Editorial

• Do more efficient heat sinks have to be costlier - rethinking thermal design from system perspective

  A recent article from Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS), a thermal engineering company based in Norwood, Mass., explores the question of whether or not it is worth paying more for a higher-efficiency heat sink, which is smaller and lighter, rather than a heavier, casted or extruded heat sink that is just good enough. details>>

• Engineers from SolarX produce mobile, solar-powered refrigeration/air conditioning system

  Engineers at SolarX, a Spokane, Wash.-based company developing sustainable solutions for real world problems, created the xCOLD, a mobile refrigeration system that runs directly off solar power and can be used to cool medium-sized spaces. details>>

• Researchers developing passive cooling solutions to improve efficiency of light electric vehicles

  Researchers at Simon Fraser University (Surrey, British Columbia) in Canada are working to improve the efficiency of light electric vehicles (LEV) by creating the next generation of passive cooling solutions for battery chargers. details>>

• MIT researchers create transparent film that blocks 70 percent of incoming solar heat

  In an effort to save on energy costs from air conditioning in office and residential buildings, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. have developed a transparent film that could be applied to windows and reject as much as 70 percent of incoming solar heat. details>>

• European research project looking at reusing waste heat to boost electric vehicle range

  According to CORDIS, the information outlet for European Commission research projects, the OSEM-EV (Optimized and Systematic Energy Management in Electric Vehicles) project is studying the use of waste heat from vehicle operation to manage electric vehicle (EV) battery temperature. details>>

• University researchers join forces at workshop to explore the future of electronics

  Researchers from several U.S. universities, as well as industry partners, gathered at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ark.) for a workshop on the future of electronics hosted by the Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems (POETS). details>>

• Mechanical engineers forging a new frontier for thermal transport in nanoelectronics

  Researchers at the Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.) Materials Research Institute are studying cubic boron arsenide, which is becoming a common material of interest for researchers across the U.S., to see if it can be used for next-generation semiconductors that withstand greater levels of heat. details>>

• DARPA research project explores integrating optical signaling at the chip-level

  The PIPES (Photonics in the Package for Extreme Scalability) program from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was created to develop high-bandwidth optical signaling technologies for digital microelectronics. details>>

• German institutions establish NADINE for studying power-plant-level thermal energy storage

  German research institutes, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Stuttgart University, have agreed to work together on developing power-plant-scale energy storage systems and recently established NADINE (the National Demonstrator for Isentropic Energy Storage) to be the research infrastructure. details>>

• Researchers study evolution of alloy emissivity over time in high-temperature nuclear reactors

  Researchers from the University of Wisconsin - Madison have studied the emissivity of reactor-alloy surfaces that have been exposed to the high-temperature environments of advanced nuclear reactors, according to a report posted on Science Trends. details>>