Aluminum Heat Sink With Copper Tube

When you find an aluminum heat sink manufacturer, what is your care?
Aluminum heat sinks play a key role in electronic components. We should understand aluminum alloy materials’ physical, It contains a lot of useful information, such as thermal conductivity. These properties are crucial for different applications across industries. and machining heat sinks significance.

Aluminum Alloy Heat Sinks Can Conduct Heat Quickly, Mainly Due To The Aluminum Alloy Materials’ Physical Properties And Unique Structural Design

High Thermal Conductivity Of Aluminum Alloys

Aluminum alloys are good thermal conductors with thermal conductivity typically between 140-200 W/(m·K). This value is lower than copper (about 380-400 W/(m·K)), but it is higher than many other materials, such as plastics and ceramics. High thermal conductivity means that aluminum alloys can quickly transfer heat from heat sources to the heat sink’s other parts, such as the chip of an electronic device, thereby achieving rapid heat dissipation.

Movement Of Free Electrons

From a microscopic perspective, there are a large number of free electrons inside aluminum alloys. These free electrons can move freely in the metal. When one end is heated, the electrons’ thermal motion intensifies and diffuses to the lower temperature area. thereby transferring heat from the high temperature area to the low temperature area. This mechanism enables aluminum alloys to conduct heat efficiently.

Specific Heat Capacity Of Aluminum Alloy

The aluminum alloy specific heat capacity is relatively high, it is about 0.89 J/(g·K). This means that when absorbing the same amount of heat, the aluminum alloy temperature rise is relatively small. In other words, aluminum alloy can absorb and conduct a large amount of heat, and without significantly increasing its own temperature, which helps to maintain the cooling system’s temperature stability.

Design Of Cooling Fins

Aluminum heat sinks are usually designed with a large number of thin and dense fins. These fins greatly increase ​​the heat sink contact with the air surface area, allowing heat to be transferred to the surrounding environment more quickly through convection and radiation. The fin shape and arrangement are optimized, it effectively improves air flow efficiency and further enhances the heat dissipation effect.

Good Contact With The Heat Source

In order to ensure that heat can be efficiently transferred from the heat source to the aluminum heat sink, there needs to be good contact between the two. We usually use thermally conductive silicone grease to fill the tiny gap between the heat source and the heat sink, reduce the thermal resistance, and thus improve the heat conduction efficiency.

When The Aluminum Heat Sink Is Completed, We Need To Machining The Aluminum Heat Sink. What Is The Function Of Aluminum Heat Sinks? Please Follow Our Steps.

Milling: we use a milling machine to mill the aluminum heat sink, remove excess material, and process the shape and main structure of the heat sink. For example, mill out the heat sink installation slots and heat dissipation holes.

Milling the mounting grooves on the heat sink and placing the copper tube, because copper has high electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity, the heat sink can achieve the heat dissipation function. The following are the functions of the copper tube in the heat sink:

Quickly Conduct Heat

The thermal conductivity of copper is about 391-400 W/(m·K), which is much higher than aluminum alloy (6063 aluminum alloy is 201-218 W/(m·K)). This means that copper can quickly conduct heat from the heat source (such as CPU, GPU, or other heat-generating components) to heat sink other parts, thereby effectively reducing the heat source temperature.

Improve Heat Dissipation Efficiency

The copper tube’s main function is to act as a heat conduction medium, which quickly transfers heat to the aluminum fins or other heat-dissipation structures. Although aluminum’s thermal conductivity is not as good as copper’s, its heat dissipation area is large, it can quickly dissipate heat through air convection. Therefore, the combination of copper tube and aluminum heat sink not only utilizes the high thermal conductivity, also takes advantage of the aluminum’s lightweight and heat dissipation area.

Reduce Thermal Resistance

In the heat sink design, the contact thermal resistance between the copper tube and the heat sink substrate is one of the key factors affecting the heat dissipation efficiency. By milling the mounting grooves and tightly mounting the copper tube, the thermal resistance can be reduced, ensure the heat can be efficiently conducted. In addition, the copper tube’s high thermal conductivity can quickly disperse the heat to avoid local overheating.

Enhance The Heat Sink Heat Capacity

Although the copper-specific heat capacity is lower than aluminum, its high thermal conductivity allows the heat sink to absorb and dissipate heat more quickly. The copper tube’s presence can increase the heat sink’s heat capacity. allowing the heat sink to absorb more heat in a short period of time, thereby reducing temperature fluctuations.

Adapt To High Heat Load Requirements

In some high heat load application scenarios (such as high-performance computers, industrial equipment, etc.), copper tubes can quickly absorb and conduct heat, ensuring the aluminum heatsink can effectively cope with the heat dissipation needs of high-power components.

Advantages Of Copper-Aluminum Combination

In modern aluminum heat sink designs, copper tubes are usually used in parts that are in direct contact with the heat source (such as the aluminum heat sink base), while the cooling fins are made of aluminum alloy. This copper-aluminum combination design not only utilizes the copper’s high thermal conductivity, but also takes advantage of the aluminum’s lightweight and easy processing, and it is an efficient heat dissipation solution.

Drilling: the aluminum heat sink drilling holes, threaded holes, or through holes. These holes are used to install the aluminum heat sink or connect other components.

If you find an aluminum heat sink manufacturer, please contact us, We will produce according to your drawings and give machining service!

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