An investigation of using a phase-change material to improve the heat transfer in a small electronic module for an airborne radar application

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6380169· OSTI ID:6380169

Snyder, K W

Finding new and improved means of cooling small electronic packages are of great importance to today's electronic packaging engineer. Thermal absorption through the use of a material which changes phase is an attractive alternative. Taking advantage of the heat capacity of a material's latent heat of fusion is shown to absorb heat away from the electronics, thus decreasing the overall temperature rise of the system. The energy equation is formulated in terms of enthalpy and discretized using a finite-difference method. A FORTRAN program to solve the discretized equations is presented which can be used to analyze heat conduction in a rectangular region undergoing an isothermal phase change. An analysis of heat transfer through a miniature radar electronic module cooled by a phase-change reservoir is presented, illustrating the method's advantages over conventional heat sinks. 41 refs., 11 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/DP
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6380169
• Report Number(s): SAND-90-2316; ON: DE91002597
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
HEAT FLOW
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
MICROELECTRONICS
HEAT TRANSFER
PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
ALGORITHMS
ALUMINIUM
COMPUTER PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION
COOLING
ENTHALPY
FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD
FORTRAN
HEAT FLUX
HEAT SINKS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
RADAR
RECTANGULAR CONFIGURATION
CONFIGURATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ITERATIVE METHODS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
RANGE FINDERS
SINKS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
426000* - Engineering- Components
Electron Devices & Circuits- (1990-)
420400 - Engineering- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
990200 - Mathematics & Computers