Method of cooling high density electronics

The present invention deals with the diagnostic imaging arts. It finds particular application in conjunction with electronics used in nuclear cameras and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention has application in other devices that have electronics that require cooling and is not limited to the aforementioned application. A subject () is disposed adjacent a detector array () for the purposes of nuclear imaging. The subject () is injected with a radioactive isotope () and -ray emissions indicative of nuclear decay are detected at the detector array (). P-ASIC () preamplifier circuits are complex low-noise integrated circuits which dissipate a considerable amount of power (300-500 mW each). These components account for most of the dissipated power on the daughter cards (). In order to facilitate the cooling of these electrical components, they are mounted on circuit boards () that are arranged parallel to each other extending perpendicularly away from the detector array (). This provides channels between the boards through which cooling air is drawn by an array of fans ().