Prof Marco Marengo, Director of the AEC, spoke at the Airi Webinar on “Models and technologies for thermal management of advanced devices with applications to digital technologies, semiconductors, energy and capital goods” on 28 June 2021.

Airi is the Italian Association for Industrial Research, founded in 1974. It is a non profit organisation which mission is to foster the co-operation between Industry and Public research in Italy and the European Union and to promote Italy-based R&D and Innovation towards the national and international dimension.

From the AIRI website:

Digital technologies are driving the global trend of introducing more and more connected devices along the production chains as well as in people’s everyday life. This trend supports the development and inclusion of integrated electronic systems. However, the need to control the device temperature within its working range, by dissipating large quantities of heat, limits the proper development of these systems.

The comprehension of heat transfer mechanisms and the possibility to predict the behaviour of thermal management systems (since the very early stages of R&D and throughout the design and engineering process) are both enabling factors to manage the complexity of the involved phenomena and to support an efficient integration of new generation devices.

The development of numerical approaches has gained a central role in R&D activities, whether through specific codes aimed for fundamental or applied research, or through the development and customization of softwares intended for industrial (process or product) design.

These numerical approaches allow for a better comprehension of the heat transfer phenomena, particularly in two-phase systems (representing an alternative to air or liquid systems), which are inspiring new technologies for heat dissipation in high power density systems. These two-phase systems aim to increase thermal management efficiency thanks to the latent heat associated with the liquid-vapour phase transition.

Advanced technologies for thermal management are crucial for many sectors, such as semiconductors, automotive, aeronautical, energy, biomedical, telecommunications and space industries.

During the webinar, some of the most recent results from research and innovation activities in this field will be presented and discussed, focusing on modeling approaches and technologies that could support the development of new devices.

At this seminar, also Dr Francesco Magaletti, former Marie Curie Research Fellow at the AEC, will present his work on Advanced modeling and numerical simulations for boiling heat transfer.

For more information , visit the AIRI website.