Amps
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Amps] attaching a heat spreader to a heat sink

To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] attaching a heat spreader to a heat sink
From: Manfred Mornhinweg <mmornhin@gmx.net>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 10:45:55 -0400
List-post: <mailto:amps@contesting.com>
Hi guys,

with all that talk about heat spreader to heatsink mounting here, I 
can't help but wonder about how nonsensical it is to make such an 
copper-to-aluminium sandwich! Why not make the entire heat sink from 
copper? Then you don't need an extra copper heat spreader, and if you 
make the heatsink from several pieces, you can solder them together. 
While solder isn't as great a heat conductor as copper is, it's still 
waaaaaaay better than thermal transfer grease!  So much so, that a 
soldered joint of two totally unfinished, rough copper surfaces is lots 
better than a joint assembled with thermal grease, between finely lapped 
surfaces!

You may jump at me and say that copper is too expensive or too heavy. 
Yes, copper is almost three times as expensive as aluminium (per 
weight), and almost three times heavier. But it also conducts heat two 
times better than pure, soft aluminium, , and three times better than 
the aluminium alloy usually employed for extruding heat sinks!

So, a correctly designed copper heat sink will weigh the same as an 
aluminium heatsink of the same thermal capacity, and it will be a tad 
more compact. The only downside is taht it will still cost almost three 
times as much for the raw material. But is that significant? A heatsink 
for a legal limit solid state amp might cost about 10 dollars in copper! 
  I think this is peanuts, compared to the cost of the transistors, and 
considering the advantages it provides!

When I need large heatsinks for high power devices, I buy copper sheet 
in two thicknesses: One might be 6 to 10mm and is used for the base 
plate (acting as spreader), while the other is 0.5 to 1mm thick and is 
used for the fins. I bend the fins into a tall L shape, with the 
horizontal part of the L very small, and that small L base is the 
contact surface for the fin. I thoroughly tin one side of the thick 
copper plate, and the bottom of each L, then I place all the fins on the 
plate, put a silicone rubber wall around the plate to avoid the solder 
flowing out, and then I heat the whole affair so it solders together.

The product of this exercise doesn't look particularly beautiful, but 
has excellent thermal performance, and costs a lot less than a 
commercial aluminium heat sink plus copper heat spreader plus lapping 
work plus thermal grease plus bolts!

Before you ask: OF COURSE, you need a blowtorch for this work. It's a 
bit beyond the operational range of your 15 Watt SMD soldering iron! :-)

The second last photo on this web page shows one such heatsink:

http://ludens.cl/Electron/fmtx/fmtx.html


Manfred.
----------------------------
Visit my hobby website!
http://ludens.cl
----------------------------
_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>