Here in the 21st Century, many households (across the U.S. and much of the developed world) have acquired and use many cool electronics gadgets, that includes the following.
PC (either Desktop or Laptop)DVD Players (some of these are portable and can be taken anywhere you go as you travel).Video Recording Equipment (for those of you that like to post videos on youtube or on your blog or website)Gaming Systems (such as the Playstation variants, Nintendo, X-Box 360, Wii, etc).High Definition TVs (which more features and greater resolution than could ever be imagined in the past)And More.We have come to depend on these electronic gadgets and appliances to enlighten, educate, entertain, comfort us and make our lives more convenient.
If we were to just look at the PC and what all we do with that hunk of electronic gear;
We communicate with friends and family or business associates (certainly through email, Social Networking sites, transmission of video through the various "IM/Chat" medium)We conduct financial transactions (we purchase products, we sell products, etc.)We download, or write and store important documents (either for personal purposes or for business purposes)We download and store music (in the form of *.mp3 files)We store photos and images that we have captured from our Digital Still Cameras (which would be very difficult to replace if lost).The point is that we have become very dependent upon your electronics.
Many of these products required a considerable investment to obtain in the first place.
Additionally, if would cost us even more to replace or repair these products.
Yet, for the amount of money that we invest in these products, it is amazing to me that we invest such little effort or money into protecting our electronics systems from damage, or in trying to extend the operating life time of these systems.
I like to say that there are "three (3) Horsemen (or mechanisms) of Destruction to your Electronics".
These three "horsemen" are
HeatElectrical Surge/Spike Events, andElectrical NoiseIn this article, we are going to talk about Heat.
We will address the "other two horsemen of destruction to your electronics" in other articles.
As we talk about Heat, we are going to discuss the following topics.
Why is Heat Considered to be one of the "Three (3) Horsemen of Destruction to Your Electronics"?What can be done to "knock Heat out of the Saddle" and extend the Operating Life of your electronics.
Heat is a terrible "destructive horseman" indeed.
First of all, all electronic gadgets and electrical systems generate heat.
There is no "getting around that".
Electrical Systems will accept electrical power (current and voltage) from the power-line (via the electrical outlet) in your home.
The electrical System will use a portion of this electrical power to do the "desired work" (e.g., to play your favorite movie on the DVD player).
All of the remaining electrical power will be dissipated as heat.
Now, heat is harmful to electronics because it accelerates the "aging" process.
The higher the ambient (or surrounding) temperatures that electronic circuitry must operate in, the shorter its operational life.
If you were to speak with an expert on Electronic Device Reliability Engineer (or Electronic Device Physicists), he/she would tell you that for every 10 degrees (Celsius) you raise the operating temperature of an electronic, you will reduce the operating life-time of that electronic device by 50%.
Heat has a huge affect on the operating life-time of electronics.
As I mentioned earlier, Heat is a prolific destroyer of electronics Unfortunately, there no way to complete isolate electronics from this formidable foe.
Electronics (as they function) generates heat.
However, there are some things that we can do to minimize the damage that heat imposes on your electronic systems.
We can remove heat from the electronic circuitry as quickly as it is created.We can try to make the electronics generate less heat than it really needs to.I will discuss each of these approaches below.
In many cases, your electronics systems have been designed (to some extent) with "heat removal" in mind.
Some of your electrical systems have little fans that operate inside them (such as your Desktop PCs, for example).
These fans blow air across the area where the electronics operate.
As the air blows through this area, it will remove the heat from the vicinity and help to keep the electronics running cool.
Other electronic systems have vents in their outer case.
The purpose of these vents are to allow for an "escape path" for heat.
On that basis, I have the following recommendations for heat removal
If one of your electrical systems have a fan, make sure that it is working. If the fan is not working, you need to make haste in getting it fixed, or your system in going to be up for donation to the eWaste repository in very short order.
