Tag Archives: heatsink

The New Qpedia Thermal eMagazine is Out

Posted on June 26, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Qpedia Thermal eMagazine, Volume 7, Issue 4, has just been released and can be downloaded at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Back-Issues.

Featured articles in this issue include:

Dropwise Condensation in Vapor Chambers
Considerable attention has been devoted in the past to the evaporation process taking place in a vapor chamber. However, increased heat fluxes at the condensation end have prompted efforts to improve the condensation performance of the vapor chambers. This article presents a review of a novel method for improving the thermal performance of a vapor chamber condensing section by using special surfaces promoting dropwise condensation.

 

Heat Sink Manufacturing Using Metal Injection Molding

Using Metal Injection Molding It is only in the last few years that metal injection molding (MIM) has gained a foothold in the thermal community and its salient advantages have become more evident. The MIM process allows intricate features to be added into the heat sink design to boost thermal performance and its production process is very scalable compared with machining. Injection molding enables complex parts to be formed as easily as simple geometries, thereby allowing increased design freedom.  This article explore the merits of copper material in the MIM process.

 

Industry Developments: Thermoelectric Modules and Coolers

Thermoelectric modules (TEMs) are rugged, reliable and quiet devices that serve as heat pumps. The real heat-moving components inside TEMs are thermoelectric coolers or TECs. These are solid-state heat pumps and are designed for applications where temperature stabilization, temperature cycling, or cooling below ambient, are required. Today, TEMs are used in electro-optics applications, such as the cooling and stabilizing of laser diodes, IR detectors, cameras (charge coupled device), microprocessors, blood analyzers and optical switches. This article explores some of the latest developments in these devices.

 

Technology Review: Reducing Thermal Spreading Resistance in Heat Sinks

In this issue our spotlight is on reducing spreading resistance in heat sinks. There is much discussion about how this phenomenon can be achieved, and these patents show some of the salient features that are the focus of different inventors.

 

Cooling News featuring the latest product releases and buzz from around the electronics cooling industry.

 

Download the issue now.

 

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“Heat Sink Selection Made Easy” Free Technical Webinar on June 13

Posted on May 30, 2013 by | Leave a comment

PCB from Tellabs- smaller sige

 

Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) will present Heat Sink Selection Made Easy, a free technical webinar for engineers involved in the thermal management of electronic components. The hour-long webinar begins at 2:00 ET on Thursday, June 13.

The heat dissipation needs of todays components are more challenging than ever. Choosing the right heat sink the first time is essential. With so many application requirements and heat sink options, this can be a daunting task, but it is made easier by having an informed approach.

In this webinar, attendees will learn the importance of system airflow and its impact on heat sink design; attachment methods and how to solve thermal and mechanical design challenges; and how to make the right off-the-shelf or custom heat sink choice for your application and budget.

Presenting Heat Sink Selection Made Easy is Dr. Kaveh Azar, president, CEO and founder of Advanced Thermal Solutions. Dr. Azar is an active participant in the electronics thermal community and has served as the organizer, general chair and the keynote speaker at national and international conferences sponsored by ASME, IEEE and AIAA.

How to View the June 13th Webinar:

  • The webinar starts at 2PM ET and will be available for 24 hours, until 2PM ET Friday the 14th.
  • ATS felt that this approach would help engineers in other time zones to be able to watch the webinar.

How to Ask Questions?

  • Today’s webinar speaker, Dr. Kaveh Azar, is happy to take your questions via email.
  • Please send email to ats-hq@qats.com and write in the email’s subject, “Heat Sink Selection Webinar Question”

 

 

 

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Posted in ATS News, heat sink, Heat Sinks, How To, How to Select a Heat Sink, Webinar

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Increased Performance from High Aspect Ratio Heat Sinks

Posted on April 11, 2013 by | 1 comment

High Aspect Ratio Heat Sinks from ATSA heat sink’s aspect ratio is basically the comparison of its fin height to the distance between its fins. In typical heat sinks the aspect ratio is between 3:1 and 5:1. A high aspect ratio heat sink has taller fins with a smaller distance between them for a ratio that can be 8:1 to 16:1 or greater.

Thus, a high aspect ratio heat sink provides greater density of fins in a given footprint than a more common sink, and/or stands taller than its conventional counterpart. The great benefit from a high aspect ratio heat sink is the increased amount of heat dissipating surfaces it provides due to its additional fins. Further, these heat sinks do not occupy any more length or width. The result is a more efficient heat sink with higher performance per gram in the same footprint.

Many common heat sinks are unable to serve the needs of high volume applications, due to the fact that their cooling capacity – measured in part by the aspect ratio – is simply not great enough. By nearly doubling a heat sink’s aspect ratio the cooling performance is optimized and heat issues resolved without the need for more complex solutions.

Because high aspect ratio heat sinks are manufactured in similar fashion as conventional heat sinks, their cost is not significantly higher. They can be extruded or bonded. Fins can be straight or folded. For omnidirectional purposes a high density of pins can be used as heat spreaders in place of fins.

