Application of a semi-empirical approach to the thermal design of electronic equipment

A semi-empirical approach to the thermal design of electronic equipment is presented. Although recent progress in computer technology has enabled a complex analysis to be done, it is difficult to carry out numerical studies for practical electronic equipment cabinets, which have extremely complicated boundary conditions due to the various sized components mounted in the cabinets. It has thus become important to establish an analytical model in order to apply computer simulation to the thermal design of electronic equipment. This paper reports on the semiempirical approach based on a lumped model, and experimental data of the flow resistance coefficient and heat transfer coefficient. A simulation was carried out for a photocopy machine model by using a personal computer. The proposed method is confirmed to be capable of serving thermal designers satisfactorily.