2019 Panel Sessions

Micro-Two-Phase Liquid Cooling Systems for Electronics

Two-phase cooling continues to gain traction in the cooling of electronics. The panel will address technical developments, special issues and concerns on two-phase cooling systems. The panel will also cover some case studies on existing and pending applications and an overview of methods and simulators for designing of two-phase cold plates and their cooling systems (thermosyphon and pump-driven systems). The panel will furthermore address the pros/cons when choosing the best working fluid for applications.

Thermal/Mechanical Management of Mobile/Computing Devices

In the last few years there has been a significant growth in computing platforms ranging from handhelds to IoT devices and everything in between. This is associated with increasingly demanding thermal management and other packaging issues ranging from low to high form factors. In products like handheld devices and mobile phones, passive dissipation is the most preferred, and sometimes, the only possible cooling solution available. A different thermal landscape is now opening with the IoT devices and other adjacent high-power areas. A panel of experts will discuss these aspects and will share their vision on the future of small to large electronics thermal management and other advanced system level cooling solutions.

Reliability Challenges in Electronic Packaging for Harsh Environment

This panel will try to answer the question of what the emerging reliability challenges are in electronic packaging for harsh environments. The increased focus on the harsh environment is due to three major trends in the automotive industry: electrification, autonomous driving and connectivity. As a consequence of these trends, the industry needs new solutions for the powertrain (e.g. a change of the powertrain type from the combustion engine to an electric engine) and the for introduction of electronic components from the consumer segment to these harsh environments (e.g. high-performance microprocessor with 1000+ solder joints and with technological node size below 20 nm).

Thermal Management in the World of IoT, PoE, and Blockchain - Where are we heading?

This panel will focus on the thermal and mechanical design aspects of the Internet of Things (IoT) related hardware and structures, Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices and systems, and cryptocurrency mining farms/facilities. State-of-the-art thermal management technologies in these applications will be explored, where the related devices and structures vary greatly in size, i.e. from micro sensors / small hand-held devices to data centers. Therefore, each application has to deal with multi scale thermal issues, namely: (i) IoT makes connection to applications, which enhance efficiency, and create new and unique services; (ii) PoE reduces the volume of power cords, leading to a lower cost and less complicated infrastructure for data centers, facilities and smart structures, nevertheless with the penalty of increased power and heat density; (iii) ever increasing energy usage of the cryptocurreny mining will increase the heat density on the data center/cryptocurrency mining farm significantly, requiring innovative thermal designs. The panelists will present their views in addressing the current challenges encountered in the related hardware design, and the future direction in these areas

Trends Towards Multi-Disciplinary Co-design for Next Generation Electronics Systems

As technology transitions into more electrified systems, the electrical, thermal, and reliability needs of these systems must be simultaneously accounted for due to the need for more power in smaller units with no loss in reliability. Unfortunately, most research has focused on solving only one technical challenge: a better heat sink, a better circuit design or a more reliable material. When thermal design is treated as a discrete step and not addressed until the end of development, systems become large, overly complex, and inefficient. This panel discusses the trend towards multi-disciplinary co-design for next generation electronics systems.