Heat Sink Fins Design

Fins are used to increase heat transfer area and provide a cooling effect.

Heat sink fins design.

H air film convective coefficient a exposed surface area of. Heat transfer design and engineering. A reference link has been placed below the calculator for further reading. Figure 1 shows a typical plate fin heat sink used to cool common electrical and electronic components such as leds used in lighting applications mosfet used in digital circuits and microprocessors.

There are six dimensions that would need to be determined to design an appropriate heat sink for your needs. Heat transfer by convection of a heat sink with fins calculator and equations. In computers heat sinks are used to cool cpus gpus and some chipsets and ram modules. Plate fin heat sink dimensions.

However if h a p k is greater than 1 00 the fins will insulate and prevent heat flow. A heat sink transfers the thermal energy generated by an electronic assembly or component into a cooling medium. The heat sink size calculator is based on a well established equation for estimating heat sink volume during the early stages of heat sink design. In our experience it generally estimates the overall heat sink volume within 15 of a final design.

Heat sinks are typically made of aluminum or copper and have fins or pins that work to increase the surface area of the component to expedite the heat transfer to the surrounding fluid. Heat sink design key considerations in heat sink design. The image below demonstrates both a fin right and a pin left type of heat sink.