Thermal management is an integral part of high-power electronic devices. The most broadly used thermal management technologies include aluminum heat sinks, heat pipe systems, and liquid cooling solutions. All these technologies have their pros and cons, and the performance, weight, price point, and many other parameters should be analyzed case-by-case depending on the application’s specification to find the best and optimal solution.
There has been a demand for new thermal management solutions due to the current trends in the electronics industry, where the power levels and particularly power densities are increasing. This is a challenge for these traditional technology solutions. Aluminum heat sinks are very cost-efficient but cannot deliver the performance required in challenging applications. Heat pipe systems perform better than aluminum heat sinks but are more complex and expensive. The development of heat pipe systems is also time-consuming and therefore affects the schedules of product development cycles. The highest performance from the power level point of view can typically be achieved with liquid cooling technologies. The drawbacks of liquid systems are the costs, maintenance, and, of course, the risks of leakage and the space needed for the complete system.
The limitations of existing technologies and current trends in high-power electronic products have been the main drivers for developing our technology platform for the needs of the rapidly growing thermal management market. CooliBlade has developed a completely new, integrated aluminum heat sink structure with exceptional performance and thermal conductivity.
Read the blog about how CooliBlade was founded
NEOcore – the highway for heat
The newly developed NEOcore technology, with the unique thermal channel inside, is the primary asset of CooliBlade’s vision to re-invent the thermal management industry. So, what is a thermal channel? The thermal channel is a heat-conducting channel integrated into a solid aluminum heat sink structure. It helps the heat generated by the heat source component to spread instantly throughout the whole heat sink structure. NEOcore minimizes the number of thermal interfaces and dramatically reduces the manufacturing cost when the structure can be realized into one single cooling module. This is a significant benefit compared to the traditional heat pipe systems built using copper heat pipes and press-fit aluminum fin structures.
CooliBlade proprietary NEOcore technology is based on a phase change phenomenon, vaporizing liquid inside the thermal channel at the evaporator next to the heat source. The vaporized liquid and heat flow up in the thermal channel, condenses back to liquid, releasing the heat, and then flows back to the evaporator zone again. There are three significant benefits in the NEOcore technology:
1) There is a direct thermal connection for heat in the component to the heat sink interface.
2) Heat moves up instantly in the thermal channel, removing the typical conduction limits of aluminum heat sinks. This minimizes △T between the heat sink’s top and bottom, and the whole structure will be used for heat dissipation.
3) Whole structure is made from aluminum, including the evaporator, thermal channel, and fins. The structure minimizes all unnecessary thermal interfaces, which can reduce the performance of the traditional heat sink solutions.
As a summary, the CooliBlade thermal channel is a three-in-one solution. It optimizes thermal conductivity in all three thermal interfaces from the hot component to air: heat source-to-thermal channel, thermal channel-to-fins, and fins-to-air.
Read the Article: 5 Reasons to Select NEOcore technology for High Power Cooling.
Find the cooling solution for your devices
Demand for thermal management in the electronics industry has increased, and the performance, size, and price demands have challenged the existing technologies. Power density and power levels are still getting higher regardless of component technologies’ performance and efficiency improvements. Design of electronics products also has other important targets, such as longer lifespan of products, as well as maintenance-free and reliable operation even in the most demanding installation places and conditions.
We are happy to bring a new, efficient, and compact thermal management solution to the market that can be applied even in the most demanding power-electronics applications. We believe that thermal channels are revolutionizing thermal management. We are ready to help you in your next-generation product development. To check the feasibility of NEOcore technology in your application, you can use our free evaluation tool to give your design specifications. We will investigate your case and send you an evaluation of thermal channel technology feasibility in a couple of days.
Janne Suhonen
CCO, CooliBlade
