Fanless design for embedded applications

Embedded systems opportunities for Intel architecture components exist in point-of sale, digital signage, and digital security surveillance, to name a few. When selecting Intel architecture, several key metrics are performance/watt, thermal design power (TDP), and fanless thermal solutions. The objective of this article is to provide readers with key reference fanless system design considerations to utilize in embedded applications. This article emphasizes analytical hand calculation for first-order approximations and provides computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation techniques to determine Intel architecture feasibility in fanless systems. Examples depicted illustrate fanless cooling design considerations for a point-of-sale system.