Cooling Competence Centre

Look on the Cooling Competence Centre as a source of knowledge and experience in a very specific area: cooling solutions, both liquid cooling devices and heat sinks, based on aluminium profiles.

We can offer:

• advanced equipment for simulation, measurement and materials technology investigations.
• metallurgists, chemists, metallographers, physicists, designers, mechanical engineers and workshop technicians, all specialists in aluminium. 
• contacts with universities, colleges and research institutes around the world.

Sapa’s contribution to the customer’s product development

The Cooling Competence Centre offers:

• Optimisation: design solutions that solve the customer’s cooling problems cost-effectively.
• Effective tools for simulation.
• Fast production of prototypes at very reasonable cost.

And when production is underway

• Low tool costs.
• Short lead times.
• The ability to extrude complicated profiles to tight tolerances.
• Capacity: with around 40 presses in ten or so countries we have the capacity to handle large production series even when the pressure is on.

Product example

Sapa has worked closely with a large number of customers to optimise their heat sinks. The heat sink in question sits inside an electronics housing in which space is limited. It also has to be light in weight.

The customer’s heat sink, a simple, extruded solution (illustration 1), was too heavy and did not have sufficient cooling capacity.

The engineers considered the available space inside the product, the customer’s existing fan and the desire to reduce weight. The solution: an extrusion with thinner fins (illustration 2).

The next stage in the process was a simulation of the performance of both heat sinks.

In this case a CFD analysis (FEM) was used. The analysis showed that Sapa’s suggestion has around 40% better cooling effect. And this had been achieved with an extrusion that was around 30% lighter.

Customer’s existing profile: the CFD analysis clearly shows that the profile’s cooling capacity is unacceptable. The problem that faced Sapa’s engineers: is it possible to improve the cooling capacity and at the same time reduce the weight of the heat sink?

Sapa’s recommendation: a profile with considerably thinner fins (see cross-section). We have the technology to extrude even thin fins such as these cost-effectively and to close tolerances. The result: around 40% better cooling performance and around 30% reduction in weight. On the way to production the profile can be further refined by producing a prototype. This can be done quickly and at low cost.