Is Ambient Cooling Enough for High-Performance Applications?

When it comes to electrical thermal management, advanced technology is a double-edged sword. The applications are designed to operate faster, more powerfully, and within increasingly smaller confines. This makes them more appealing, but also poses significant challenges for implementing appropriate thermal management solutions. Such solutions need to adequately handle higher amounts of waste heat, and often have less room to do it in. With heat exchangers, however, that challenge can be met with more than satisfactory results. Using advanced ambient cooling methods that streamline the process of waste heat management, heat exchangers can give high-performance applications the cooling support they need to operate at optimal efficiency.

How ambient cooling works

Ambient cooling is the process of keeping the temperature inside of an electrical enclosure at a level just above the ambient temperature outside of it. It’s similar to allowing the open air to flow freely through the enclosure; however, doing that would expose the sensitive components inside of it to potentially harmful substances, such as dust, debris, moisture, and more. Instead, heat exchangers offer a similarly simple solution by using an eco-friendly cooling fluid to absorb and transfer heat away from the electrical components that generate it. Though not a breeze, the fluid’s flow keeps the waste heat in constant motion until it can be dissipated safely, stopping it from ever accumulating into pockets that could lead to overheating.

A variety of heat exchanger designs

Because most applications have maximum operating temperatures that are above the ambient temperatures outside of them, ambient cooling is often more than sufficient for preventing electrical overheating. However, modern technologies come in a variety of designs, many of which are unique in nature, and their optimal thermal solutions may be equally unique. Heat exchangers have been able to benefit increasingly more advanced technologies because they can be adapted to fit those technologies’ specific operating parameters. For example, depending on the application’s needs, heat exchangers can be designed as heat pipes or cold plates, making them able to fit into the tightest of spaces and still provide high-performance thermal management.

When below-ambient cooling is required

While ambient cooling is more than enough for most common applications, there are many instances when below-ambient cooling is the necessary option. Rather than turning to traditional air conditioning or air compression units to achieve it, companies can take advantage of heat exchangers that are designed specifically to achieve below-ambient cooling. Using cooling fluid that’s brought to the appropriate temperature, the more eco-friendly cooling units can keep applications at the proper temperatures with the same low-energy, low-maintenance benefits that ambient heat exchangers provide.

For more information about effective ambient cooling for high-performance applications, call Noren Thermal Solutions in Taylor, TX, at 866-936-6736.