Dr. Bahman Tavassoli of Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. gives a demonstration of a wind tunnel to Dr. Marc Hodes (left) and a group of students from Tufts University. (Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc.)
On Friday, Oct. 14, Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) welcomed Dr. Marc Hodes and a group of six mechanical engineering students from Tufts University to its Norwood, Mass. campus. The students learned about the company, its products, and took a tour of two of ATS’ four laboratories to see some of the testing equipment utilized by ATS engineers.
After a welcome from ATS founder, President and CEO Dr. Kaveh Azar, the students enjoyed a brief introduction from Marketing Director John O’Day about the company, its products, and the importance of thermal management in the design of today’s high-powered electronics.
The lab tours were led by Dr. Bahman Tavassoli, ATS Chief Technologist. First, he took the students into the Characterization Lab to demonstrate the BWT-104 open-loop wind tunnel and the CLWT-067 closed-loop wind tunnel. The students learned how ATS engineers use Candlestick sensors, thermocouples and the iQ-200 to measure air velocity, temperature, and pressure across a PCB using one system. There was also a thermVIEW Liquid Crystal Thermography unit set up, in which ATS engineers use infrared (IR) cameras to examine hot spots on a cold plate.
Students take a closer look at ATS testing equipment. (Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc.)
Dr. Tavassoli answers questions from Tufts University students. (Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc.)
The Tufts students learned more than simply how the testing processes worked. They also learned why thermal management is an important consideration in the early stages of a design. Dr. Tavassoli and Dr. Hodes spoke of their professional experiences in the field of thermal engineering and where projects had gone wrong when thermal issues were not considered in the planning stages.
Dr. Azar also joined the students in the lab to show them the wicking material being used by ATS engineers in state-of-the-art vapor chamber designs.
ATS CEO, President and founder Dr. Kaveh Azar speaks with the student from Tufts in the Characterization Lab. (Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc.)
After the Characterization Lab, the students were taken into the Electronics Lab and were given a demonstration of the Water Flow Visualization equipment. ATS engineers use the equipment to test how air will flow through a system.
The students asked numerous questions of Dr. Tavassoli to get a better idea of the important concepts of thermal engineering that were presented in the 90-minute visit to ATS. Now, the students will have the real-world applications that they saw at ATS in mind when learning the concepts of thermodynamics, thermal fluids, and more in their Tufts courses.
To learn more about Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc., visit www.qats.com or contact ATS at 781.769.2800 or ats-hq@qats.com.
Our first two posts show the benefits of air and liquid flow visualization in PCB testing. In order to successfully evaluate the thermal performance of a component and PCB, the proper test environment must exist:
