The use of organic Phase Change Materials (PCMs) encapsulated within aluminum foam structures is investigated as Heat Storage Units for transient thermal management of embedded electronics for wearable computers manufactured by Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM) process. SDM is a free form manufacturing process currently under development at Carnegie Mellon University, which consists of selective deposition and machining of layers allowing multi-material structures to be formed. One of the applications of SDM is to rapidly build electronic housings and simultaneously embed circuitry and electronics to form a rugged, compact system. Embedded electronics are specially suited for wearable computer applications, where stringent requirements in performance, functionality and custom application demand a multi-disciplinary approach within a short design cycle. A new generation of wearable computers named the Technical Information Assistant (TIA), is being currently designed, which incorporates speech recognition and simultaneous translation --all in a small envelope.
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