Copper block heatsink C/W

[Nabetse]

Peter Daniel built this two beautiful amps:
http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_integrated.shtml
http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_patek_amp.shtml
And he use a copper block as a heatsink for the two chips in each amp,

how good is to use copper blocks as heatsink?
how do they dissipate the heat if they got no fins?
is there a way to calculate their thermal resistant (c/w)?.

Or all this are "design secrets"?

----
Sorry for my bad english

 

[maxro]

Copper is a better thermal conductor than aluminum. True, fins would increase surface area, but also require air flow over them.

see:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/thrcn.html
and:
http://sound.westhost.com/heatsinks.htm

Max

 

[Tweeker]

That copper is also in contact with the aluminium case.

 

[peranders]

Peter Daniel built this two beautiful amps:
http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_integrated.shtml
http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_patek_amp.shtml
And he use a copper block as a heatsink for the two chips in each amp,

how good is to use copper blocks as heatsink?
how do they dissipate the heat if they got no fins?
is there a way to calculate their thermal resistant (c/w)?.

Or all this are "design secrets"?

----
Sorry for my bad english

Those cool looking copper blocks is a waste of material and the cooling in relation the weight is pretty bad. One of the most important thing is to maximize the surface and transporting the heat inside the heatsink. Check how a commercially made look like!

I don't deny copper looks cool. I have myself made a mounting detail in 7 x 70 mm copper made of ground bars which were thrown away in a dumpster. Recycling was unknown in those days.

Your english is quite good

 

[dhaen]

snip...

how do they dissipate the heat if they got no fins?
...snip..

Slowly....
Because of the intermittent nature of music, with class B, just having a large thermal mass (a reservoir) can be very effective for heat sinking. The heat then only needs a small path to the actual convectors. (In this case the front and rear panels).
Such amplifiers are fine for music, but will overheat if given a continuous sine wave at full power.



Edit: Added class B clause

 

[sagarverma]

copper heatsinks look really cool.i havent tried any bec i havent got my hands on any.
the heat xfer capability of cu is more.so a smaller heatsink will do the work that a bigger Al heatsink will do.but surely it will be costly.so use it where u will like to show off your heat sink too


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