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How to prevent PCB from malfunctioning or performance degradation due to overheating?

In PCB design, electronic components generate heat when current passes through them, which depends on factors such as power, electrical equipment characteristics, and circuit design.

To prevent malfunctions or performance degradation, designers need to strive to create circuit boards that can be maintained within a safe temperature range. Although some circuits may operate without additional cooling, in certain situations, a combination of heat sinks, cooling fans, or multiple mechanisms may be required. Therefore, we will now focus on manufacturing practices to better control and reduce the temperature of circuit boards.

When designing a circuit board, the following issues should be considered:

1. Performance data and component size: When designing printed circuit boards, it is necessary to consider performance data and component size in order to better manage heat.

2. Main heat dissipation components: Understand which components generate more heat and determine the optimal heat dissipation mechanism, which can usually be obtained through the manufacturer's data sheet.

3. PCB size: The size of the PCB directly affects its heat dissipation performance and needs to be carefully considered.

4. PCB component materials, layout, and placement: The materials, layout, and placement of PCB components have a significant impact on heat dissipation performance.

5. Placement of peripheral devices: Reasonably arranging the position of peripheral devices can help improve the overall heat dissipation effect.

6. Application environment temperature: Consider the temperature of the application environment to ensure that the circuit board can work properly under various environmental conditions.

7. Heat dissipation: Determine the specific amount of heat that the circuit board needs to dissipate.

8. Suitable cooling method: Choose the appropriate cooling method according to actual needs, such as cooling fans, heat sinks, etc.

The best approach is to optimize the temperature at the component level based on the operating environment.

Factors to consider when determining the cooling mechanism:

Factors to consider include semiconductor performance and heat dissipation characteristics, which are typically included in the manufacturer's data sheets or technical specifications.

For PCBs, natural convection cooling is suitable for situations with low heat dissipation, while PCBs that require a large amount of heat dissipation require the use of heat sinks, heat pipes, fans, dense copper foil, or a combination of multiple cooling technologies.