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Air Cooled Systems & Thermal Solutions

Air cooled thermal management solutions are the most common cooling method. They are cost effective and can be a relatively straight forward to install and maintain to extend a device’s lifetime and performance. As the most well-known and widespread manner of cooling, air cooled systems can be found across all industries and in a large percentage of electronics.

Air cooled solutions range from natural convection heat sinks to advanced air flow management systems utilizing custom fans and blowers or even synthetic jet technology. These solutions can be further augmented by incorporating two phase technologies such as heat pipes or vapor chambers for better heat spreading across the passive or forced convection heat sink base.

Heat sink Design and Selection

Design factors which influence the thermal performance of a heat sink

Heat sink Design and Selection


The most common heat sink materials are aluminium alloys. Aluminium alloy 1050A has one of the higher thermal conductivity values at 229 W/m•K but is mechanically soft. Aluminium alloys 6060 and 6063 are commonly used, with thermal conductivity values of 166 and 201 W/m•K, respectively. The values depend on the temper of the alloy. Copper has around twice the conductivity of aluminium, but is three times as dense and, depending on the market, around four to six times more expensive than aluminium. Aluminium can be extruded, but copper can not. Copper heat sinks are machined and skived.  Copper is still the best material with highest conductivity for high performance applications.

Thermal resistance

Fin arrangements

Fin efficiency

Spreading resistance

Surface colour

Heat Sinks

Heat Sinks can be used on their own with appropriate interface material and mounting for a completely passive solution cooled through natural convection to the ambient air. However, more advanced systems utilize heat sinks engineered for forced convection cooling with use of a fan, blower, or airjet for more powerful cooling of higher heat loads.

Heat sinks come in a variety of constructions and choosing the correct geometry is dependent on application parameters such as air flow, flow type, environmental conditions, and available volume. Heat sinks are typically made of copper, aluminum, or a combination of materials based on project requirement. These heat sink assemblies can be fabricated in a variety of ways to best suit application needs.