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I need a heat sink for my Peltier cooling fan but also need to saves as much vertical space as possible. I've been exploring various Heat Sink options but many of them extrude outwards making compact variants hard to find. I've found compact options such as Flared Fin Heat Sinks: enter image description here

However it would really be optimal if the fins just went to one side for my application as need the heat dispersal to be concentrated in one direction. My question is could something like this be at all effective for my peltier TEC: enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ What has made you wonder if it wouldn't be "at all effective"? If you've got the same surface area etc., then what's the difference? (apart from slightly reduced convection, if the channels aren't vertical, I guess?) $\endgroup$
    – Jonathan R Swift
    Commented Jan 14, 2018 at 22:38
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    $\begingroup$ No, it will be less efficient than if you just had perpendicular fins the same height (more of them, same slot, same thickness, same area.) $\endgroup$
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Jan 14, 2018 at 23:43
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    $\begingroup$ Other than radiation heat dispersal is not concentrated in a direction. For convection heat just goes where the molecule goes. $\endgroup$
    – paparazzo
    Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ If your sink is to be mounted as shown, there will be almost no convective transfer because passive convection requires a "low to high" air path. Do you have a fan available? $\endgroup$
    – Carl Witthoft
    Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 16:10

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There are a lot of factors that go into heat sink design. Usually the optimization process of reducing the distance between the heat surface and the air results in fins that are perpendicular to the surface. A slanted fin like you have shown would work just fine, it would just be a little less efficient per mass/volume of heat sink. You would also have to have it custom made, as you will likely not find one that is mass produced in that configuration. If it is forced convection on this heat sink, a few extra cfm of airflow will make a bigger difference than heat sink design.

I would stick to standard available heat sink designs if possible. If you have a lot of space constraints, have a look at using a heat pipe design like most modern laptops.

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