WHY THERMAL MANAGEMENT IS NECESSARY?
Most electronics such as power transistors, CPUs and power diodes produce a significant amount of heat which may be necessary to take into account in order to prolong these electronics’ working life and increase reliability as well.
During the operation, the electronic component’s temperature will rise until the heat produced inside the device becomes equal to the heat lost to the surroundings and the device has reached its equilibrium. This temperature may be high enough to significantly shorten the shelflife of the component or even cause the device to fail. It is in such cases that thermal management measures need to be taken.
One way of controlling the temperature of a device or circuit is to incorporate a fan or fans to increase the airflow. However, even ensuring adequate general ventilation will result in a lower operating temperature then if the circuit is in a confined space with no ventilation slots, one point which can be overlooked is that reduced atmospheric density at high altitudes leads to less effective heat transfer to the surroundings and consequent higher device operating temperatures.
So what should we do if the system of fan is not enough?
One way of limiting the operating temperature is increasing artificially the surface area. This is done by attaching a metal heat sink to the device. The choice of the heatsink is very important, cause the results depends on many factors including heatsink materials, size, conductivity, design and the adhesive to bonding it to the PCB as well. Air is a poor conductor of heat and so the interface will provide a thermal barrier that limits the efficiency of heat loss from the device. It is to overcome this effect that heat transfer compounds are used.
Heat transfer compounds are designed to fill the gap between the device and the heat sink and thus reduce the thermal resistance at the boundary between the two. This leads to faster heat loss to the heat sink and lower operating temperature for the device. Heat transfer compounds can be of various types.
In conclusion, the choice of appropriate heatsink and thermally conductive materials is somehow difficult. As a result, Pros Technology is here to help our customer solve the problems, if have any questions or requirement for thermal management, please do not hesitate to contact us through below information:
