bill scheweber over at edn recently coined a piece there titled, "when software controls your cooling tactics".  the article is a good one with a basic point being: can software be your thermal management solution?  bill makes the point that when things are working fine, then yes, it can.  but when things break down, like with boeing or ford, you really can't.   you have to have done a good deal of due diligence and, if possible, create contingencies for when things will inevitably go awry. 

of course, software can and should play a role.  consider windows 8 with built in management of components when they reach a critical temperature threshold.   as a system designer, that is not your first line electronics cooling strategy, but it is a good backup if your strategy fails for some reason.  a graceful slow down or power down beats a melted system any day.  but the problem comes when not enough care is put into the design of the thermal management systems up front, with the thought that the software will sort of catch it all.  so how do you design adequately? 

you start with great measurement, collect the best data you can, then move forward from there.  make sure you have three test points (analytical, cfd and measured), check and recheck  your data, then apply an elegant and as simple solution as you can (k.i.s.s.).   as usual, we've got some resources to help so the software takes the rightful supporting role.

first, this excellent and free pre-recorded lecture from dr. robert moffat covers the challenges in thermal measurement, solutions and analysis. he spends considerable time discussing how to measure properly:  an overview of the challenges in thermal testing.

second, another very helpful webinar, this one from dr. kaveh azar (dr. azar is the ceo of advanced thermal solutions, a coolingzone sponsor) that covers the three modeling types engineers need to use to insure a best design.  this webinar spends a good amount of time on analytical methods, using basic math to really understand what a particular thermal management challenge is  "basics and options in thermal modeling".