July 3, 2013

Thermal Management Solutions for the Military

The computer needs of the military are constantly increasing. To compensate, computer companies have to evolve with the military. Computer systems used by the military are subject to the harshest conditions on earth. Due to this, computer systems built for the military have to be much tougher than systems built for civilian use.

Military computers have to be built with thermal management solutions in mind that allow them to maintain full operational ability under the harshest conditions. Luckily, the speed of processors increases every couple of years, so thermal management companies can constantly advance their technology to meet the constantly increasing needs of the military.

Heat is the main enemy of computers. Heat is the leading cause of system failures in computers. To prevent system crashes, it is important for a thermal management solutions company to design systems that push heat away from the systems, and into the open air, as soon as the heat is generated. Through the use of advanced thermal management solutions, system failures due to excessive heat can be stopped. The system failures are stopped, by expelling heat before it causes the systems to automatically shutdown to prevent damage to equipment.

Some computer systems come with built-in convection cooling systems. These systems are designed to handle civilian working conditions. These types of cooling systems are inefficient for military use; because they do not remove heat fast enough to compensate for the environments the military places them in.

A system with a conduction cooling design, or one of the new heat spreader designs being built, is perfect for use in extreme military conditions. The new heat spreader designs are being built to cool microprocessors in a variety of innovative ways. The most innovative heat spreader design is a heat spreader and heat pipe mold. This special design is perfect for independent computer systems.

The thermal boundary layer is something system builders should never forget about when they are designing systems. It is especially important for system builders to remember this if it is not possible for convection cooling to be implemented inside of a system. When air circulation is blocked due to warm air stuck between heat sink fins, it is called a thermal boundary layer.

A heat sink cannot operate at maximum efficiency while warm air is stuck in it. The warm air blockage reduces heat dissipation. Warm air blockages have the same effects on convection cooling methods as they do on heat sinks. The only way for systems to cool down, is to dissipate hot air out of systems and into the air, so these processes must be as effective as possible.