High-performance cooling solutions that can take the heat

An essential part of every reliable embedded and edge server design

An essential part of every reliable embedded and edge server design 

COM Cooling Solutions

The specifications for COM-HPC, COM Express, Qseven and SMARC modules include heatspreader definitions, the mechanical thermal interface. All the heat generated by power-consuming components such as chipsets and processors is transferred to the system’s cooling via the heatspreader. This can be achieved by either a thermal connection to the casing, a heat pipe or a heat sink.

 

High Performance Cooling

The congatec heatspreaders and cooling solutions for the high performance modules are feature heatpipes in order to boost performance and reliability. A copper block is mounted on the chip to absorb heat and to mitigate the effects of thermal peaks. Between the chip and the copper block, a phase-change material is placed to improve the heat transmission. To account for different component heights and manufacturing tolerances, the copper block is spring loaded to apply an optimized pressure to the silicon dye. The copper block and the cooling fins or heat plate are connected by flexible flat heatpipes.

The heat pipe is attached directly to the cooling blocks on the chip and the heatspreader plate. As a result, more heat is transported from the processor environment to the heatspreader, hot spots are cooled more quickly and therefore the processor is optimally cooled.

The heatpipe adapter uses the same principals as described above but transmits the heat from the module directly to standard heat pipes with 8mm diameter. This approach allows for cost optimized, ultra-flat system solutions i.e. 1 U rack units.


 

Heat spreader and passive cooling solution for Pico-ITX boards

The CPU as heat generating component is placed on the bottom side of the Pico-ITX board. This allows for a heat spreader concept for conduction cooled systems. The heat spreader with its installed phase change material and copper block for heat transient buffering is preinstalled with 2 screws to the Pico-ITX board. This combination can be mounted to a metal housing or to any other system cooling device.
 

Extreme slim passive cooling for conduction cooling. Installed phase change material for best heat transmission. Solid copper block to handle transient heat and allows for best burst performance. Through holes for easy mounting.


 

Cooling solutions for SMARC modules