Thermal characterization of compact electronic systems: a portable PC as a study case

An analysis of the thermal behavior of compact electronic systems is presented. The chosen case study is a portable PC and the analysis is performed with an experimental and a numerical approach. The temperatures of the various parts of the system were measured by thermocouples under two different working conditions. Simulations used a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. Issues involving the numerical prediction of operating temperatures are highlighted and discussed. In particular the importance of radiative exchange in the system is studied. A simple, yet effective model for the heat-pipe of the system considered is presented together with the procedure for tuning it. The influence of materials on the thermal behavior of the complete system is investigated by simulation. Considerations regarding the thermal aspects of compact electronic systems are also reported.