Thermal analysis of piezoelectric actuators for active cooling of RF phased array radars
RF communications and radar systems present an extreme thermal management challenge. These systems are comprised of tightly packaged high wattage components requiring a controlled temperature to meet performance and reliability parameters. One approach being pursued to meet this thermal challenge is embedding piezoelectric actuators within the electronics to create synthetic air jet drives for localized cooling. U.S. Army AMRDEC is developing and testing actuator test beds to mature the concepts and develop practical solutions. This investigation attempts to model these actuators in a CFD thermal analysis program, verify the results of the models with the current test beds, and then insert the model in conceptual designs of phased array antennas. The goal of the investigation is to gain insight into the practical application of a maturing thermal management concept in a real world application. These cooling devices have achieved over 2.5 W/cm2 cooling capacity in a 1.3 cm3 package.
Active cooling substrates for thermal management of microelectronics
Heat removal in printed wiring boards (PWB) is primarily accomplished through conduction. This work presents a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device comprised of an active cooling substrate (ACS) designed and fabricated to add fluidic cooling functionality to the PWB. Thermal management is enhanced through the additional heat convection mode. Synthetic jet technology makes the compact, but easily integrated, MEMS cooling device possible. The fluid control unit, a synthetic jet, has been implemented in an epoxy-glass printed wiring board by multilayer lamination. An air reservoir is drilled through the core of printed wiring board. A flexible polymeric diaphragm and a low profile electromagnetic driver create an active pumping system to produce vibrating air jets downstream of microfluidic channels which transports heat generated by hot microelectronic components. Test heater chips have been directly die attached to the substrate. The integrated packaging system has been characterized mechanically, electrically, and thermally. Peak jet velocities of 14 m/s and average jet velocities of approximately 3 m/s have been achieved at actuator powers of 60 mW. This integrated active cooling substrate has the potential for broad applications in thermal management at the system packaging level.
The uprising of the marginalised: a socio-economic perspective of the Syrian uprising
More than three years after the outbreak of protests in a number of Arab countries, the role of socio-economic factors in these events is attracting more attention. One of the cases that needs more research is Syria. More than three years into the Syrian uprising, the socio-economic roots of the protest movement that became one of the bloodiest civil conflicts in the history of the Middle East need to be examined. While it has been observed that the Syrian uprising, contrary to some ‘Arab Spring’ countries, has been an uprising of more marginalised social groups with a strong role played by poorer segments in the society, particularly rural and rural-to-urban migrants, the socio-economic explanation for this is still underdeveloped. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of this issue by examining the political and socio-economic compromise that underlined the rule of the Ba’th party in Syria for four decades and unpacking how a combination of internal and external shifts that started in the 1990s and intensified in the 2000s led to the erosion of this compromise, providing the background to the events that began in 2011.