Air heat sinks and liquid coolers with electrically isolated blocks (up to 15kV).
Especially in railway settings, electrical safety is an essential parameter in designing and building equipment on the machine. Should there be the need to electrically isolate the electronic part assembled on the heat sink and the area with which an operator could potentially come into contact, one solution is to use silicon material that allows for electrical insulation (that can be pushed up to 15 kV) without impacting thermal management too significantly.
This way, both air and liquid heat sinks can be built, in which the components to dissipate will come into contact with aluminum blocks. These, in turn, are positioned on the finned heat sink or on the liquid cold plate via an insulated metal joint.
These heat sinks are designed and sized keeping project requirements in mind in terms of heat dissipation, as well as the required electrical insulation and other features, such as acceptable partial discharges.