no-199 au-03

Aktive and passive cooling

There are two types of cooling: active and passive. Passive means that the semiconductor component to be cooled is provided with a heat sink that conducts the heat generated away from the heat source. Typically, heat sinks are made of metal because that is one of the best conductors of heat. For this reason, metallic bodies always feel cold. Simply because they extract heat from other bodies.

Passive cooling

As showed below the heat sink is assembled onto the CPU.

It is a heat sink

Active cooling

In a closed case, heat sinks are too little for cooling. Heat builds up in the case and heat sinks don’t make it any better. If you are worried about the temperature, then you should create a vent with a ventilator in the case. This makes more sense than the thickest heat sink.

1. It’s a ventilator.

Important:
This is a general description of how to cool a Raspberry Pi. The ABIOLA RASP system has a combined active and passive cooling for gradual adjustment for the climatic situation in Africa. See other RASP articles.