OKI Circuit Technology has announced a new printed circuit board (PCB) design that can boost component heat dissipation by up to 55x. The Japanese firm has been developing and manufacturing PCBs for over 50 years and its portfolio stretches across a wide range of applications. This particular innovation, where a PCB is packed with stepped circular or rectangular copper coins, is headed to markets where even the best air coolers are impractical – like miniature devices or applications in outer space.
Heat dissipation is one of the problems that engineers involved with high-power electronics frequently have to overcome. One of the most common ways to address overheating components on a PCB is to add a heatsink, or even go active and install a fan. However, things like fans aren't always practical. In space, no one can hear your CPU scream, and it won't be cooled by a fan, as there is no air.
If you check out OKI's High Current / High Heat Radiation Board product pages you will see that it already had a PCB solution using embedded copper coins, thick copper foil wiring, and metal core wiring. Now it has finessed the copper coins by using stepped coin thicknesses and a choice of circular or rectangular coins – per your design preference.
Where OKI says coins, it is describing a copper structure that is rather like a rivet. Also, where it says stepped, it means that one end of the coin, or rivet, is a different size from the other. It gives the example of a stepped coin with a diameter of 7mm at the bonding surface with an electronic component, and 10mm at the heat-dissipating surface.
"The newly developed stepped copper coin features a larger heat-dissipating area relative to the bonding surface with the heat-generating electronic component to improve heat conduction efficiency," OKI explains. Then it goes on to say how its new rectangular coins are great for wicking the heat from traditionally rectangular heat-generating electronic components.
OKI's PR suggests this PCB technology might be best used in miniature and space applications – and it is in the latter case where it is said to boost heat dissipation by up to 55x. However, we immediately wondered if it could benefit PC components and systems,
Component makers like Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI often boast about their lavish use of copper in motherboards and other components. Perhaps OKI's new stepped copper coins would be beneficial, too. These coins can extend through the PCB to conduct heat to large metal casings, suggests OKI. They could potentially connect to backplates and other cooling apparatus.