Make sure that you keep books, paper, dust and other items off of the top of your electronic system (especially if the vents are on the top). If you were to have these items on top of your system such they were block the escape path for heat, then heat will start to build up in your electrical system, and the operating temperature of your electronics will start to rise.
Make sure that you have some of your appliances (like your Central Air Conditioning or Heat Pump systems) serviced.Whenever you have these products serviced by a service professional, he/she will do various things (like remove dust, debris, etc. from vents in order clear an escape path for heat).
Make sure that there is plenty of air/ventilation space between the back-end of your electronic systems (where vents are frequently located) and the wall or entertainment cabinet.
This sub-title may have some people scratching their heads.
How on earth do you "get your electronics" to generate less heat?. I'll clarify.
A given electronic system needs a certain amount of current and voltage for it to work and do the desired function (that you bought it for - like cooking your popcorn in 5 minutes).
However, this electronic system does not really need any more current than that.
In general, the amount of heat that an electrical system will generate is a function of two things.
The amount of current that is flowing through this system, andIt load impedance (or resistance) of this systemMany people will use the expression I^2XR to describe the relationship between these parameters and the amount of heat that an electrical system generates.
NOTE: In this expression:
I, represents the amount of current flowing through the electrical system, and
R, represents the load impedance (or resistance) of the electrical system, and
I^2 denotes "I raised to the 2nd Power, or "I-squared".
This expression tells us that if we were to lower I (the amount of current flowing through the electronic system) and also lower R (the load impedance of the system), then the electrical system would generate less heat.
NOTE: As we reduce current, we still need to make sure that the electrical system is getting its minimum required current and voltage for it to function and do "the desired/intended" work.
QUESTIONS:
Some of the following questions should now be "popping" in your heads.
If the electrical system requires a certain amount of current and voltage (to function) how do we lower current and still get the electrical system to function?Isn't load impedance/resistance an artifact of the system design? How can you go about changing this?The answers to these questions are "Yes, the electronic system does required a certain amount of current for it to function", and "Yes, for the most part load impedance is an artifact of the design".
However, if you do the following thing, you can lower value of the current flowing through your electrical system (to something very close to the minimum amount that it needs) and (in some cases) you can also lower the load impedance.
Use TVSS (Transient Voltage Surge Suppression) devices
TVSS components are very effective in making sure that the current and voltage levels (of the power line) never exceed a certain range.
Sometimes glitches, spike and noise events can occur in the power line, causing the voltage and current levels (within the power line) to be excessive.
Whenever this occurs, then your electrical system is going to receive more current than it really needs.
This causes the electrical system to run hotter than it really needs to.
By using the TVSS components, you eliminate this excess current (within the power line) flowing into your system.
This reduces the "I" parameter in the "I^2*R" expression.
However, this reduction in "I" (which reduces the amount of heat that the electrical system is producing) in turn reduces temperature surrounding the electronics.
There is an added bonus to all of this temperature reduction.
The Load Impedance/Resistance (within your electronic system) typically has a "positive temperature coefficient".
This means that if you were increase the ambient temperature (around the electronics contributing to this resistance) you will also increase the value of this resistance.
Conversely, if you were to lower the ambient temperature, you would lower the value of "R" (the load impedance).
Using TVSS components lowers both the values of "I" and "R", thereby significantly lowering temperature inside your electrical system.
Other articles in this series are listed below.
How to Protect Your Electronics from Electrical Surge/Spike EventsHow to Protect Your Electronics from Electrical Noise
In this article we have discussed one of the "three (3) horsemen of destruction" of your consumer electronics - HEAT.
The remaining two "horsemen of destruction" are
Electrical Surge/Spike Events, andElectrical NoiseIn this article, we have discussed the following topics.
Why is Heat so Destructive towards Electronics, andWhat can we do to "counter" Heat's destructive capabilities.Click here to learn more about a solution that will "knock all three of these horseman of electronic destruction out of their saddles".
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