Getec Industrial News

April 19, 2013

Improved Heat Sink Performance for Thermal Management

Today’s electronics carry one main problem with heat. The smaller sizes of electronics may lead to a shorter life span for the item. The reason is because market expectation wants the power behind the devices to increase while the device gets smaller.

When this type of forced convection is needed, cross-cut extrusions help the thermal performance of the products. Limitations that are placed on the electronics drive up the cost of heat removal from the smaller design size.

There’s two ways that are used to improve heat transfer.

1. The heat transfer coefficient is increased
2. More surface is added and exposed

The coefficient of heat transfer serves as a measurement for the effectiveness of heat removal from the surface.

There are a few different ways that the coefficient is increased:

1. Air flow is increased. With the greater airflow, mass flow rate is also increased. This reduces the temperature of the overall exit air.
2. The crosscut of flat fins are completed in multiple short sections. The fin surface heat transfer is improved. Since there is a drop in pressure, this technique has a drawback.
3. Twists in the cross cuts of the fins also leads to reduction in heat since this curve removes molecules of air from the surface.

As aluminum heat sink manufacturers, Getec offers a full line of heat sinks. Our high performance ratios include extrusions of 35:1 on a consistent basis.