Two new phase change thermal interface materials provide a clean and effective alternative to messy thermal grease.
Two new phase change thermal interface materials provide a clean and effective alternative to messy thermal grease. Thermflow T454 and T506 consist of an electrically nonconductive dry film that softens at device operating temperatures to provide a thin, thermally efficient interface between a component and heatsink or other heat-dissipating surface. T454 has a thickness of 0.13mm and is designed for use in applications where the mating parts have smooth surfaces.

T506 is 0.25mm thick and is suited to applications with larger surface areas or poor flatness.

Both materials are free films with no carrier; this helps to ensure a minimum thickness bond line and maximum thermal performance.

Thermflow T454 and T506 have a phase change temperature of just 43C, this is particularly beneficial in applications where components do not reach the higher phase change temperatures of between 50 and 58C associated with some competing materials.

Optimum thermal performance is achieved under clip or fastener pressures between 34 and 414kPa.

Parts are carried on a clear liner and supplied in roll format either kiss-cut or in a continuous format.

The materials also have a top blue liner that can be easily removed by means of a pull-tab once the pad is in place on the device or heatsink.

Both standard and custom shapes are available.

Chomerics Europe has appointed a new Territory Sales Manager to support its operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Chomerics Europe has appointed a new Territory Sales Manager to support its operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 44-year-old Volker Polerowicz joins Chomerics with a broad range of experience gained in the European electronics market. Polerowicz, who lives near Stuttgart, Germany, has previously held sales roles within companies that produce test and measurement instrumentation, these include Aeroflex (formerly IFR and Marconi Instruments) and Anritsu.

In his new role he will be responsible for securing design-in business for Chomerics comprehensive range of shielding and thermal management products.

He will pay particular attention to some of the company’s leading edge products that include: Premier conductive plastic, Ecoplate and Therm-A-Gap T630 form-in-place thermal gap fillers.

Over the years, Polerowicz has built-up strong relationships with numerous key companies that have either their global headquarters or major operations within Northern Europe.

These include: Siemens, Motorola, Nokia and Nortel in the telecomms sector, plus automotive OEMs including Opel and Daimler Chrysler.

Cooling electronics and telecommunications equipment can be done efficiently without any ingress of external contaminants and without any active cooling using an Encooler from SPC.
Cooling electronics and telecommunications equipment can be done efficiently without any ingress of external contaminants and without any active cooling using an Encooler from SPC. The Encooler uses heat pipe technology to provide high performance passive cooling, maintaining a steady internal temperature while also maintaining the electronics enclosure’s seal against dust and moisture. An Encooler achieves high heat-transfer rates entirely by internal fan-powered air circulation.

The heat pipe technology removes heat from the enclosed equipment by passive means.

A phase-change liquid within the heat pipe absorbs heat energy and evaporates when warm air in the enclosure passes across the fins that surround it.

This air is therefore cooled within the enclosure.

The vapour rises within the pipe to an external chamber where cooler ambient air causes it to condense and dissipate its energy to the surrounding air.

The continuous cycle of evaporation and condensation within the sealed heat pipe maintains a steady internal temperature within the enclosure.

The system is entirely self-contained and no air enters the equipment enclosure.

The only moving parts are the long-life fans so SPC’s Encoolers have low energy consumption, low maintenance and long-life.

Each Encooler is custom made by SPC to fit the specific application with its own unique set of design conditions.

They can be roof mounted, or side mounted, and provide heat extraction rates from 300 to 4000W.

A novel cable load solution from Radiall addresses thermal management concerns when terminating high-power RF signal lines on printed circuit boards.
A novel cable load solution from Radiall addresses thermal management concerns when terminating high-power RF signal lines on printed circuit boards. A semi-rigid coaxial cable is used to bring the signal to the termination. The heat generated by the RF power is consequently dissipated thanks to conduction cooling to a heatsink or chassis inside the equipment.

The length of the coaxial cable can be customised according to the distance between the heatsink to dissipate the heat and the board itself.

