ME 442
THERMAL MANAGEMENT IN ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

Information
4 Credits
Available Winter term
OSU Catalog link

 Prerequisites
ME 331, ME 332
(or equivalent)

Contact
Richard B. Peterson
(541) 737-7095
314 Rogers Hall

Course Description

Intermediate heat transfer course focusing on the problem of cooling electronic components, microprocessors, printed circuit boards, and large electronic structures such as computers where a more integrated thermal-management approach must be taken. A finite element heat transfer package is introduced as an analysis tool for the course.

Topics

  • Literature sources and information available to thermal engineers
  • Introduction to finite element analysis (FEA)
  • Material properties and packaging
  • Brief review of heat transfer
  • Thermal control of discrete components, packaging of devices, and thermal resistance modeling
  • Natural vs. forced convection cooling
  • Heat sinks
  • Cooling solutions for power MOSFETS
  • Theory of extended surfaces
  • Duct flow and fan sizing
  • Printed circuit board (PCB) materials, construction, and cooling
  • Jet-impingement cooling, theory, and heat transfer correlations
  • Immersion cooling with a brief review of boiling and condensing
  • Heat pipes and other advanced cooling techniques

Learning Outcomes

The student, upon completion of this course, will be able to:

  • Apply heat-transfer fundamentals to the analysis of problems involving cooling electronic devices.
  • Apply FEA to heat transfer problems in the electronics cooling area.
  • Be able to state problem definition, nomenclature, and the importance of heat transfer in electronic systems development.
  • Design cooling solutions for a limited class of thermal-management problems.