Heat Sink Thermal Solutions

Wakefield Engineering offers thermal solutions for management of excess heat generated by electronic components and various systems. One such example is the Pin Fin Heat Sinks (628-65ABT3)

This particular heat sink is designed for IntelDX4™, Intel 80486DX2™, and AM486™DX2, AM486™DX4

The Basics of Heat Sinks

The overall efficiency of various heat-sink types mainly depends on the following three factors:

· material.

· surface area,

· structure or shape

Cooling capabilities relate directly to the surface area; the larger the surface area, the more heat that can be dissipated. Physical structure is yet another factor. Proper structure increases turbulent airflow which creates a more competent heat sink.

The heat-sink material is also critical. Copper, for example, has excellent cooling qualities compared to aluminum because the thermal conductivity of copper is much higher than the conductivity of aluminum. At room temperature, copper has a thermal conductivity of exactly 401 W/m-K. Aluminum is 235 W/m-K. Therefore, a heat sink made of copper dissipates more significantly more heat than a heat sink made from aluminum.

Volumetric efficiency is a technical term that may be used to compare various heat-sink technologies is, or VE. VE is the product of thermal resistance and heat-sink volume, where thermal resistance equals temperature increase per watt (degree) C/W). Heat-sink volume equals footprint area times height.

The lower the thermal resistance, the more effective a heat sink is, and the smaller the heat sink's volume (but larger surface area) the more efficient it will be. Consequently, a low volumetric efficiency number means a more efficient heat sink.

Detailed specifications are available for closer inspection for the 628-65ABT3 heat sink .