Acoustics for Electronic Equipment

Abstract

Acoustics is the physics of sound and is a very important topic related to thermal management. Because no convective cooling device is 100% efficient, some of the energy devoted to forced convection is lost to mechanical energy as vibration and acoustic energy. Although the fundamental theory of acoustics treats vibrations and wave propagation, the subject is a multidisciplinary science. To the electronic packaging engineer, the field of acoustics must include the subjects of hearing phenomena, the human hearing mechanism, reactions of people to sounds, and the psychoacoustic criteria for noise level comfort. There is an increasing awareness and resentment of the high level of electronic equipment noise and its adverse effects such as psychological irritation. A much greater emphasis is being placed on gaining a better understanding of sound and its control. Several so-called “green specs”have emerged to define what is acceptable in emanated noise from electronic devices.