Technology cools rising heat wave in electronic devices, shrinks designs

Dissipating heat from electronic devices and enclosures is a constant struggle to design engineers. And Moore's Law regarding the frequent doubling of transistor/gate densities isn't helping.

Researchers in Korea have just gone commercial with a line of thermal management products that should provide designers with opportunities to pack even more functionality into new and existing products. MicroSpreaders from Celsia Technologies employ a patented micro thermofluidic design said to provide the thinnest and lightest two phase heat spreaders available.

George Myers, VP of sales & marketing, GM of the Americas and Europe at Celsia (celsiatechnologies.com), said that the company's technology can provide an "order of magnitude better heat transfer" than traditional options such as aluminum, copper, heat pipes and other materials used for cooling.

With thermal conductivity of more than 5000 W/m K, MicroSpreaders have a heat transfer capacity 25x greater than aluminum and 13x greater than copper, the two most commonly used metal heat conductors. In a given application, MicroSpreaders can increase the cooling system’s performance by 25 to 60% over alternatives. In the area of LED lighting, tests have shown that MicroSpreaders can improve the life of devices by 10-15x.

Measuring at 1.4 mm thick and weighing 25 g, the spreaders boast a 28% reduction in thickness and 33% reduction in weight over competitive products. The thin plates or tubes can be built to fit a variety of small and large devices. With no mechanical parts, the MicroSpreaders are noise and vibration free, eliminating the need to reconfigure product design to accommodate the cooling device. Within the plate or tube is an extensive network of micro channels through which pure water moves rapidly, changing from water to vapor and back to water, removing excess heat. The MicroSpreaders can be attached directly to the heat source to enhance cooling capability.

Mike Edwards, Editor,
DPN Magazine medwards@clbmedia.ca
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USEFUL SITES

Mechanical component downloads. Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instruments offers 3D CAD models of standard and custom components, as well as electromechanical devices and assemblies (sdp-si.com).

Sensors. LMI Technologies Inc., along with its DynaVision and Selcom divisions, produces true color, 2D and 3D vision sensor systems (sensorsthatsee.com).

Metric angle plates. Misumi presents an online CAD configurator and ordering system for metric custom mechanical components, including angle plates (misumiusa.com).

3D surfacing. FreeDesign Inc. has announced a free 30-day trial of FreeDimension, its 3D surfacing technology (freedesign-inc.com).
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                 DPN EXCLUSIVES

Alloy steel pull dowels. Jergens, Inc. has announced precision-ground, heat-treated alloy steel pull dowel pins in three different styles: Spiral Groove, Flat Vent or Standard Round. All Jergens pull dowels meet ASME/ANSI B18.8.2 specifications.

Feedback angle encoders. Heidenhain Corp. has introduces its expanded series of ERA 4000 angle encoders. Suitable for use on a wide range of rotary motion systems, spindles, and other motors, the ERA 4x80 version is mounted using a centering collar method.

BLDC servo amplifiers. The BX15A Series PWM servo amplifiers from Advanced Motion Controls are designed to drive brushless DC motors at a switching frequency of 26 kHz ± 15%.

Hydraulics protection. Plastalloy chip collector magnets from The Electrodyne Company Inc. capture metal filings, chips and other ferrous materials which would otherwise damage downstream hydraulic components.

      

KSB Pumps Inc. (ksb.ca) has appointed Morris Liu (right) as regional business manager based in Calgary. His main focus will be on developing business with Alberta's SAGD oilsands operations and supporting distributor Inproheat Industries Ltd. (inproheat.com) in this field. "We are responding to a growing demand for our product and services from customers in Canada's boom region," said Mike Blundell (left), national sales manager Energy and Industry for KSB in Canada.

Bell Canada (bce.ca) has announced a $1-million investment in McMaster University’s Master of Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MEEI) program over the next five years (eng.mcmaster.ca). The new partnership will focus on systems and technology development initiatives. MEEI students will work collaboratively with Bell employees to research and evaluate business breakthroughs.

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 13 + 15, 2006. Guelph + Concord, ON. Vickers-Warnick presents Risk Assessment & Prestart Health & Safety Review morning seminar (vickers-warnick.com).

November 14 + 15, 2006. Toronto + Montreal. Electromate Industrial Sales presents symposiums on nanotechnology.

November 29, 2006. Pointe-Claire, QC. The Canadian Fluid Power Association Eastern Chapter is hosting a Wine & Cheese Reception (cfpa.ca) at the Festo Inc. office.

February 4-7, 2007. New Orleans. SolidWorks World 2007 International User Conference and Exposition for mechanical design engineers (solidworks.com/registersww07).

February 13-15, 2007. Anaheim, CA. Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show with feature product pavilions on CAD/CAM/RP, contract manufacturing and enterprise technology (devicelink.com/expo/pac07).

CLICK HERE FOR MORE EVENTS
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  November 2006 DPN

 

Featuring:
• 3D content in DPN's electronic edition
• Vibration isolation on flight simulators
• Model return of the Avro Arrow
• Labor-saving CAD navigation tools
• Product lifecycle management tips

      
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DPN gratefully acknowledges HP Canada for the use of its new HP Compaq nw9440 Mobile Workstation to run the latest Mechanical CAD & Industrial Design applications and peripherals.