Zipper fin heat sinks for military electronics thermal management introduced by ATS

April 8, 2015
NORWOOD, Mass., 8 April 2015. Advanced Thermal Solutions Inc. (ATS) in Norwood, Mass., is introducing zipper fin heat sinks for protecting electronics components from the dangers of excess heat.
NORWOOD, Mass., 8 April 2015. Advanced Thermal Solutions Inc. (ATS) in Norwood, Mass., is introducing zipper fin heat sinks for protecting electronics components from the dangers of excess heat.

The high-performance, light-weight ATS zipper fin electronics thermal management heat sinks can cool LEDs, as well as hot components in military, embedded computing, telecommunications, and data communications applications.

Zipper fins are machined from thin sheet metal -- typically aluminum or copper -- and are formed into custom shapes. The sheets are designed to interlock with a narrow space between their layers. The fin assembly is wave soldered to a metal base forming a rigid, lightweight heat sink.

The zipper fin production process yields a relatively low-cost heat sink than bonded fin designs because bonded heat sinks require more expensive tooling to manufacture. Zipper fin heat sinks also can be made in high aspect ratio fin profiles, enabling taller, thinner and more tightly packed fins for higher cooling performance.

Related: ATS presents active and passive heat sinks to cool Freescale dual-core processors

Zipper fin sinks can be designed with ducts to contain and optimize cooling airflow. This improves thermal performance, particularly with active sinks that receive airflows from fans and blowers. For many of these designs, the top surface of the heat sink also can be used as a heat spreader for hot components.

Zipper fin heat sinks allow the combined use of copper and aluminum materials. In these designs, the copper base allows for optimal heat spreading while the aluminum fins ensure the heat sink will be lightweight.

For more information contact Advanced Thermal Solutions online at www.qats.com.

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