It’s common knowledge that there’s probably nothing the iPhone can’t help a body with in the form of applications, b.k.a., apps, which are ever for sale on Apple’s music and app website, iTunes. Ranging from bold to radical, useful to mindless, and just about anything from learning how to walk on water to turning water into root beer, there’s something available for anyone who owns an iPhone.
One area that’s starting to attract more app developers is engineering tools. Recently there have been a number of additions to the iPhone portfolio that can actually do something useful and help out designers. One that comes to mind is Saelig’s Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer and power meter, which comes off as a cost-effective approach to portable test chores.
Hot, or cool, off the presses comes a heatsink-design calculator from the cooling-device gurus at Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. According to the company, the Heat Sink Design Tool app allows users to choose and deploy the most effective heatsinks for most component-level cooling concerns. They merely input the desired cooling specs and the app researches heatsinks that fit those specs. Assignable parameters include the heatsink material and dimensions plus the number and dimensions of any heat-spreading fins.
Once one enters the parameters, the app provides access to databases where either a perfect or close-match component exists. More often than not an exact or close match is available, but if no heatsink exists, users can request a free price quote at Advanced Thermal Solutions’ website.
Oh, the most important aspect of all this is that the app is free of charge and available now on iTunes. It is compatible with all iPhones, iPod touch, and the iPad. Sounds pretty cool to me, what say yee?