Possible revolution in Heatsinking?

LedLad

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Ran across this today and immediately thought of the possible applications for flashlights...see what you great modders think.



FREIBURG, Germany, Sept. 7, 2007 -- The new MPC-D303 series, one of its smallest microchip thermoelectric coolers, represents a significant technology advancement with a cold side area of only 0.98 sq mm, according to the manufacturer, Micropelt GmbH.

Micropelt's miniaturized thermoelectric (TE) coolers and generators are based on a scalable silicon MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) platform technology. The new cooler's core is sputtered material that can be structured to exactly match the thermal and electrical requirements of many applications. This match can reduce overall energy consumption and improve thermal management, the company said. Compared to conventional TE coolers they have smaller component sizes, 10 times higher cooling or heating power densities, and economies of scale close to those found in chip-making industries.

Micropelt.jpg
Micropelt, a new research cooperation between Germany-based chipmaker Infineon Technologies and the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques in Freiburg, said its MPC-Dx line has a cooling power of up to 100 watts/cm2 and can realize temperature changes faster than 180 K/second. It is perfect for highly dynamic thermal control with 10 K ramps in just a few milliseconds. Its high cooling power density optimally supports small devices' high cooling requirements.

The MPC-D303 series supports a maximum temperature difference (delta T) of over 60 K, and this increased delta T should appeal to laser and photonic sensor manufacturers whose applications require a large bandwidth of thermal control, the company said.

Like all the company's products, the MPC-D303 is fabricated on silicon wafer using standard semiconductor processes. The device soldering temperature is 300 °C and uses lead-free solder to comply with RoHS initiatives. It has a maximum operating temperature of 200 °C. This chip-sized thermoelectric cooler offers superior performance for chip-scale thermal management and fast, precise temperature control. Perfectly adapted designs, from less than 1 mm2 to 25 mm2, each with customizable thermal and electrical properties including sensor integration, open new dimensions of thermal management.

Applications for the MPC-D303 microchip thermal coolers include laser and sensor temperature management, microscale thermal cycling, lab-on-a-chip, single well to large-array PCR cycling, technical device characterization, and printed circuit board embedded device cooling, Micropelt said.

"Many of our customers wanted to leverage our extremely small form factor and high cooling power densities for their smaller and more highly integrated packages," said Fritz Volkert, CEO of Micropelt. "Now that we've expanded our delta T from 40 K to 60 K, we offer them the product they've been asking for."

"Ever increasing integration and packaging densities are driving photonics development to smaller, faster, better performing products," said Joachim Nurnus, CTO of Micropelt. "Our advanced thin-film thermoelectric platform technology holds exciting potential for further cooler miniaturization in the photonics, microelectronics, and life science worlds."

Volume prices for MPC-D303 TE coolers will be below $10, the company said.

For more information, visit: http://www.micropelt.com/; e-mail: [email protected]
Micropelt GmbH
Emmy-Noether-Str. 2
79110 Freiburg
Phone: +49 (0) 761-156-337-0
Fax: +49 (0) 761-156-337-21
 
Ran across this today and immediately thought of the possible applications for flashlights...see what you great modders think.



FREIBURG, Germany, Sept. 7, 2007 -- The new MPC-D303 series, one of its ....



Ooops, 10 - 20 W power consumption, according to their specs... Maybe next generation will do.

-- M.
 
:oops:
READ THE SPECS NEXT TIME...lol....that'll teach me to read before I post.
 
Y'know after taking a 2nd look at the site I'm wondering if the Thermogenerator might not be a good option for heat sinking to both remove heat and scavenge the energy for return to the batteries to extend run times...According to the site it's possible to get up to 4mW at 3v out of each 5mm x 5mm chip....ring the outside of a metal reflector with them and feed the output back to the batteries possibly?
Whatcha think?
 
Neat little peltier chips.. haven't seen any that small lately.

If you use the search function and search for "peltier" or "thermoelectric" you will find several threads here at CPF about peltier cooling.

In short, however, because of the laws of thermodynamics, and the poor efficiency of peltier chips for most applications, you just end up having to use more charge and have a bigger heatsink than if you just skipped the thermoelectric cooler in the first place!

In commercial applications of these chips, they are usually tuned to work at close to maximum efficiency - something that requires a fair bit of effort and knowledge to do right...
 

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