1-877-363-7876
Speak with one of our Thermal Engineers now. We are standing by to assist you with any questions. Email

Heat dissipation

Heat Sink Design Goals and Constraints

  • Laser diode dissipates 5 Watts of heat
  • Laser diode temperature must be held below 35°C
  • Ambient temperature can reach 60°C
  • Heat sink solution must be compact
  • System air is provided

Heat Sink Solution:

Heat Pipe Heatsink

Enertron designed the laser module heat sinks seen in Figure 1 as a solution to the specified problem. This active heat sink uses a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) to pump heat from the laser diode. By applying the necessary current and controlling the hot side temperature, the TEC is able to reduce the temperature of the laser diode to 25°C below the ambient. This ensures that the laser diode will not overheat even if the environment reaches its maximum of 60°C. The hot side of the TEC is cooled by two heat pipes. The heat pipes carry the heat of both the TEC and laser diode to two sets of heat sink fin arrays. Forced air flows over the heat sink fins, providing the necessary heat dissipation.


Heat Sink Manufacturing

This heat sink solution was designed to be compact. Maintaining a low height was crucial to the customer and to their application. The entire thermal solution is integrated into a single unit, which contains the heat pipes, heat sink fins, thermoelectric cooler, and housing. The customer then mounts their electronics to the housing to complete the system design.


To learn more about laser module cooling and heat sinks, or if you have an application you would like to discuss, please call one of our engineers at 1-877-ENERTRON (1-877-363-7876).

Heat Pipe And Thermal Solutions