LED cooling with 3M 8805 thermal tape

LED cooling with 3M 8805 thermal tape

  • Bonding and LED cooling for PCB attachment to heat sink

    Our customer, a manufacturer of lighting products required an LED cooling solution for bonding a PCB to a heat sink for a new product range they were developing. They required specification of a suitable bonding product that must be thermally conductive, thin (due to the size of the bulb) and long lasting, to ensure the long life of the LED.

    There were a number of requirements for the construction of the adhesive component, such as ease of handling, automated application aids and supplied with zero defects.

    Our R&D team worked closely with the customer’s engineering team to test materials and ensure complete compatibility with both the application process and the LED parts.

    The result; all of the customer’s requirements were fulfilled: materials, technology, quality and process optimisation. 3M™ 8805, a thin thermally conductive transfer tape, was specified for its high performance characteristics and the component was designed with a manufacturing process and presentation which suited the customer’s exact application and quality needs.

    Parafix has continued to work with the customer on new lighting products due to our experience in this market and the successful results delivered in this project.

    Read about this project in more detail below.

    Bonding and LED cooling for PCB attachment to heat sink
  • Project requirements
    Project requirements
    1. Specify an adhesive that provides a long lasting and secure bond between the parts, with thermally conductive properties and a UL certification. It also had to maintain its bonding power at temperatures up to 90 degrees Celsius.
    2. Design the die-cut pieces for semi-automated pick and place and further manual application at the customer’s manufacturing site to ensure best possible cycle and to fulfil extremely tight tolerances to minimise defective parts. If the adhesive is placed outside of the tolerance zone during manufacture, the PCB and the LED would be rejected.
    3. Zero defective parts to avoid downtime of automated application process.
    4. Large volumes required.
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    Our solution
    Our solution
    1. After testing a number of products with the customer’s engineering team, we specified 3M™ 8805 thermally conductive transfer tape for its high performance characteristics. It also was a more cost-effective solution than competitor products.
    2. Our R&D team also developed a production method in close cooperation with the customer’s engineering team, to ensure maximum compatibility with both the application process, and the electronic parts.
    3. A die-cut was designed with location holes for the semi-automated pick and place application and a dry (non-adhesive) pull tab on each part was included for ease of handling in the manual attachment of the part to the LED body.
    4. To meet the quality and zero defect requirements, the production process included high precision tooling, to ensure contour and shape consistency throughout the entire run of the project and adherence to above average strict tolerances.
    5. A two stage rotary process was used to create the liner tab and to cut the shape. Internal waste was removed while the material was running, to minimise packaging time.
    6. A reliable and fast machine run was designed to handle the large volumes, with as short a set-up time as possible, providing cost effective production for the customer.
    7. Quality control processes included constant monitoring of the running material, to remove potential of defective parts and precise counting of the material length/parts on each roll, required for the semi-automated application process.
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    Key benefits
    Key benefits
    1. Reliable thermal component produced that manages heat and bonds.
    2. Customer’s assembly processes were optimised.
    3. Customer’s strict quality requirements were met.
    4. Components produced using cost effective processes.
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