Fabrication
Fabricated Heat Sinks
While heat sinks made from aluminum extrusions are an economical choice good for many applications, under some circumstances they are not suitable:
- Very high and/or very dense heat loads.
- High ratios of fin height to fin spacing (>10:1).
- Need to remove heat from sealed enclosures.
- A heat sink is required that can't be extruded for some reason.
- A prototype is needed for which no existing extrusion will work.
- Aluminum does not have sufficient thermal conductivity.
When other thermal dissipation techniques must be used, Tran-Tec offers fabricated heat options including:
Bonded Fin Heat Sinks - Bigger Fins for Bigger Cooling
Bonded fin heat sinks consist of a slotted baseplate with individual sheet metal fins set into the slots. With aluminum bases and fins a thermally conductive epoxy is normally used to secure the fins and improve heat flow from base to fin. Copper bases and fins can be soldered or brazed.
Folded Fin Heat Sinks - Sometimes Thinner is Better
Another air-cooled option is a folded fin heat sink. A continuous strip of thin sheet aluminum or copper is machine folded into a series of uniform flat topped and bottomed zigzags. The fin block is attached to a base with epoxy or solder.
Machined Fin Heat Sinks - An Economical Alternative
You may be working on a new product for which requires a heat sink and no existing extrusion will work, even with modification. Tran-Tec has the ability to machine prototype heat sinks from solid blocks of aluminum for testing and evaluation. Some applications require a heat sink configuration that does not lend itself to extrusion, or the volume of usage is too low to economically make a custom extrusion. Again, machining the heat sink from solid material may be a workable solution.
Spreader Bars - Dissipating Concentrated Heat
Heat spreaders move heat from a concentrated source and spread it over a larger area, in some cases using material with a higher thermal conductivity than aluminum. Copper is often a good choice, having almost twice the ability of aluminum to move heat. Tran-Tec will custom machine heat spreaders to fit your needs, and even integrate them with a heat sink.