Active Heat Sink Technology

Heat sinks are one of the most common forms of thermal management in technology machinery and even in natural systems.

Active heat sink technology.

In computers heat sinks are used to cool cpus gpus and some chipsets and ram modules. One ahst approach to enhancing current air cooled heat sink technology involves a blend of existing thermal heat sink solutions with targeted enhancements to improve the efficiency of air movement see fig. The heat sink products reflect advances in the development and commercialization of active heat sink technologies achieved as part of the darpa micro technologies for air cooled exchangers mace program. Thermacore participated in this program.

Most computers also have an additional fan installed directly above the heat sink to help properly cool the processor. Developments in active heat sink technology. The ahst designers are proposing a modular micro cooling system combining heat pipe. A heat sink also commonly spelled heatsink is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium often air or a liquid coolant where it is dissipated away from the device thereby allowing regulation of the device s temperature.

Heat sinks with these additional fans are called active heat sinks while those with the single fan are called passive heat sinks. These components are so ubiquitous that they re easy to overlook even by those who are familiar with the technology. A fan inside the computer moves air across the heat sink and out the computer.