Not sure if this should go here or in off-topic ... and it may be old news to some, since this was announced back in 2009, but it's news to me.
I came across an article on a new heatsink material - graphite/ epoxy composite. It's almost as thermally as conductive as copper, and much more so than aluminium, but it's far lighter than either- in fact it's only 70% of the density of aluminium, and 21% of the density of copper.
Apparently it's been in use now for some time in power electronics applications, but Frosty Tech say it's starting to be developed for computer heatsinks, at first for fin material, maybe later for the whole thing.
http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=77933
http://powerelectronics.com/mag/power_g ... ks_copper/
Looks like it's got some limitations, not least that it conducts better in one plane than in others, but if they can come up with ultra-lightweight heatsinks it sounds good to me!
Cheers!
New heatsink material coming soon
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outbackyak
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b_rubenstein
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The article dates to 2005 and there are no consumer products using the technology yet.
The author of the article is employed by a manufacturer of graphite products.
Low weight is no great advantage for most computer heat sinks.
In the 5 years since the article was written, heat pipe technology had the greatest effect on heat sinks.
The author of the article is employed by a manufacturer of graphite products.
Low weight is no great advantage for most computer heat sinks.
In the 5 years since the article was written, heat pipe technology had the greatest effect on heat sinks.
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outbackyak
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- Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:00 am
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Wow, that's bizarre - I hadn't noticed the date on the long Power Electronics article was 2005 - I found it through Frosty Tech, and the article there is from mid-2009. Why would Frosty Tech be citing an article as old as that as news?
Not sure I agree with you that low weight is no great advantage in computer heatsinks though. Having just installed a Prolimatech Megahalems (no lightweight
), I'd have thought that truly light heatsinks would allow much simpler mounting methods, which would save on cost and complexity, not to mention transport and packaging costs. All other things being equal I'd rather not have the best part of a kilo of metal hanging off my motherboard.
Cheers!
Not sure I agree with you that low weight is no great advantage in computer heatsinks though. Having just installed a Prolimatech Megahalems (no lightweight
), I'd have thought that truly light heatsinks would allow much simpler mounting methods, which would save on cost and complexity, not to mention transport and packaging costs. All other things being equal I'd rather not have the best part of a kilo of metal hanging off my motherboard.Cheers!
What is most interesting about the material is that it directs the heat linearly, not equally in all directions like copper and aluminum.
Not unlike how a heat pipe works. But heat pipes have design limitations that aren't obvious to users.
I don't know how such a material might be used. But whenever something behaves qualitatively different, it creates new applications.
1. There might be a benefit to having a single long heatpipe made out of this substance than to have 6 or 8 distinct heat pipes.
2. You could bend it into shapes that are not possible with a traditional heat pipe.
3. It might be useful for normalizing heat between different heat pipes.
4. It might be useful sandwiched in between two thin layers of aluminum.
5. Or in small amounts it might be useful to affix strands or veins of it on the surface of aluminum fins.
Not unlike how a heat pipe works. But heat pipes have design limitations that aren't obvious to users.
I don't know how such a material might be used. But whenever something behaves qualitatively different, it creates new applications.
1. There might be a benefit to having a single long heatpipe made out of this substance than to have 6 or 8 distinct heat pipes.
2. You could bend it into shapes that are not possible with a traditional heat pipe.
3. It might be useful for normalizing heat between different heat pipes.
4. It might be useful sandwiched in between two thin layers of aluminum.
5. Or in small amounts it might be useful to affix strands or veins of it on the surface of aluminum fins.