Thermal Management

An increase in commercial flights and the moving away from government operations is resulting in a rising interest in thermal protection systems for spacecraft. This article explores different approaches with a focus on aerobraking and passive and ablative systems.

Thermal management systems could be likened to the glue holding operations together, to ensure systems can run smoothly in optimal conditions. This article explores in particular IDTechEx's research into thermal management for battery energy storage systems and electric vehicles.

Graphene and advanced coatings are two of the subject matters explored in IDTechEx's extensive portfolio of Advanced Materials and Critical Minerals research reports. This article explores some of graphene's main applications and a wide variety of advanced coating types.

BESS developers are adopting various passive and active thermal management materials and technologies to improve the safety of their Li-ion BESS technologies. By understanding the root causes and impacts of BESS failure, battery storage players and regulators can target Li-ion BESS technology development with a greater targeted purpose, putting an emphasis on safety to reduce fire and explosion risk. A key pathway to address Li-ion BESS failures could also be with large-scale fire testing (LSFT).

As AI workloads continue to scale, thermal management has become one of the most critical and costly elements of data center infrastructure. The cost analysis of server cooling components highlights an important reality: while cold plates often receive the most attention, they represent only a fraction of the total thermal system cost. The true economic picture emerges when server-level cooling is aggregated to the rack and facility level.

Rare earth magnets, advanced coatings, and aerogels, are just a few of the technologies researched and included in IDTechEx's portfolio of Advanced Materials & Critical Minerals Research Reports.

With the ever-increasing need for heat dissipation, high-performance thermal interface materials (TIMs) with higher thermal conductivity and other properties are becoming essential. Driven by this trend, a number of high-performance TIMs are emerging. This article primarily introduces the advantages and drawbacks of advanced carbon-based TIMs. However, it is worth noting that many other TIMs offer superior performance. For a holistic view of the TIM industry, please refer to IDTechEx's research report, "Thermal Interface Materials 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets and Forecasts".

Thermal management has an imperative role to play in the landscape of advancing modern technologies. This article explores applications from high-performance computing and data centers to advanced batteries in electric vehicles.

The sensitivity and unmatched performance of quantum technologies is allowing for great advancements across a number of major sectors, including sensors, computing, and communication. This article explores a few of the recent developments and applications within commercial sectors.

As of 2025, single-phase direct-to-chip (D2C) cooling remains the dominant solution for high-end GPU thermal management. However, as thermal design power (TDP) continues to climb, two-phase D2C cooling is expected to become essential, with large-scale adoption projected around 2026-2027.