Simulation helps solve difficult thermal challenge in tower mounted amplifier
(Product News, 30 Apr 2008 )
Thermacore used Flomerics’ Flotherm thermal simulation software to solve a challenging thermal management problem in a tower mounted amplifier (TMA) for a cellular base station. Thermal simulation showed that the heat from the 1 by 1.5 inch amplifier chips did not spread out sufficiently to utilize the full extent of the heat sink, causing the chips to overheat. The problem was addressed by adding a vapor chamber to each chip to reduce the spreading resistance and utilize the full extent of the heatsink. The simulation showed this approach reduced the temperature at the base of the heat sink to acceptable levels.
