Electronics packaging simplified radiation heat transfer analysis method

Some electronics packaging engineers choose to ignore radiation heat transfer calculation, because 1) radiation heat transfer are insignificant compared with convection and conduction; 2) to provide safety factor in thermal design; 3) building a radiation model is time consuming. These reasons are true in some cases, wrong in many others. The answer depends on the material and thermal condition. This paper studies the radiation phenomenal in electronic packaging; identifies dominating factors; presents engineering guidelines of when, where and why the radiation heat transfer can be ignored and how to use simplified radiation heat transfer method to save time and budget in certain circumstances. A few real world examples of radiation heat transfer consideration are given.