Heatsink??

Alright, I've been poking around alot at this forum and even purchased some stuff to make my own blu-ray laser. I hope it succeeds. I don't have any experience, but with all of your help, I think I can do it.

But the real question is... what exactly is a heatsink?

I think I know what it does and what it is, but what exactly is it?

the only thing i can guess is that it is a piece of metal that fits around the diode that dissapates the heat? and the different size and material dissapate different amounts of heat for differently powered diodes?

and what is a cooling system, and how does it work?

thanks for any help

If there are any threads of interest that explains this, please let me know, as I have found those threads help me ALOT!!!

yes you are correct

"""Heat sinks are widely used in electronics, and have become almost essential to modern central processing units. In common use, it is a metal object brought into contact with an electronic component's hot surface [ch8212] though in most cases, a thin thermal interface material mediates between the two surfaces. Microprocessors and power handling semiconductors are examples of electronics that need a heat sink to reduce their temperature through increased thermal mass and heat dissipation (primarily by conduction and convection and to a lesser extent by radiation). Heat sinks have become almost essential to modern integrated circuits like microprocessors, DSPs, GPUs, and more.

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."""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heatsink#Heat_sinks

oooh i get it now.
I have always heard it and I kind of knew what it did, but I never really knew until now.

Thanks!!

laserdiodes, even the "high powered red" ones, arent that powerful compared to other heat-producers. after all, its just a watt heat!
the idea is to put the diode in contact to a bigger piece of metal, and that piece of metal in contact to your module-casing, flashlightbody or whatever. one watt for a good chunk of metal in contact to your hand and the outside air is absolutely no problem. if the laserdiode was by itself, only surrounded by air, it would quickly overheat, and eventually degenerate or die.
copper is the best (reasonable) metal for transferring heat, but with our modest powerlevels, alumina is perfectly fine, easier to work with, cheaper and lighter. if you have a gap between your metalparts, think about using cpu-heatsink-thermal paste too.

have a look in forums about LED-flashlights, they do nice things! cpf for example.

manuel

Also you can get a tec and put it on the heatsink for controlled cooling, you can basicly set it to any temp you want.


...lazer... ;D ;D ;D