Report on thermal management of

electronic circuits

ABSTRACT
A heat sink’s ability to dissipate thermal energy is
determined by its thermal impedance, which is measured
in degrees C per watt (◦C/W). This thermal impedance
rating is based upon natural “convection air flow” over
the heat sink’s surface in a still air environment.
Generally, the greater the exposed surface area of the
heat sink, the lower its thermal impedance and the
greater its ability to dissipate thermal energy. However,
more surface area often means increased dimensional
size as well as cost, even for finned extrusion profiles.
A Heat Sink’s thermal rating can also be effectively
improved by increasing air flow over its exposed surface
area. Closed extrusion profiles or so called “chimney”
designs can arguably improve convection air flow verses
“open” profiles by virtue of increased convection air
velocity through the chimney. However, the most
effective means of increasing air flow is through the use
of forced air. This paper discusses the effects of forced
air flow provided by fans on the thermal impedance
ratings of heat sinks.

Why do the integrated circuits get so hot?

• Why does any machine get hot when heavily used?

Because nothing is 100% efficient. Wires have
resistance. Transistors have gate capacitance. Every
flow of electrical energy necessarily has some
inefficiency. Energy can't be destroyed, so where
does this lost electrical energy go? Heat.
• When we further try to cram as much functionality
and speed into the smallest space possible (GPUs
being at the leading edge of this endeavor), we get a
lot of heat in a small space.

What happens in an ic when it gets heated??

• Higher leakage currents: this can lead to more

heating issues and can easily result in thermal
runaway.
 • Signal to noise ratio will decrease : This can result in
a higher bit error rate, this will cause a program to
be misread and commands to be misinterpreted.
This can cause "random" operation.
• ROM memories that depend on a charged isolated
plate will be able to lose memory as temperature
increases. The thermal energy, if high enough, can
allow electrons to escape the charged conductor.
This can corrupt program memory.
• Uneven heating can make the crystalline structure of
Si break down. A normal person can experience by
putting glass through temperature shock. It will
shatter, a bit extreme, but it illustrates the point.

Methodologies of thermal management

• Heat sinks: A heat sink usually consists of a metal

structure with one or more flat surfaces to ensure
good thermal contact with the components to be
cooled, and an array of comb or fin like protrusions
to increase the surface contact with the air, and thus
the rate of heat dissipation.
 • A heat sink is sometimes used in conjunction
with a fan to increase the rate of airflow over
the heat sink. This maintains a larger
temperature gradient by replacing warmed air
faster than convection would. This is known as a
forced air system.
• Heat sinks function by efficiently
transferring thermal energy ("heat") from an
object at high temperature to a second object at
a lower temperature with a much greater heat
capacity. This rapid transfer of thermal energy
quickly brings the first object into thermal
equilibrium with the second, lowering the
temperature of the first object, fulfilling the
heat sink's role as a cooling device. Efficient
function of a heat sink relies on rapid transfer of
thermal energy from the first object to the heat
sink, and the heat sink to the second object.

CONSTRUCTION OF A HEAT SINK

• A heat sink usually consists of a base with one or

more flat surfaces and an array of comb or fin-like
 protrusions to increase the heat sink's surface area
contacting the air, and thus increasing the heat
dissipation rate. While a heat sink is a static object,
a fan often aids a heat sink by providing increased
airflow over the heat sink — thus maintaining a
larger temperature gradient by replacing the
warmed air more quickly than passive convection
achieves alone — this is known as a forced-air
system.
• Ideally, heat sinks are made from a good thermal
conductor such as silver, gold, copper,
or aluminum alloy. Copper and aluminum are among
the most-frequently used materials for this purpose
within electronic devices. Copper (401 W/(m·K) at
300 K) is significantly more expensive than aluminum
(237 W/(m·K) at 300 K) but is also roughly twice as
efficient as a thermal conductor.
• Heat sink performance (including free convection,
forced convection, liquid cooled, and any
combination thereof) is a function of material,
geometry, and overall surface heat transfer
coefficient. Generally, forced convection heat sink
thermal performance is improved by increasing the
thermal conductivity of the heat sink materials,
 increasing the surface area (usually by adding
extended surfaces, such as fins or foam metal) and
by increasing the overall area heat transfer
coefficient (usually by increase fluid velocity, such as
adding fans, pumps, etc.).
• Heat pipes: A heat pipe is a heat transfer device that
uses evaporation and condensation of a two-phase
"working fluid" or coolant to transport large
quantities of heat with a very small difference in
temperature between the hot and cold interfaces. A
typical heat pipe consists of sealed hollow tube
made of a thermoconductive metal such as copper
or aluminium, and a wick to return the working fluid
from the evaporator to the condenser. The pipe
contains both saturated liquid and vapor of a
working fluid (such as water methanol or ammonia),
all other gases being excluded.
• Fins(extended surfaces): Fins (extended surfaces) are
used to improve heat transfer. In electronic devices
with limited amount of space, the
shape/arrangement of fins must be optimized such
that the heat transfer density is maximized when the
space and the materials used for the finned surfaces
are constraints.
• Convective air cooling: This term describes device
cooling by the convection currents of the warm air
being allowed to escape the confines of the
component to be replaced by cooler air. Since warm
air normally rises, this method usually requires
venting at the top or sides of the casing to be
effective.
• High conductivity materials: In the recent years,
utilization of high-conductivity materials (inserts) are
proposed for electronic cooling and for enhancing
the heat removal from small chips to a heat sink.
Because the space occupied by high conductivity
materials together with the cost are the two
elements of major concern. Therefore, seeking for
more efficient designs of high conductivity
pathways, embedded into a heat generating body
constitutes a formidable challenge.

