Design of Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity in Multilayer Printed Circuit Boards

Collection of low-grade waste heat for enhanced energy harvesting

“…Thus, analogous to Ref. 18, this triple function of the design suggests a synergy between the various traits of the three types of fundamental heat flux manipulation devices studied in Ref. 13 for optimal end effect.…”

“…While an analytical strategy is very effective, designs exhibiting greater complexity may require more flexible computational methods to inform the flow of heat around or through arbitrary geometries. A framework for such a numerical approach was previously outlined 16,17 and recently applied 18 to the design of an open thermal cloak with combined electro-thermal functionality for temperature regulation of heat sensitive electronics components. In this Letter, the computational tools are redirected toward the collection of low-grade waste heat for enhanced thermal energy harvesting use a thermoelectric generator (TEG).…”

Thermal Metamaterials Make it Possible to Control the Flow of Heat at Will

“…Clearly, theoretical thermotics can help to arbitrarily design thermal metamaterials, which are further useful for engineering techniques and applications, 13 say, for designing standard printed circuit boards, 14,15 daytime radiative cooling, 16 and so on.…”

Thermal Metamaterials for Heat Flow Control in Electronics

“…This core idea is explored in Ref. [28] and shown in Fig. 3, where the optimal design of anisotropic thermal conductivity in multilayer PCBs is emphasized.…”

“…Three experimental studies of circuit board prototypes that exploit basic thermal metamaterial heat flow control building blocks are then explored to convey the importance of thermal metamaterial design for enhanced heat flow control in electronics. The first case study pertains to the temperature reduction of a heat-sensitive device located in close proximity to a higher heat generating device through the informed design of a conventional multilayer PCB [28]. A second study on the collection of lowgrade waste heat for enhanced thermal energy harvesting using a PCB thermal-composite substrate is then outlined [29].…”