Cooling of a 32 inch plasma display monitor

The development of the cooling design of a 32-inch plasma display monitor for consumer use is described. Two distinct challenges were met. First: abandon the use of fan cooling while coping with a 3-fold energy density increase. Second: meet a strict timing schedule of market introduction. Different thermal design methodologies were used in the different product development phases to meet these challenges, resulting in a successful market introduction and an EISA award for best plasma TV 2001-2002. Cooling the monitor was not a case of identifying and eliminating a single problem cause, but rather an exercise of systematic risk assessment and follow up in the entire development tract. Essential for this complex cooling job were the use of CFD, transferring the geometry directly from the CAD database, careful determination of measurement conditions and a measurement plan, and continuous measurements on prototypes of increasing complexity, starting as early as possible.