A great many electronic products are designed every year in different sectors. Today’s electronic systems are much more complex and powerful than they used to be even compared to a decade ago. Designing such products has also become complex, involving many people and specialties. Inside design teams, there are electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, system engineers, industrial design, product managers, technicians and managers, to name a few. Each of these team members take care one aspect of the system being designed.
These days, thermal design is one area of product design in all electronic systems. Without a proper thermal design, any system can have many problems, including overheating, malfunction and short life. That is why
thermal engineers are also part of almost any product design team these days.
The job of the thermal engineer is basically to see where power (which mean heat) is being produced inside systems and, given that knowledge, to make sure that heat is dissipated to the environment without causing overheating in any part of the system. Also, the job of the thermal engineer is to determine if the overall heat or power dissipation inside a system is more than the system can handle, and which may necessitate limiting that power through software or hardware applications.
Many companies rely on dedicated thermal engineers to do such crucial
thermal engineering tasks. However, others rely on highly skilled thermal consultants to do the job quickly and cost-effectively.
One common issue in thermal design is the issue of Thermal Interface. By thermal interface, we mean the interface between two mating solid surfaces. Although these interfaces are of the order of a few microns in thickness, they are nevertheless discontinuities between two continuous bodies. Inside that discontinuity is air, which is a poor conductor of heat. Because of that air body, when one side dissipates power, the heat cannot flow from that side to the other that easily. This causes one side, the power side, to overheat. This is usually mitigated by putting a soft interface material that forms a bridge between the two mating surfaces. That soft material is called thermal interface material. This is one area where thermal engineers spend a great deal of time to make sure they have one and the proper thermal interface material.
Thermal Design Solutions is a consulting firm that helps various companies in thermal design of electronic systems, including with
thermal interface materials. If you are looking for a thermal consultant or to learn more about us, please call us or send email to
info@thermalds.com. You may also visit our website by clicking here:
https://www.thermalds.com/ 