High aspect ratio heat sinks are often ideal thermal solutions for workstation CPUs, high performance power supplies and converters, and high-end amplifiers.

Of critical importance when using high aspect ratio heat sinks is providing sufficient airflow to carry away the radiating heat. Passive cooling, e.g. conduction and radiation may be inadequate. Convective heat transfer removes essentially all of the energy from a heat sink under forced air cooling. Particularly with dense fin fields, an improperly directed fan may create stagnation points and high pressure loss. Thermal modeling is recommended when determining the needed active cooling resources.

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Posted in Active, heat sink, heat sink design, Heat Sinks

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New maxiFLOW DC-DC Brick Heat Sinks Ideal for Military-COTS Applications

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

ATS has recently launched a new product line of maxiFLOW heat sinks, specially designed to cool DC-DC converters. The new line of heat sinks can be used with Vicor’s DC-DC converter Bricks, including their military-COTS applications.

Vicor’s Maxi, Mini, and Micro series DC-DC converters are relied upon by over eight thousand OEMs for their proven performance, broad coverage of input and output voltages, ease of mechanical mounting and thermal management flexibility. These converter modules use advanced power processing, control, and packaging technologies to provide the performance, flexibility, and ruggedness expected in a Military COTS product. High frequency ZCS/ZVS switching, advanced power semiconductor packaging, and thermal management provide high-power density with low noise and high efficiency.

maxiFLOW Heat Sink for Half Brick DC-DC Converters

 

ATS’ patented maxiFLOW technology cools millions of BGAs and other PCB components. The same technology is now available for cooling eighth, quarter, half and full brick modules, such as the Micro, Mini, and Maxi series from Vicor. Unlike other converter heat sinks, the patented maxiFLOW heat sink design reduces air pressure drop and provides greater surface area, increasing thermal performance by 30-200%.

Vicor’s Micro, Mini, and Maxi DC-DC Converters

Vicor’s offering of full, half, and quarter-brick modules feature a patented low noise design with the highest reliability and power density available. Fully encapsulated, Maxi, Mini and Micro series DC-DC converters utilize a proprietary spin fill process that assures complete, void free encapsulation making them suitable for the harshest environments. Two grades (H & M) are available with temperatures to -55°C operating and -65°C storage. H & M-Grade modules are qualified to the stringent environmental tests of MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-202 and undergo 100% Environment Stress Screening.

By combining technology from industry leaders Vicor and ATS, it can be ensured that DC-DC converters will have superior performance in the harshest environments, which is vital for military and aerospace applications.

To learn more about maxiFLOW Brick DC-DC converter heat sinks, please visit our Power Brick Heat Sink Page or email ats-hq@qats.com, or call us 781-769-2800.

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Posted in DC-DC Converter, Heat Sinks

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New Qpedia Thermal eMagazine Published!

Posted on January 28, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Qpedia Thermal eMagazine, Volume 6, Issue 11, has just been released and can be downloaded at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Back-Issues. Featured articles in this month’s issue include:

Honeycomb Heat Sinks for LEDs

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are a form of solid-state lighting. An LED light is often made of a small piece of semiconductor, an integrated optical lens used to shape its radiation pattern, and a heat sink, used to dissipate heat and maintain the semiconductor at low operating temperature. LED lights present many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size and faster switching. This article examines Ma et al’s  findings with respect to the honeycomb heat sink design employed in LEDs, which has proven to be highly efficient.

Characteristics of Thermosyphons in Thermal Management

With the increase of heat fluxes and shrinking chip sizes in electronics applications, there is a need to spread the heat from the small chip to the larger heat sink or to transport the heat to a location where there is ample space to remove the heat. Heat pipes, vapor chambers and thermosyphons have been introduced to undertake this task and, in this article, we focus on some aspects of the design of thermosyphons. The advantage of thermosyphons is that they have no capillary limit and can transport large amounts of heat over long distances.

Industry Developments: Heat Pipes Providing High Performance

Heat pipes are increasing in type and use for the benefits they provide. Because of their lower total thermal resistance, heat pipes transfer heat more efficiently and evenly than solid aluminum or copper. Heat pipes contain a small quantity of working fluid (e.g. water, acetone, nitrogen, methanol, ammonia). Learn the conclusions of a recent study that focused on the best working fluid and another study of heat pipes in outer space.

Technology Review: Cold Plates, 2010 to 2012

Qpedia continues its review of technologies developed for electronics cooling applications. We are presenting selected patents that were awarded to developers around the world to address cooling challenges. After reading the series, you will be more aware of both the historic developments and the latest breakthroughs in both product design and applications.

Cooling News featuring the latest product releases and buzz from around the electronics cooling industry.

Download the issue now.

Not a Qpedia subscriber? Subscribe Now for free at: http://www.qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Subscribe-to-Qpedia and see why over 18,000 engineers read Qpedia.

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