Enhanced energy efficiency and reliability of telecommunication equipment with the introduction of novel air cooled thermal architectures

In the past, thermal management was an afterthought in the design process of a product owing to the fact that heat dissipation loads and densities were minute and did not adversely affect component reliability. In fact, it may be stated that, historically, the sole purpose of thermal management was to ensure component operation below a critical temperature thereby providing reliable equipment operation for a given time period. However, this mindset has evolved in recent years given current economic and energy concerns. Climate change concern owing to vast green house gas emissions, increasing fuel and electricity costs, and a general trend towards energy-efficiency awareness has promoted thermal management to the forefront of “green” innovation within the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. If one considers the fact that up to 50 percent of the energy budget of a data center is spent on cooling equipment and that two percent of the United States' annual electricity is consumed by telecommunications equipment, it becomes obvious that thermal management has a key role to play in the development of eco-sustainable solutions. This paper will provide an overview of the importance of thermal management for reliable component operation and highlight the research areas where improved energy efficiency can be achieved. Novel air-cooled thermal solutions demonstrating significant energy savings and improved reliability over existing technology will be presented including three dimensional (3D) monolithic heat sinks and vortex generators.