When to Use Copper and LED Heatsinks

Understanding the physics behind functionality of heatsinks helps determine the engineering and design elements that govern the quality of a heatsink. Materials affect the efficiency of heatsinks. Air has low thermal conductivity. That explains why air cannot be blown past a central processing unit (CPU) for performance-grade cooling achievement. 

Copper makes an excellent heatsink material in many situations. It has the best potential for conductive heat transfer. Copper allows heat to transfer quickly. For that reason, applications that require quick heat transfer utilize the metal. An example of such an application is found in copper heatsinks.

Searching for copper heatsinks, that utilize copper fins and copper heat pipe structures is commendable. Copper fins are not a necessity, but copper heat pipes are highly recommended. Some manufacturers use aesthetic materials such as nickel plating to cover up copper. Appearance does not always define the material used in copper heatsinks.

LEDs are used in many applications such as automotive, industrial, and household lighting. LED applications present thermal challenges because of cost restrictions, complex environment, dissipation, and small size. The small size allows LEDs to be clustered together to produce more or brighter light. Transferring heat from LEDs into heatsinks is extremely important.

LED heatsinks are manufactured to be compatible with specific LED components. The material used in LED heatsinks is light weight aluminum. Radial-fin geometry optimizes natural convection. LED heatsinks are easily mounted with standard hardware. The level of performance and size are matched to the specific requirements of the purchaser.

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Benefits of the Technology of Heat Pipes

Enclosures, having no moving parts other than air circulating fans, are efficiently and effectively cooled by the technology of heatpipes. Applications requiring sealed enclosures, but having limited power supplies, are highly suitable for heat pipes.

Heatpipes consist of sealed tubes fitted with external fins made of aluminum to improve the transfer of heat. After evacuating air from heat pipes, small amounts of a refrigerant fill the heatpipes. The refrigerant exhibits characteristics that are suitable at an ambient temperature.

The refrigerant begins as a liquid near the bottom of the tube. Hot air, coming from the enclosure, blows over the section at the bottom. As the liquid evaporates, it absorbs heat and rises to the section near the top of the tube. The air that surrounds the bottom is cooled. The section of tube at the top has cooler outside air exposure that causes the vapor to condense and return to liquid form. Vapor emits heat that warms the section of the tube near the top. The aluminum fins transfer the heat to the air outside the tube. Condensation causes the liquid to flow to the bottom where the process is repeated.

Heatpipes use no power. The hot air in the enclosure provides energy for operation. Overall efficiency is improved when small air circulation fans draw warm air from the enclosure, pass it over finned tubes, and return cool air to the enclosure. Ambient air is blown over the end of the heat pipes that are hot, by external fans to increase the heat removal rate. Less than 60 watts of power are required to allow heat exchange operation, having a 10ᵒ F differential, that can remove 400 watts of enclosure heat.

Because there are no moving parts that will fail, the heat exchange is entirely static. Only small circulating fans produce any noise. That characteristic makes heatpipe technology excellent for noise sensitive areas.

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