How does a copper heat sink work?
One of the best and most common materials used to make heat sinks is copper. Copper has a very high thermal conductivity of 400 W/mK. It is, however, heavier than aluminum and more expensive. A fan inside the computer moves air across the heat sink and out the computer.
Which is better Aluminium or copper heat sink?
As you can see in this table, copper is more conductive than aluminum. In fact, aluminum only has 60% of the thermal conductivity that copper does. That’s one point for copper….Aluminum vs. Copper: Heat Conductivity.
| Metal | Thermal Conductivity [BTU/(hr·ft⋅°F)] |
|---|---|
| Aluminum | 136 |
| Copper | 231 |
What can be used as a heat sink?
Based on this definition anything from a rectangular sheet of metal to a complex finned copper or aluminum extrusion can be used as a heat sink. In situations where there is ample space and/or the heat dissipated by the component is low an aluminum or copper plate can be used as an effective heat sink.
What makes a flat plate a heat sink?
The thermal spreading resistance (R sp) is a result of heat flowing via conduction between the contact area of the case on the surface of the flat plate and the larger heat dissipating surface area of the flat plate. Closed form equations for R sp were develop by Lee et al [1].
Can a Sintered copper heat pipe be flattened?
Flattening the Heat Pipe Typically, sintered copper heat pipes can be flattened to a maximum of between 30% to 65% of their original diameter. However, the heat pipe carrying capacity is often negatively affected. The table below shows the Q max for the most common heat pipe sizes which are round vs flattened.
Is the heat sink a fin or a pin?
The image below demonstrates both a fin (right) and a pin (left) type of heat sink. As we can see, the heat sink has a much greater surface area than the flat component to which it would be attached.