Heat sink technology is of tremendous importance as it allows heat to dissipate and to spread through a circuit. A heat sink PCB is therefore a type of printed circuit board that helps in dissipating high surface temperatures. In fact, heat sink PCBs offer one of the best forms of thermal management. They are ideal for use in applications that generate heat. Most electronics that use heat sink PCBs, therefore, have a longer lifespan.
High power devices are known to produce heat. They however have low heat dissipation capability. Some of these devices include:
Heat build-up can cause premature failure in the device. Heat sink board, therefore, are the perfect answer.
Heat sink PCBs can act as passive heat exchangers. With heat dissipated, it leads to improved performance of the device and prevention of device failure.
What heat sinks in PCBs help to do, therefore, is to maintain the thermal stability of the device. In high-performance applications, therefore, their importance cannot be overstated. Additionally, other than heat dissipation they also provide heat during low temperatures. The generation of thermal energy, in turn, allows for the smooth functioning of the circuit.
In some applications, heat sinks help to spread heat. For example, in case of graphic processors and CPUs of computers, they come in extremely handy to spread heat.
In the absence of a heat sink, there is high risk of failure of components. Typically, in mission critical operations, this can be a huge problem.
The various types of heat sink are as below:
Such heat sinks are powered by water pumps and fans, for example, which increase the rate of heat transfer. In some systems these coolers run off the internal power supply. The moving parts of this heat sink do not make it ideal for long-term applications of PCB industrial solutions.
Unlike an active heat sink, a passive heat sink does not feature any additional products or processes. In such cases the heat dissipation takes place through the process of convection. Such heat sinks are bigger than active heat sinks.
Aluminum heat sinks are a popular choice on account of the thermal conductivity of aluminum. In such heat sinks, the heat escapes through thin metal fins. Additionally, the fact, that they aren’t too expensive, adds to their popularity.
Copper is known to be a good thermal conductor and has great heat transfer capabilities. However, heat sink PCBs made of copper are more expensive.
This type of heat sink is designed in a manner that a large number of thin plates extend outwards from the central block. They offer a high surface area and hence effectively transfer heat away from the components. Typically, such heat sinks use either die-cast or forged models.
This type of heat sink features rods or pins that extend outwards or upwards. While they work well in terms of the overall surface that they offer, they aren’t particularly known for their superior performance.
Based on the PCB manufacturing process or techniques, heat sinks can be classified as under:
This heat sink uses stamped metals. Such metals can form a certain shape. Such heat sinks work well for low-power applications.
This kind of heat sink works well for large applications. They are formed by combining separate fins to the base of the heat sink, by either brazing or thermal epoxy.
These use fine blocks of metal for manufacturing heat sinks.
These use a cold working forging process for its manufacturing.
Such heat sinks make use of compressive forces. This is particularly used in aluminum and copper heat sinks.
The machining process is used for manufacturing such heat sinks. However, since it leads to considerable metal wastage, this method is expensive.
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