Editorial

• Power Towers Generate 30% of U.S. Solar Power in New Califlornia Concentrated Solar Power Plant

  The largest solar power plant in the world is now online in Ivanpah Valley, CA. Ivanpah leverages proven solar thermal technology while maintaining a low environmental impact. The plant boasts 347,000 mirrors and is 4x the size of NY Central park provides energy to 140,000 homes in California. details>>

• Supplier Spotlight: Adcol, AOS Thermal Compounds, Staubli, Timtronics, DSI Ventures, TECA, Dantherm, Align Sourcing, and Tech Source

  From time to time coolingZONE likes to highlight companies from our supplier directory. What is the coolingZONE Supplier Directory you ask? Well it is the best kept secret and one of the best resources at coolingZONE. The Supplier Directory contains companies that offer both products and services targeted specifically at thermal management, heat transfer and electronics cooling. Need a heat... details>>

• Can Software Be Your Thermal Management Solution?

  There have been a couple of high profile cases of mechanical failure in mission critical applications, namely transporting people. First there was Boeings 787 dream liner then the recall of the Ford 2013 Fusion sedans and Escape crossovers due to the coolant system. From Windows, to Linux to iOS details>>

• Think Beyond the BOM to Make Energy Wise and Total Cost Reduced Thermal Management Solutions

  When engineers design thermal management systems, considerations at the architecture level can make an impact. Making choices beyond the BOM (cost and part number) can reduce energy usage per system, reduce carbon emissions overall, help our planet and reduce the cost of running the ever increasing number of data centers in the U.S. and the world. Is there any proof to support this? Yes there... details>>

• Self-Sensing Semiconductors and Smart Thermal Architecture Mean Systems Run Properly and Safely

  Darvin Edwards, a TI Fellow and writer for Electronic Design, has some great things to say about thermal design that we wanted to highlight here on coolingZONE: Despite the new lower power devices coming onto the market, the tigher packaging continues the thermal challenge; self-sensing technologies built into semiconductors help to keep system designs safe; smart engineers creating good thermal... details>>

• Aluminum and Copper Hybrid Strategies for Thermal Management

  The use of aluminum with copper is seen in IGBT applications but also in other approaches as well. We cover a quick summary of some of those developments in our article. details>>

• How to Make An Intelligent, MultiChannel, Thermocouple

  Thermocouples are generally inexpensive and useful tools for the mechanical engineer to have in their tool kit. Their proper use allows us to perform thermal analysis in a wide variety of applications. Here's some thoughts on how to make them. details>>

• coolingZONE Launches Supplier Directory to Connect Engineers Quickly With Resources

  cooilingZONE has recently launched their new supplier directory after some months of careful re-design. While the face of it remains the same to engineers who visit coolingZONE, the "engine" has been updated and reworked. The goal? To help fulfill our goal of helping engineers do their jobs faster by finding the right materials they need faster. details>>

• Heavy Metal: Metal in PCB boards Resurges

  Providing metal in PCB board gives the PCB some additional capability to dissipate heat. This is a great development given that systems are shrinking and thermal engineers need as many tools as possible to bring the best thermal management strategies to bear in a given system design. details>>

• Survey Says? National Physical Laboratory, UK wants our opinion on thermophysical property data in thermal modeling

  The U.K. National Physical Laboratory is looking for input from the Thermal Managment community on thermal modeling frequency and its important, particularly relative to the materials piece. details>>