Category Archives: Uncategorized

How to Design Out Your Heat Sinks with Smart PCB Thermal Design, December 15th Webinar

We’ve got another webinar on tap, this one for next week, December 15th, 2011 at 2PM EST.  Our topic this month is, “How to Design Out Your Heat Sinks with Smart PCB Thermal Design”.

It seems like a contradiction in terms doesn’t it?  Why would a thermal management company like ATS teach you to design out your heat sinks?  Wouldn’t we be better business people if we helped you design in more heat sinks?

Well, no.  And here’s why.

At ATS, we are the leader in Innovations in Thermal Management.  And for us, those innovations have to be useful.  There are many innovations in thermal management in the market but most simply aren’t truly practical to deploy except in a lab.

Here’s the link to join our free webinar, Thursday, December 15th, 2PM EST, “How to Design Out Your Heat Sinks with Smart PCB Thermal Design”.

And, many innovations are not products. They are know how, experience and understanding of the vectors involved in todays complex thermal management problems.   And that’s why ATS’s team would teach our customer’s how to design out their heat sinks.  Because we believe in innovations in thermal management that work.   Understanding how to optimize air flow with your PCB works.  Once  your optimization is set, then buy your heat sinks (hopefully from us!).

Can’t make our webinar?  Then visit the following links to reach important resources on this topic:

Latest ATS White Paper Equips You to Accurately Estimate a Semiconductor’s Thermal Junction Temperature

junction temperature   “Junction Tempeature” was one of of the top ten keyword terms you and other of our readers used to find us this month.  So we thought a white paper covering this topic in depth would be helpful to everyone.    To download your copy of  our latest ATS White Paper just click to this link: “Estimating Junction Temperature Using JEDEC Thermal Resistances”

 

And don’t forget ATS at coolingZONE SummitRegister for ATS’s Short Course on Thermal Engineering @coolingZONE and get a $100 discount until September 9th // register for the coolingZONE Summit by September 9th and save even more, upto 40%!

eATVS-4 Temperature and Velocity Measurement Instrument


The eATVS-4TM Automatic Termperature & Velocity Scanner is a portable, 4-channel hot wire anemometer system. Useable in rack mount or desktop configurations, the eATVS-4 scanner employs patented, fast response, omni-directional sensors, which measure both temperature and velocity. This patented single-sensor technology eliminates errors introduced as a result of air flow being non-isothermal.

You can learn more about ATS’s eATVS-4 here eATVS-4

You may also contact us at 781-769-2800, email: sales.hq@qats.com or visit qats.com

Thermal Analysis embedded in your system: ATS kicks off embedded board Week

Well it’s a festive time here at Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. as we kick of Embedded  Board Week here at ATS.

As many of our readers know, an embedded board is one that is basically inside another system.  The board is effectively a component within some other firms product.  ATS’s embedded boards give OEMs the ability to use ATS’s proven technology for measuring air temperature, air velocity and air pressure in their systems.  Simply embedded one of our boards into your system and presto, you have usable ATS technology in your application.

Today we’ll talk about our lineup of embedded boards and during the week we’ll discuss applications.  ATS has three primary embedded board types:

ISD embedded board for OEM ApplicationsISD: The ISD is an analog input,  PCB-based scanner for simultaneous, high speed measurements of air velocity and temperature from two independent sensors.

ATS ISD-232 embedded board ISD-232: The ISD is a digital input,  PCB-based scanner for simultaneous, high speed measurements of air velocity and temperature from two independent sensors.

PTB-1000 OEM Embedded Board PTB-1000: The PTB-1000™ Pressure Transducer Board is a four-channel test board for measuring differential pressure where air flow integrity is critical to proper performance.

We’ll be writing about the many varied applications for these boards this week.  In the meantime, to get more information or to purchase these boards, click to our web page at qats.com, call us at 781-769-2800 or email us at sales.hq@qats.com.

What’s the best way to apply thermal paste on your Intel i7? An Overclockers.net forum discussion and ATS Thermal Labs Analysis

Overclockers.net has an informative discussion going on their forums on the best way to apply thermal paste for the Intel i7 930.   Of course, the great advice there isn’t just for the i7, it could be applied to any processor using thermal paste also known as thermal grease.

There is a lot of good, real world advice in the discussion, but the one that caught our eye the most was this quote from user, “Windfire“, they said,

I think which the method is not as important as the skill of the person who does the application.

We couldn’t agree more!  Thermal paste or thermal grease as it is more commonly known, is the best thermal interface material available.  For overclockers, labs, prototyping and small volume shops it works in the application process.  But, where that breaks down is when you have a large production team at a major EMS.  The issues that we see here at ATS with teams we work with from Celestica, Flextronics and others is:

  • inconsistent team training. So one team applies the thermal grease differently than another leading to poor thermal contact.
  • Failure to consider that thermal paste/thermal grease has a shelf life.  We see this regularly when it’s not rotated and the result is poor thermal performance.

What to do about this?  Well, use Phase Change Material, it’s got very good thermal impedance without any of the drawbacks of grease.  One of those drawbacks is long term reliability.  Thermal grease often is overestimated in its reliability.  ATS has written a white paper on this topic that our readers are welcome to download here, entitled, “Long Term Thermal Grease Reliability

As another resource for our readers, have a check on our March posting, “Thermal Interface Material Roundup“.  In that post we covered a number of thermal interface, thermal paste/thermal grease, and other providers.