As far as thicker vs thinner of course you're correct - the heat will leave thinner areas quicker.Stone Dude wrote:you're right, but with metals like aluminum that conduct heat extremely well, the heat will leave the thinner areas faster because it can move through it quicker. That's what I remember at least. But you're right on the surface area, I forgot about that entirely.szw21 wrote:Cam a comment on this - my understanding is that the fins serve to increase cooling efficiency by increasing the contact area with the surrounding air - if you take the fins and imagine them flattened you can see that if you add the vertical area sections they are a lot more than the flat area of the chip on which the heat sinks are sitting and that increases heat transfer. So for the chip example at least that is the purpose of the fins - not that all the heat transfers better out of the ends of the fins.Stone Dude wrote:
those finned covers inside computer components?
Same concept with other finned components such as radiators, ac condensers and evaporators etc.
Regarding the heat sinks for chips - there is actually a science behind the whole thing and a method for calculating the correct heat sink size using thermal resistance parameters. i used to know how to do this at one one time when I used to design a lot more analog circuitry but that was a while back.
I'm guessing there are similar techniques used by those designing HVAC components etc.
