How to heat sink things other than lasers?

[Apocalypse]

Hello all,

I have recently started using the benboost driver set at 1A for my M-140 445nm diode. Immediately, I noticed that the driver becomes fairly hot after a few seconds of use. The same goes for mosfets that I am using. So my question is, how do I heat sink these components so they don't overheat?

I have used thermal grease for the contacts between the heat sink and my laser diodes. However, I don't know where to find good thermal adhesives that are also non conducting (to electricity). I have also seen thermal adhesive made using epoxy glue and aluminium powder. However, wouldn't that be conductive and short circuit the driver?

Thanks!

 

[bobhaha]

Use this....

Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive

You use it basically like a 2 part epoxy, but it is thermally conductive and electrically non-conductive.

-Adrian

 

[Apocalypse]

Thanks for the response, but

NOTE: Even though Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive is specifically engineered for high electrical resistance, it should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. The cured adhesive is slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridged two close-proximity electrical paths.

I think the problem with the benboost driver I bought is that the little surfacemount components are overheating. After about 30 seconds of use the laser starts flickering and I just turn it off immediately. I feel the side with the surfacemount components and feel that it is very hot. If I let the driver cool down a bit, it then operates continuously until it heats up again. The problem with the surfacemount face is that it has a lot of exposed electrical leads and junction. Maybe the capacitance will be a problem?

 

[grainde]

Use the Arctic Aluminium then... :beer:

I have used Arctic Silver on all my builds and it works very well.... no problems with capacitance yet...!

 

[Apocalypse]

Okay, thanks for the help! I think I'll go with the arctic alumina Also, where is a good place to find tiny heat sinks for drivers?

 

[grainde]

I just cut thin strips of copper or aluminium from, what I believe is called "banding". Its basically a flattened rod of metal ie rectangular in shape with dimensions of ~2 mm thick x ~10 mm wide. You can pick these up in most hardware stores. Will look for a pic..:beer:

Edit: Ok I think its called a flat bar : Aluminium Flat Bar in Metric Sizes | Aluminium Flat Bar | Aluminium Bar

and heres one I made earlier

 

[gillza]

If I remember correctly Ben suggested to stay away from 1A with regular sized benboost. Benboost mini that incorporates onboard heatsink for the main IC can go as high as 1.7A with no overheating issues (but it appears that ben is still testing it). I have 1.2A benboost in my guidesman laser and it overheats very quick resulting in drop of current to the diode even when heatsinked. All Boost drivers behave this way, I recently built 405nm laser with microboost at 745mA, and it needs heatsinking as wel...

Look in my signature if interested...

 

[Apocalypse]

I think any of the higher power lasers require driver heatsinking tbh

 

[gillza]

Well a member here has a boost driver that is using aluminum as PCB board. So it is built on a heatsink essentially, and it is freaking expensive.... So yeah

 

[Apocalypse]

Btw, where did you find the tiny heat sinks in Guidesman 445 1267mA benboost :: 20120812_001.jpg picture by gill_za - Photobucket

 

[gillza]

Btw, where did you find the tiny heat sinks in Guidesman 445 1267mA benboost :: 20120812_001.jpg picture by gill_za - Photobucket

Aluminum Alloy Chipset Heatsinks for PC Memory Chips (8-HSK Set) - Worldwide Free Shipping - DX


My heatsink for that laser sucks honestly. I did not have an adhesive or anything at the time I was building it so. I had to fix them like in the picture, fill the cavities with thermal compound, apply a bunch of thermal compound on the driver's bottom, and fix it on top of small aheatsink adhesive layer with silicone glue... Very messy and very unefficient. I actually burned one benboost trying to heatsink it to another metal plate... so be careful. I learned my lesson and tried to avoid shorting anything in my bluray build.

 

[grainde]

Unless you have active cooling (ie a fan with air intakes) there's no point in having a finned style heatsink, as the air inside the host is static. You're better off using a chunk of Cu or Al attached with thermal epoxy to the main heatsink....:beer:

 

[gillza]

yep, these were my thoughts when I decided to fill the cavities with heatsinking compound to increase the "heatsinking" mass.

 

[Apocalypse]

Unless you have active cooling (ie a fan with air intakes) there's no point in having a finned style heatsink, as the air inside the host is static. You're better off using a chunk of Cu or Al attached with thermal epoxy to the main heatsink....:beer:

That's a very good point I will have fans moving air through the box when I'm done with it though so I'll get the finned ones. Thanks for all the help!