulation of coolant, including water cooling * Liquid cooling and ventilatio ...

, or heatpipe HSFs. However, while pumping heat, a Peltier module will typically consume more electric power than the heat amount being pumped.

References

{{reflist Cooling technology