Heat Sink Types: The Pros and Cons (part 1

of 2)
Posted on February 21, 2011 by | Leave a comment

At ATS we design many heat sinks. In fact, as of today, we have over 4000 different heat sink
designs in our library, plus all our off the shelf designs. Its likely we have designs that, with
minor modifications will fit any thermal challenge. But despite having over 4000+ designs in
our library, there are some very basic designs that form the basis for all the variations in the
market. In this two-part series, we want to cover these basic designs and give you the pros and
cons. At the end of our series, well have a concise cheat sheet for you for easy reference. Here in
part 1 well talk about the following heat sink types: Extruded, Stamped, Bonded Fin, and Folded
Fin.

Extruded heat sinks are the utility infielder of our industry. They are relatively inexpensive,
once a design is made the manufacturing is highly automated, and, in most cases, aluminum is
the material used. Aluminum is cheap and a relatively good thermal conductor. They are used for
most general applications, depending on the design, fin pitch and base thickness they can be low
to high performers, and, as I mentioned earlier, they are cost effective. The basic con is they are
limited in their dimensions being that they are based on an aluminum extrusion with a given
width.

Stamped heat sinks are literally made from a piece of metal being stamped out in a press. A tool
is made to the form of the heat sink, then, metal is moved through a stamping machine and the
stamp creates the heat sinks. This too is a highly automated process and, as you might guess,
once the heat sink design is complete and the prototypes OKd, then the actual production is a
relatively simple. Stamped heat sinks are generally use for low power applications since they
are typically low in performance. They are cheap, even less expensive than extruded heat sinks.

Bonded fin heat sinks are generally geared towards physically large applications that require
moderate performance. Bonded fin heat sinks are made by bonding individual fins of metal to a
base. The bonding can be done by a thermal epoxy (somewhat cost-effective) or by brazing
(expensive). The main advantage to this type of heat sink is it can be used for large applications,
such as a DC-DC Brick, or an electric welder. The main drawback is manufacturing process isnt
automated on the scale of stamped, extruded, or folded fin heat sinks, resulting in a high cost for
bonded fin.

Folded fin heat sinks are best when there is ducted air, that is, air flow is directed through a duct
of some kind directly at the heat sink. Fin pitch can be optimized in the manufacturing process
making this kind of heat sink, with ducted air flow, very high performing. Also, because the heat
sink material is folded, there can be a big increase in surface area over which heat can be
dissipated. Fold fin heat sinks have high heat flux density [1]. The drawbacks to this type of heat
sink are the cost including manufacturing and ducting necessary in your system. In some cases,
plastic can be used to create a folded fin heat sink.