Thermal management of CompactPCI systems

Losing your cool is not uncommon when designing CompactPCI systems with redundant configurations and/or hot swap capability. With a limited amount of space in which to provide cooling fans, and with higher-than-ever component densities on CompactPCI boards, system designers are faced with an increasingly difficult situation. In this article, Ken lists the common problems that system designers face in designing thermal management systems, and suggests solutions to each problem that will help a system keep its cool.