Use in Personal computers

• Personal computers: Due to recent technological

developments and public interest, the retail heat
sink market has reached an all time high. In the early
 2000s, CPUs were produced that emitted more and
more heat than earlier, escalating requirements for
quality cooling systems.
• Overclocking has always meant greater cooling
needs, and the inherently hotter chips meant
more concerns for the enthusiast. Efficient heat
sinks are vital to overclocked computer systems
because the higher a microprocessor's cooling
rate, the faster the computer can operate
without instability; generally, faster operation
leads to higher performance. Many companies
now compete to offer the best heat sink
for PC overclocking enthusiasts. Prominent
aftermarket heat sink manufacturers
include: Aero Cool, Foxconn, Thermalright,
Thermaltake, Swiftech, and Zalman

Use in soldering

• Temporary heat sinks were sometimes used

while soldering circuit boards, preventing excessive
heat from damaging sensitive nearby electronics. In
the simplest case, this means partially gripping a
 component using a heavy metal crocodile clip or
similar clamp. Modern semiconductor devices, which
are designed to be assembled by reflow soldering,
can usually tolerate soldering temperatures without
damage. On the other hand, electrical components
such as magnetic reed switches can malfunction if
exposed to higher powered soldering irons, so this
practice is still very much in use.

EFFECT OF FORCED AIRFLOW ON HEAT SINK

RATINGS
The primary function of a Heat Sink is to absorb thermal
energy generated by a component mounted to its
surface and then to dissipate that thermal energy into
the surrounding ambient air. For free air convection
cooling, surface area and free air flow volume are the
primary factors in the heat sinks efficiency as can be seen
by the example sited above. Increasing either or both
improves the heat sink’s efficiency and reduces its
thermal impedance accordingly.
Heat Sink surface area can be increased by adding more
fins/material to the extrusion profile, but this usually
increases size, weight and cost. Thus free air flow can be
modestly increased by design (chimney verses open
design) as well as total surface area. However, airflow
can be increased substantially by forced air from the
addition of fans.
Depending upon several factors including volumetric
considerations, fans may provide favorable performance
to cost gains. In other words, the additional cost of a fan
may be offset by the reduction in size and cost of the
heat sink and assembly. However, in higher power
applications, fans may provide the only means available
to achieve the level of power density required.

SOME PRECAUTIONS THAT SHOULD BE

CONSIDERED WHEN FANS ARE UTILIZED TO
IMPROVE THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF HEAT
SINKS
1. When forced air cooling with a fan is utilized, the air
supply should be free of any oil, grease, water or any
contaminant that can adhere to the fan blades or heat
sink fins and diminish their heat dissipation efficiency.
2. Fans come in a variety of versions. Care needs to be
taken that a fan with a life expectancy suitable for the
intended application is chosen. Generally, only ball
bearing fans should be specified if the reliability of the
SSR/Heat Sink assembly depends upon the fan’s
continuing function.
3. When forced air cooling is utilized, it is advisable to
install an over temperature cut off switch on the heat
sink that is wired in series with the SSRs input. The
temperature rating of the cutoff switch should be slightly
higher than the maximum temperature of the heat sink
during normal operation with the fan. Therefore, the
switch will remove power from the input of the SSR if the
temperature of the heat sink increases due to a failure of
the fan (or other causes).
4. Each heat sink will react differently to forced air and
the heat sink manufacturer should be consulted to
determine the improvement in thermal rating in °C/W
based upon their experience with forced air flow.

CONCLUSIONS
Forced airflow is not always required to effectively
manage the temperature of a solid state relay mounted
to a finned heat sink. The temperature can often be
maintained through normal convection airflow due to
low ambient temperatures, minimal power dissipation of
the relay, low duty cycles, or other mitigating
circumstances. However, in some cases the use of forced
airflow may provide a cost-effective means to reduce the
size of a heat sink assembly. In other cases, forced
airflow may be the only means available to effectively
manage the heat of a solid state relay due to high power
dissipation or conditions of the application’s
environment.
Regardless, it is imperative that all specifications are
reviewed and confirmed through evaluation to ensure
that the relay operates within it’s given parameters.
Failure to adhere to the relays and/or heat sinks
specifications, or to confirm the effectiveness of the
forced airflow on the performance of the assembly, can
result in failure of the SSR.