Affixing cooling plates to ESC?

[planezero]

How do ppl here affix water cooling plates to an ESC ?

My Himodel Escs come with some soft thermal material glued between the transistors and the stock ribbed (air/fan) cooling plate.
Whats the best way to replace this with a water cooling plate?

Im thinking of pressing the water cooling plates against the transistors with zip ties with the thermal material in between.

[line6]

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/info-pages/install-water-coolingplate.php :thumbup1:

[DISAR]

This has been my main concern too. I've spoken to some electronics-pc guys who are dealing with this subject too (cpu boards, graphics cards etc.. cooling) and they proposed silicone heat transfer compound, something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140294923878&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNARL:GB:1123
This achieves higher heat tranfer rate and also in the instructions in line6 reply, the thermal grease mentioned is that one. As they say it can be in contact with the circuit board without any problems. I haven't tried yet but I will very soon.
I ve also heard of another material Arctic Silver 5 but as I've read they say not to come in contact with the circuit board. Therefore:
Put silicone heat transfer compound on the fets side, install the cooling plate and then shrink wrap it as mentioned above.
There is also another material Arctic Silver Alumina epoxy which also has good heat tranfer rate, it can come into contact with the circuit board and it glues the board and cooling plate together. If you use it I believe that you won't be able to remove it after. Another person in this forum has used, there is topic. You can find it in e-bay or electronics stores.

[ED66677]

fully agree with Disar, silicon heat compound is the way to go, Arctic Silver and other Silver filled compound have better heat transfert but are conductive!
What I've done on my ESC's is using the silicon compound for heta transfert and, to keep everything together in place, applied some silicon sealant all around, a bead of sealant between cooling plate and ESC and thin layer on the rest of the ESC to have it waterproofed!

see :

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pleindetrucs/images/DSCF3904_s.JPG (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pleindetrucs/images/DSCF3904.JPG)

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pleindetrucs/images/DSCF3906_s.JPG (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pleindetrucs/images/DSCF3906.JPG)

[Steven Vaccaro]

I carry this stuff
http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=rad-276-1372

Radio shack has it for a bit less money.

[Dr. Jet]

I like the Arctic Silver (http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm), but as stated above, it is conductive. Get some of it on the leads from the FETs and you might as well throw out that ESC. The Arctic silver works best when the ESC already has a heat sink plate on it (like the little Mystery ESCs), then I bond my watercooling unit to that plate with Arctic Silver. The other application where Arctic Silver works well is when gluing a tube directly to the FETs. Again, extreme care must be exercised to avoid shorting-out something. When putting a heat sink unit directly on the FETs, I have used the silicon thermal paste, then used heat-shrink tube to hold the cooling unit in place.

[line6]

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Arctic Silver 5 is NOT ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE. It is a excellent product it is all i use in my pc builds.

[Jim Bob]

I would be careful with Artic 5. Per the manufacturers instructions it is not conductive, but is capacitive.

Not Electrically Conductive:
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)


Absolute Stability:

[Dr. Jet]

[Arctic Silver 5 is NOT ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE. It is a excellent product it is all i use in my pc builds.

I always though it was, just due to the high silver content. :confused2: Oh well, I suppose it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution.

[DISAR]

With the thermal grease or silicone heat transfer compound similar to Steve's, works great with no problems at all. With the Arctic silver 5 i do not know and I wouldn't try too (I burnt enough). But the arctic silver alumina adhesive will work too

[line6]

If you are worried about AS5 shorting something out you can use thermal pads far less messy than any of the above products. I personal would not be worried about AS5 you would have to really goop it on to cause a problem. The thing with AS5 is a very little goes a long way. When i use it for a cpu (about 1 square inch in size) i only use the size of a grain of rice of AS5. Thermal pads might be the way to go.

[Basstronics]

I carry this stuff
http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=rad-276-1372

Radio shack has it for a bit less money.

Actually thats the same price they charge @ Radio Shack...

[ksm2001]

I use Arctic Alumina Adhesive, a two part epoxy and never had any problems.

"Arctic Alumina Adhesive uses a layered
composite of aluminum oxide and boron nitride.

Arctic Alumina Adhesive is a pure electrical
insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive."

Cheers:beerchug:
Ken

[tylerm]

I've mixed thermal grease like steves with DP270 before with good results.

[lomdel]

The silicone heat transfer compound will only handle the heat transfer between the heatsink and FET's? To keep it together, what should I use, zip-ties, glue, bolts? I am going to waterproof it with CorrosionX, but don't want to cover it up with heatshrink sleeve because I will install a small fan to aid airflow beteen the 3 plates. See pic attached...
What's the verdict on Corrosion-X? Will a thin layer of that over the circuitry be adequate to waterproof it and handle the heat?

[lomdel]

Post #15 updated!

[DISAR]

Just use some epoxy on the edges of the heat sink to hold it on the esc. Regarding cooling I think you will be ok. For the corrosion x i have not use it therefore i do not know

[lomdel]

Thanx Disar. Last night I added two more tubes to the heatsink. I ordered a bigger 40x40mm 5V fan locally to replace the small 25x25mm one in the previous photo.