Curious how they work. Why do they look like lots of layers of fins.
In: 6
We use heatsinks to keep something that is making a lot of heat cool
The only place we really have to get heat out of an object is into the air. The rate at which a heatsink can get heat into the air is determined by how hot it is and how much air comes into contact with it. Since we want to keep the item being heat sunk cool we opt to increase the amount of air coming into contact with the heat sink
Most heatsinks will have lots of thin fins giving them a ton of surface area so more air comes in contact and carries away heat. A lot will also use a fan to ram air through which lets them use tighter spaced fins for more surface area and even more heat dissipation
Sometimes you’ll see weird little pipes in the heatsink, these are called heatpipes (we’re good at naming things). They have a little liquid that changes phase in them. When its by the heat source it boils and turns into a gas then heads up to the tips of the heatpipe where it condenses and drops off its heat right next to the fins, then it travels down the walls of the heatpipe back to the base where it boils again. This works even if the heatsink isn’t bottom down because capillary action is weird
Latest Answers