Electronic System Thermal Design for Reliability

Thermal design and analysis are important in Reliability/Availability/Maintainability R/A/M programs for electronic systems. A thermal design approach emphasizing the coupling of heat transfer theory and experiment to basic reliability considerations is illustrated here by discussing typical thermal problems on several system integration levels for a high reliability, multi-cabinet hybrid computer system. This paper emphasizes a particular attitude toward the thermal aspects of equipment design, one that is flexible in the methods of analysis, comprehensive in its treatment of each integration level in a complementary fashion, and oriented toward the goals of the R/A/M program as a whole. The examples show that conventional analytic solutions, when coupled with reliability theory and a modicum of experimental results, lead to effective thermal design.