Passive Cooling Heatsinks and the Heatlane Zen - Passive Cooling Design

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Passive coolers are massive compared to most standard heatsink fan coolers. They are designed to take away the heat and dissipate it over a larger area where convection takes place. Then the air surrounding the heatsinks fins draws heat from the fins.  These towering heatsinks have great surface area, which allows natural airflow to resupply the fins with cooler air. Fans and other system components can enhance passive cooling by helping to circulate air thru the heatsink.

Heat pipes

 A heatpipe efficiently transfers the heat produced by the processor along the length of the pipe. Think of it as an internal layer of a heatsink, which allows the base to expand over 10 times more surface area than a traditional heatsink base. This provides considerably more area to cool when compared to a standard copper or aluminum heatsink. Basically, heat is pumped along the heatpipe, and it dissipates over a much larger area. It radiates from the base to the fins more effectively, so it can passively cool modern processors!

This picture shows the traditional heat pipe found in most passive coolers. Passive coolers usually use up to 6 heatpipes in their design.

Designed by TS Heatronics, the Heatlane uses similar technology. The fluid turns into a vapor as it’s passed down to the condensing region. The liquid returns to the base, and the process begins again.

Heatpipes are filled with a “working” fluid in a vacuum, which normally is a low boiling refrigerant (Most commonly HFC134). When the processor puts out more heat, the heatpipe reaches its operating temperature; then the working fluid turns into a vapor and moves along the heatpipe. As it comes to the end of the heatpipe, the hot vapor transfers the heat to the heatsink base (and subsequently, the fins). This cools down the working fluid, which condenses and returns to the hot end in a capillary tube or passes down an internal wick structure. The process then begins all over again.

Next: Passive Cooling Performance >>
 

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Comments On: Passive Cooling Heatsinks and the Heatlane Zen

· Very impressive heatsink. That thing is massive. I've always liked passive cooling...    · Would this heatsink be enough to keep my AMD 1.47G processor cool?    · It would have no problems cooling your AMD processor. the only thing is that it...   >>> Post your comment now!

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