Category Archives: Heat Sink Attach

ATS maxiGRIP is flame retardent and our engineers prove it on video!

Posted on May 19, 2010 by | Leave a comment

From time to time ATS engineers are asked if maxiGRIP, our patented heat sink attach technology that allow phase change interface material to be properly used, can resist  high heat.

Would ATS design something that didn’t pass every possible, necessary rating – never.  We can’t bring ourselves to design it poorly.  We know that thermal management is not just an afterthought and that it can make or break a system performance.

So, to prove our point, we’ve produced this short video on maxiGRIP and a simple flame test.  It’s a simple video of what happens when you use heat stress maxiGRIP.  Enjoy!  I think you can guess the outcome: .

Click to our link to buy your own heatsinks with maxiGRIP by visiting our maxiFLOW/maxiGRIP product page at qats.com

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Mentor Grapics Webinar: Heat Sink 201 – Even More About Heatsink Design; 5/19 & 5/20 11AM taught by Dr. John Parry, CEng

Posted on May 11, 2010 by | 1 comment

Another great webinar is coming up on how to design a heat sink. This time it’s sponsored by Mentor Graphics and taught by Dr. John Parry. Entitled, “Heat Sink 201 – Even More About Heatsink Design” You can register to attend either on 5/19 or on 5/20 at 11AM.

Mentor provides a description of their course:

In this webinar we will discuss how manufacturer’s data is obtained, and why this may not be applicable for use in design by showing a simple example of how a heatsink interacts locally with the surrounding airflow.

We will illustrate why heatsinks are not as simple to use as they first appear, and why they should be designed for a particular application. We will also talk more about the myths surrounding heatsinks and their application, and give some practical advice concerning heatsink design and attachment. The presentation will conclude by looking at different optimization strategies for heatsink design.

At ATS we couldn’t agree more. This is a terrific topic. As we’ve noted in past posts here, such as our post, “The Fallacy of the Drop-In Replacement Heat Sink” a heat sink is not necessarily a heat sink. And the published data isn’t always accurate.

There are a number of vectors of influence in heat sink design and application. For example, the TIM (thermal interface material) and attachment method can have dramatic effects on the thermal efficiency. In our testing here in ATS’s Thermal Labs, we’ve found that a simple straight fin heat sink can have a significantly better thermal performance when a proper attachment method and phase change material TIM are used.

You can register for Mentor Graphics webinar at the following link: “Heat Sink 201 – even more about heat sink design“.

Should you find you need help designing your next generation heat sink or thermal management solution ATS’s world class design team, deep CFD capability and Tier 1 class thermal development lab can lend you a hand. Click through to learn more about ATS Thermal Management Design Consulting Services or tell us a bit about your project through our on-line project submission: Thermal Design On-Line Project Request.

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Posted in heat sink, Heat Sink Attach, Heat Sinks, Thermal Interface Material, Webinar

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Does thermal grease used for heat sinks have a long term reliability risk? An ATS Thermal Labs White Paper

Posted on April 30, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Thermal Grease used as thermal interface material for heat sinks is perhaps the best material today. It’s relatively cost effective and just plain works. But, as in all thermal management products, it’s not perfect and there are drawbacks that have to be considered.

In ATS Thermal Labs latest white paper, we talk about those drawbacks an in particular if there are issues of long term reliability in using thermal grease as a thermal interface material. The implications are very important as they will affect your electronic equipments MTBF. You can get a copy by clicking to this link, “Long Term Thermal Grease Reliability“

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Posted in clip, Grease, heat sink, Heat Sink Attach, heat sink clip, Heat Sinks, Thermal Grease, Thermal Interface Material

Intel Gulftown CPU gets a new heat sink, heat pipe, and fan cooling system

Posted on April 29, 2010 by | 2 comments

Intel’s release of it’s Core i7-980x Extreme 6-Core will surely “heat up” the cpu market. It’s hot at 130W and it’s fast. You can check out a review of Gulftown at Hot Hardware here. But what about cooling it?

Cooling 130W CPU is like any other hot semicondutor. You have to ask yourself the basic questions:

  • What maximum heat sink height can you have?
  • What maximum heat sink length can you have?
  • What maximum heat sink width can you have?
  • What is your component length?
  • What is your component width?
  • What is your available airflow velocity?
  • What is the power dissipation?

Having that data you can begin to figure out how to specify the right heat sink. A small system (like a 1u rack mount server) requires a different approach than a cabinet or deskside type of chassis.

In the case of Intel they’ve chosen to suggest their new cooler which is really a fin based heat sink, heat pipe and fan. Put those three together and you have a cooling system. We’ve done a little article on how these gigantic cooling systems work here at heatsinks.wordpress.com; just click to our article here.

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Posted in heat pipe, heat sink, Heat Sink Attach, Heat Sinks, Intel

Tony Koryban Mail Bag Archives: Attaching a heat sink to an RF amplifier properly

Posted on April 23, 2010 by | 26 comments

Heat sink attachment is as important as the heat sink itself.  That’s one reason why ATS invented maxiGRIP and superGRIP heat sink attachment.  But what about RF devices?  Well, Tony Koryban got just such a question in his mailbag:

Dear Doggone Thermal Guy,?

I have an RF amplifier device which operates fairly inefficiently. Only about 1/3 of the power it takes in goes out as RF . The rest is dissipated as heat (5 watts).?? The figure below shows an arrangement recommended by the RF amplifier vendor to insure that the chip is well-connected to the heat sink. The heat sink is mounted on the side of the board opposite the device. To get an adequate thermal path, the vendor recommends a “pedestal” or pin, which is press fit into the sink, and soldered to the backside of the device (the device has a metal backside plate for this purpose).?

Some of our circuit designers have tried this approach, but using a “solder plug” instead of a pin/pedestal.? This seems to work, but our manufacturing group says it is hard to manufacture. I can see why, since it must take a bit of work to fill a 1/8 inch diameter hole full of solder.? Other designers say that simply stitching the front and back planes of the circuit with a dense pack of vias will be enough.?

Do you have any recommendations? We want to make sure that the heat sink is well-connected, but also that the board design is manufacturable.?

Murky in Albuquerque?

How would you solve this problem?   Tony Koryban has an idea or two, and you can learn his approach by clicking over to:  “Tony Koryban Mailbag Archives”

P.S., don’t tell Tony we said this but you can see him, in person, at
Cooling Zone 2010

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Posted in heat sink, Heat Sink Attach, Heat Sinks, RF