Curious how they work. Why do they look like lots of layers of fins.
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A metal material that conducts heat very well is placed on the *Thing* that needs cooling. The material looks like a solid panel with multiple “fins” on top.
The heat travels through the panel and up into the fins making the whole thing around the same temperature. A fan blows on the fins, which cools them down via convection, and that temperature reduction travels back through the panel, which cools the *Thing* via conduction.
Alternatively, water, or some other liquid, can be used in place of a fan to cool the fins. Moving liquid utilizes conduction, which is much quicker than convection at transferring heat.
Basically, you’re moving some heat to the outside of the *Thing* so that it can be cooled down, which transfers some cooling back to the *Thing*.
A metal material that conducts heat very well is placed on the *Thing* that needs cooling. The material looks like a solid panel with multiple “fins” on top.
The heat travels through the panel and up into the fins making the whole thing around the same temperature. A fan blows on the fins, which cools them down via convection, and that temperature reduction travels back through the panel, which cools the *Thing* via conduction.
Alternatively, water, or some other liquid, can be used in place of a fan to cool the fins. Moving liquid utilizes conduction, which is much quicker than convection at transferring heat.
Basically, you’re moving some heat to the outside of the *Thing* so that it can be cooled down, which transfers some cooling back to the *Thing*.
heat can only move from hotter stuff to colder stuff for the most part. The easiest way for it to do so is by touching. The fins make the heat touch as much cold stuff as possible to get rid of it.
heat can only move from hotter stuff to colder stuff for the most part. The easiest way for it to do so is by touching. The fins make the heat touch as much cold stuff as possible to get rid of it.
heat can only move from hotter stuff to colder stuff for the most part. The easiest way for it to do so is by touching. The fins make the heat touch as much cold stuff as possible to get rid of it.
A processor can be an inch square, and puts out 100 watts of heat. The surface of it is too small to effectively cool off, so they attach a block of metal with fins. Metals conduct heat, and the fins increase the surface area so AIR can get in there and take on the heat. They also attach a fan to the fins to blow air over them to pick up the heat.
A processor can be an inch square, and puts out 100 watts of heat. The surface of it is too small to effectively cool off, so they attach a block of metal with fins. Metals conduct heat, and the fins increase the surface area so AIR can get in there and take on the heat. They also attach a fan to the fins to blow air over them to pick up the heat.
A processor can be an inch square, and puts out 100 watts of heat. The surface of it is too small to effectively cool off, so they attach a block of metal with fins. Metals conduct heat, and the fins increase the surface area so AIR can get in there and take on the heat. They also attach a fan to the fins to blow air over them to pick up the heat.
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
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
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