The cooling of electronics has emerged as a constraining problem of the new century. The challenges posed by ever-increasing computer chip heat fluxes, smaller enclosures, and stricter performance standards have made thermal management vital in microelectronic systems. To combat this problem, an undergraduate laboratory curriculum devoted to the thermal management of electronics is developed. The curriculum has two aspects. First, a laboratory including both experimental and commercial computational capabilities is developed for use in four classes taken by mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering students. Experiments focus on measurement methods, chassis impedence and fan performance, thermal resistance measurements in an air-cooled computer, heat transfer coefficient determination, liquid cooling using microchannels, and heat pipes. Second, a new elective addressing an overview of the thermal management problem, air-cooling technologies, computational design methodologies, and emerging technologies (including cooling of nano-scale devices) is developed. It includes lecture and laboratory components. The project adapts materials regarding electronics cooling from Stanford University, and University of Maryland. The project component regarding thermal management of electronics is adapted from Purdue University, University of Minnesota, UC Berkeley, and University of Reno. This project provides Mechanical Engineering students with an understanding of the basic issues in the thermal management of electronics and the design and testing of simple electronics cooling systems. The students taking the new elective enter the work force prepared to work on electronics cooling.
