thermal engineering used to be a job for thermal engineers. in large companies, or companies where thermal design is absolutely crucial, they may still have an important role. they may deploy their talents during every stage in the design process, right from analysis of the concept in order to draw up initial design specifications. however, smaller design teams may have to accept that such expertise may not be readily available.

even big companies get it wrong. the highest profile case is probably the overheating xbox 360 that cost microsoft somewhere upwards of $1bn when initial models had to be recalled in 2007.

tom gregory is the 6sigmaet product specialist at future facilities, and he commented: "they didn't release the exact reasons for the problem but i wonder if they didn't really consider how people might place the xbox. it can be quite useful, for example, if there are things stacked on top of it or if there are vents that are blocked. it was certainly an embarrassing failure."

read the full article at eureka magazine uk website.

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