Mechanical Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in electronics cooling, has released Heat Sink Designer, a software tool that focuses, as the name implies, exclusively on heat sinks. Among the tool's distinguishing features is the ability to search the product lines of multiple heatsink suppliers and calculate their performance in the users application.

Mechanical Solutions has partnered with leading manufacturers to create libraries of hundreds of existing heat sinks. Users can create their own heatsink or they can opt to let the program recommend an existing sink by simply entering the available space along with details unique to their application. Alternatively, the software can determine the optimal custom heat sink for that space, enabling users to compare custom vs. off-the-shelf solutions.

"Engineers often find the heat sink they select does not perform as published" said Kevin O'Connor, President of Mechanical Solutions "This is not the fault of the manufacturer. Every application is unique." For example, Heat Sink Designer lets users define their own flow area and heat source to eliminate the two most common sources of error: air bypass and heat spreading.

Libraries are now available for heatsinks from Aavid, Alpha-Novatech, CTS - IERC, Getec, Thermaflo and Wakefield Engineering. R-Theta, Alutronic, and Radian heatsink libraries are expected this spring.

Hart Cardozo, Vice President of Getec North America states "Getec's executive management team searched for the ideal tool to help our customers become successful. We identified Heat Sink Designer as having the most effective solution."

Another top supplier is also using it to develop new heat sinks. "It's very simple to use, yet powerful" says Glenn Summerfield, Director of Product Development at Alpha-Novatech. Visit Alpha's website to download their most recent Heat Sink Designer library.

The tool is designed to be used by electrical and mechanical engineers - thermal expertise and training is not required - but it has also found favor among thermal engineers as a complement to high-end CFD software. James Waring, an Icepak user at Intel Corporation says "It's a great tool. This will save us a lot of time. I wish I had it on my last project."

Dr. Catherina Biber, thermal guru and author of numerous heat sink articles, says "Heat Sink Designer does so much more than most any spreadsheet would - including a sketch you can print, really fast exploration of the design space, and catalog search for suitable part numbers. It even includes fan parameters, air density changes with altitude and thermal interface materials in the calculations - they've thought of everything. It's a real time saver, and very easy and intuitive to use."

A one-year license of HeatSinkDesigner is priced at $495 with an anytime moneyback guarantee

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