Keep cool with Spirit’s PCB Thermal Management Solution

Spirit Circuits brings you the ultimate Thermal Management Solutions to keep your electronics cool and working at optimum functioning temperatures. Our TIM technologies aid and improve the thermal pathways, removing and spreading the heat, avoiding hot spots and reducing temperature related stresses.

Why Thermal interface materials?

• Thermal interface materials (TIM) speeds up heat transfer from your component devices or PCB assemblies to your cooling structure or heat-sink
• TIM materials compensate surface roughness, using a compressible or compliant material will fill micro voids or defects in surface roughness, displace the air and bridge the gaps; the benefit of this is to increase the surface area available for heat conduction.
• Most of us have used Thermal Grease and will be familiar with the performance enhancement it can offer, the TIM material range offers replacement materials without the mess associated with grease application
• TIM products offer a wide variety of approaches to solve thermal problems that offer long term reliability and a continual level of performance.

Here is a quick guide to the main product types:

Graphite

Graphite materials are supplied as pads, cut to your custom size and design, these pads are used between surfaces fixed by mechanical means, one side adhesive is also available to aid fiddly assemblies. Graphite is a soft compliant material that is low cost, dry easy to handle and exhibits great thermal distribution in X&Y planes. Graphite materials are suitable between surfaces where electrical isolation is not required.

Silicon Pads:

Sil-Pads are a dry easy to handle elastomeric material reinforced with a glass matrix to guarantee electrical isolation, mechanical fixings or clips apply pressure allowing the clamped silicon pad to wet out and conform to the surface roughness. Common usages are between power components and heat-sinks and cold wall to cold wall transfer.

Phase Change Materials

Phase change materials are a dry cut pad when supplied, once assembled and in operation the materials change their state from a solid to a liquid this happens at around 50 degree C The wetting of the surfaces offers up very high performance and when cooled the materials revert back to a solid, these materials don’t offer the option of electrical isolation.

Gap Filling Materials

This range of materials can be used to conform to uneven geometries and breach larger gaps that standard sheet materials cant. Gap filling materials can also be used on the top face to transfer heat away from the body of a component to a chassis
Other properties are low stress compression, moulding around components and helping absorb vibrations Gap filling materials can offer electrical isolation and are available up to several millimetres in thickness.

Thermally Loaded adhesives

Several systems are available to connect your circuit board to the assembly chassis or heat-sink removing clamps and screws, most commonly used for led luminaires to reduce assembly costs these pressure sensitive solutions can be pre-laminated to the PCB or supplied as post reflow peel and stick pad. Adhesive is not a natural conductor of heat, by adding fillers we achieve a level of thermal performance suited to certain product markets. Although not guaranteed if assembled correctly these material offer a degree of electrical isolation.

For advice on thermal management and how best to employ these materials, to discuss you individual requirements, or to receive a comparative quote please contact Dave Hunton Spirit’s TIM specialist on (0)2392 243000 or d.hunton@spiritcircuits.com