Heat Sink Types

To quantify the effectiveness of different types of heat sinks the volumetric heat transfer efficiency can be defined as where m is the mass flow rate through the heat sink c is the heat capacity of the fluid and t sa is the average temperature difference between the heat sink and the ambient air.

Heat sink types.

Extruded heat sinks are the most common type used today. A heat sink also commonly spelled heatsink is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium often air or a liquid coolant where it is dissipated away from the device thereby allowing regulation of the device s temperature. Let s take a look at 6 common heat sink types. The device transfers heat to the heatsink by conduction the primary mechanism of heat transfer from the heatsink is convection although radiation also has a minor influence.

A heat sink s fin style can significantly influence its ability to release thermal energy into the environment. Convection fin arrangement and the manufacturing process. Heat sinks can be categorized based on three parameters. Heat sink is an electronic component or a device of an electronic circuit which disperses heat from other components mainly from the power transistors of a circuit into the surrounding medium and cools them for improving their performance reliability and also avoids the premature failure of the components.

The drawbacks to this type of heat sink are the cost including manufacturing and ducting necessary in your system. However fin style is generally subject to the shape of the heat generating component. This means buoyance of hot air alone causes the airflow produced across the heat sink system. The majority of heat sinks are made from extruded aluminum.

Extrusions can be made into elaborate two dimensional shapes allowing them to dissipate more heat and are one of the most cost effective thermal management solutions. 1 extruded heat sinks. In some cases plastic can be used to create a folded fin heat sink. They are made by pushing hot metal through a steel die into the desired shape.

There are two distinct types of convection. Passive heat sinks dissipate thermal energy through the natural convection process. Thermal paste also called thermal compound thermal grease thermal interface material tim thermal gel heat paste heat sink compound heat sink paste or cpu grease is a thermally conductive but usually electrically insulating chemical compound which is commonly used as an interface between heat sinks and heat sources such as high power semiconductor devices. In many applications the device is an electronic component e g.

For the cooling purpose it incorporates a fan or cooling device. In computers heat sinks are used to cool cpus gpus and some chipsets and ram modules. There are a number of different ways to make heat sinks. Cpu gpu asic fet etc and the surrounding fluid is air.