Journal of Applied Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Utilization of Passive Thermal Control Technologies for Electronics Cooling: A Brief Review

Riehl RR

Technologies that have been used for space missions have gained attention on several other applications especially for military and surveillance systems. The increase on processing speeds and needs for communications where high data rates are present have resulted in higher heat dissipation rates that require proper consideration. Depending on the project, severe limitations are presented in systems operating in ground missions, which require the use of technologies only considered before in satellites. Therefore, heat pipes and their related technologies together with the enhancement promoted by the use of nanofluids as alternative working fluids, have gained attention and have been applied on several systems with reliable results. Such applications have allowed the design of more compact systems enhancing their capabilities of heat dissipation, keeping the systems’ temperatures within the required limits established by the projects’ requirements. From heat pipes applied on radars and military communication systems to loop heat pipes being considered for several other ground applications, the use of those technologies have opened new horizons for thermal issues solutions. Since the heat dissipation rates have increased dramatically over the last years, nanofluids also requires important consideration to be made before defining them as a contribution. Based on potential applications, the objective of this work is to present a brief review on passive thermal control systems technologies that can be applied to current ground systems, considering their potential contribution on the enhancement of heat dissipation rates but also pointing some of the limitations on applying them.