This design flexibility enables users to design their own applications.

The cable loads have a 50ohm impedance and work from DC to 3GHz.

Their power handling is 100W with a maximum VSWR of 1.20.

They are offered with any choice of connector (QMA, QN, SMA, N etc) and 3.6mm semi-rigid cable.

This new cable load is designed using AlN substrate within an aluminium housing to achieve a good compromise between performance and conduction cooling level.

Radiall also offers a large range of attenuators and terminations using thick and thin film in house technology.

SDK is sampling a novel high-performance aluminium reflector for crystal liquid displays for use in personal computers and television sets.
SDK is sampling a novel high-performance aluminium reflector for crystal liquid displays for use in personal computers and television sets. The product is an extension of SDK’s ST-60 aluminium alloy with high thermal diffusivity comparable to that of pure aluminium, which is used increasingly as heatsinks for plasma displays and LCDs. Specifically, the newly developed reflector is manufactured by providing proprietary white coating on ST-60 sheet.

Compared with conventional product (aluminium alloy to which white film of polyethylene terephthalate is attached), the newly developed reflector offers higher heat dissipation efficiency and light resistance, as well as reflectivity of more than 95%.

As the current trends in LCDs are toward larger display size and higher brightness and precision, the number of lamps for backlighting is increasing.

This means that the reflectors must have higher reflectivity and ensure uniform heat dissipation.

SDK’s new reflector meets these requirements and can cope with high heat produced inside a backlighting unit, a problem that could shorten the life of lamps and reduce brightness.

Furthermore, the white coating SDK has introduced is capable of absorbing ultraviolet, resulting in the reduction of ultraviolet radiation toward the front of the display unit.

As coating is possible even after press working, SDK will be able to produce reflectors that are complex in shape and serve as chassis as well.

SDK will start selling the newly developed aluminium reflectors in commercial quantities in the latter half of this year.

The CPC-1400C is a low-profile Pentium 4 CPU cooler that combines rugged construction, a long lifecycle, low noise and advanced power dissipation while fitting standard cooler holes.
The CPC-1400C is a low-profile Pentium 4 CPU cooler that combines rugged construction, a long lifecycle, low noise and advanced power dissipation while fitting standard cooler holes. With these features, the CPC-1400C is ideal for compact and slimline PC platforms, LCD and panel PCs, in-car PCs, industrial portable workstations and embedded industrial PC platforms and systems. The CPC-1400C features the advantage of an ultralow profile, with only 20mm of height including heatsink and fan above the motherboard.

So the cooler is ideal for low-profile systems of 1U or less height with at least 5mm of space above the cooler for airflow.

For the out-of-office application, such as in-car PCs and portable industrial workstations, proof against shock and vibration are important for systems integrators.

To offer a rugged thermal solution for the field environment, the CPC-1400C comprises two modules: the cooler and backplate, and is fixed using four spring screws.

Using this structure, the CPC-1400C can be used on both Intel FC-PGA2 and Micro-FCPGA CPU packages, providing a vibration- and shock-proof solution for out-of-office applications.

Standard commercial cooling fans with sleeve bearing systems are limited in their reliability for always-on systems.

To meet the demand of reliability and long product life cycle, the CPC-1400C uses the advanced ceramic shaft as the alloy sleeve, with 300kh MTBF.

Even compared with dual ball bearing fan systems, the CPC-1400C also offers both longer life and lower operating noise.

With the complete copper heatsink and 5200rev/min fan, the CPC-1400C offers 0.3C/W thermal resistance and typically 60W power dissipation.

The advanced power dissipation performance of CPC-1400C makes it possible to use not only Mobile Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron processors, but also some desktop Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron CPUs in compact embedded systems.

The CPC-1400C is compatible with all ATX, MicroATX, FlexATX, ITX, Mini-ITX motherboards and industrial PICMG, EBX, CompactPCI single board computer and customised ODM/OEM boards with standard cooler holes for the Intel Pentium 4 platform.

