Cooling Techniques for M.2 to PCI(e) Adapters

This paper studies different cooling techniques used in the design and manufacturing process of PCI and PCIe adapter cards used to convert and install NVMe M.2 solid state drives on legacy motherboards. Since modern, high-speed solid-state drives dissipate well over 5 W during high workloads, the design of these adapters needs to take into account thermal considerations. Several cooling techniques built into the PCB are simulated and the most efficient one is determined for best overall performance.