Patent ID: 7586281

Claim:
A method comprising: determining operating parameters in a system having a thermal constraint that is dependent upon a controllable performance rate of the system; further comprising optimizing the performance rate while not exceeding the thermal constraint; wherein the system includes at least one of a semiconductor device, a power transformer, a steam engine, an electric motor, a turbine, and an internal combustion engine; wherein the controllable performance rate of the system includes at least one of an output voltage, an output current, an output power, revolutions per minute, an output pressure, operations per second, calculations per second and operating frequency; and wherein the performance rate is controlled by at least one of an operating voltage level, an operating current level, an input power level, a clock rate, a thermal input flow rate, an input fuel flow rate and an input oxidizer flow rate; wherein further a natural operating frequency (f nat ) of the system operating at a maximum allowable temperature (T m ) is calculated for a current set of operating conditions including a thermal resistance (R), a thermal capacitance (C), a voltage (V), an initial temperature (T 0 ) and a power consumption (P) of the system, wherein f nat =(T m /k R) 1/α , where α is an exponent of the operating frequency (f) of the system proportional to the power consumption (P) and a system proportionality constant (k), where P=kf α .