Applications requiring LCDs which need a fast response time at temperatures down to -40C will certainly benefit from a new range of low-cost clear screen heaters.
Applications requiring LCDs which need a fast response time at temperatures down to -40C will certainly benefit from a new range of low-cost clear screen heaters. Instead of taking the usual 2 to 3s to refresh at -20C, the addition of the clear screen heater will improve response time to 0.3 to 0.5s. Made from very thin polyester with an ITO coating, the screen is only 0.3mm thick and is suited to 5-12V operation, making it ideal for military and automotive use.

Easily fitted between the glass and the backlight with a fitted adhesive strip, the clear screen heaters provide exceptional clarity.

Interconnect leads can be customised for any size or shape.

Sizes are up to a maximum screen size of 6in.

Prices start at US $2 for a 16 x 2 alphanumeric display, in addition to a small tooling cost.

Suited to small graphic LCDs, the clear screen heaters are equally at home at the other end of the temperature scale, operating reliably up to 100C.

AMD has approved the Molex CoolFin heatsink for use with its next generation 64bit processor, the Athlon 64.
AMD has approved the Molex CoolFin heatsink for use with its next generation 64bit processor, the Athlon 64. As the result of meeting very strict thermal resistance and other design requirements, Molex is one of a few select vendors to receive AMD’s approval on this new platform. The CoolFin heatsink line features stamped fin technology.

The fins are individually stamped to a specified geometry and linked together for stability.

Stamped fin designs can be virtually any shape or thickness, offering optimal design flexibility.

Molex’s products are developed and designed to solve the most challenging thermal requirements.

From extrusions to stamped fin, skiving to integrated heat pipes and beyond, Molex has a product to fit many applications.

With years of OEM/ODM design experience, thermal management teams are equipped to drive products quickly from concept to market.

A new thermally conductive, nonreinforced gap filling material from The Bergquist Company is designed for mid- to high-thermal-performance applications.
A new thermally conductive, nonreinforced gap filling material from The Bergquist Company is designed for mid- to high-thermal-performance applications. Designed to interface heat-generating components to a heatsink, Gap Pad 2500 is ideal for use with graphics chips, processors, and heat-generating components used in mass-storage drives, automotive powertrain controls, gaming consoles and communications hardware. Gap Pad 2500 features a 2.7W/mK thermal conductivity for exceptionally low thermal resistance.

For ease of application and use, the material’s natural inherent tack provides excellent “stick-in-place” characteristics, and eliminates the need for an additional adhesive coating that could inhibit thermal performance by increasing interfacial resistance.

The soft and compliant resin formulation used in Gap Pad 2500 yields a material that, unlike many alternative solutions, does not crumble, flake, tear, or come apart.

The special resin also ensures that Gap Pad 2500 can be easily removed from the liner and placed in the target application.

Gap Pad 2500 can be supplied as die-cut parts with many shapes and sizes, with thicknesses ranging from 20 to 125mm.

The material is also available in sheet form, with standard sheet sizes of 203 x 406mm.

Bergquist can also offer custom sizes and die-cut shapes.

A novel airflow detector is specifically designed to detect clogged conditions in air filters on servers and other types of computer equipment efficiently.
A novel airflow detector is specifically designed to detect clogged conditions in air filters on servers and other types of computer equipment efficiently. Aimed especially at large server farm type installations, the Omron D6A-N sensor uses thermistors to measure the velocity of the air passing through the air filter, detecting when filters become clogged with dust particles more efficiently than a conventional time totalling meter. The D6A-N uses a microprocessor with a complex algorithm that together with one thermistor heated to 80C, acting as a temperature reference point and the other subjected to the ambient air temperature flow, determines if a filter fan is moving the right amount of air.

By designing an appropriate response to the 0-5V output signal from the detector, system engineers can provide a reliable indication of which servers’ filters need cleaning or replacing, before a more serious and costly fault develops.

Driven from a standard 12V DC supply, the sensor is installed vertically in the air flow being monitored.

It is simply fitted, using nylon rivets.