Special Issue Featuring Thermal Solutions— Moving Heat toward the Future —Junji Sotani *This issue of the Furukawa Electric Review has a special
focus on thermal solutions.
The recent trend for electronic equipment to combine
higher performance with slimmer, more compact configurations, has lent new urgency to finding solutions
to heat problems. Furukawa Electric has adopted theslogan “moving heat toward the future” to epitomize its
efforts in the business of finding thermal solutions. TheCompany has itself developed wires and cables to moveelectricity, pipes and conduits to move water, and opticalfiber cables to move information, thereby opening up thefuture and the dream of moving business into the next
generation. Now we have well and truly embarked on thepath of moving heat toward the future.
Furukawa Electric offers a broad line of thermal products, and in this special issue we focus on industryleading heat-conductive pipes, heatsink elements andheatsinks, together with the analytical techniques andintellectual property that support them.
(1) Heat-Conductive Pipes
Furukawa Electric’s heat-conductive pipes are widelyused in air-conditioning for fixed installations and automotive systems. Those for fixed installations are manufactured by the floating die method, while those for automotive systems are made by conform extrusion. Both makeit possible to fabricate high-performance grooved heat
conductive pipes in a way that conventional technology
cannot match, thereby contributing to making the equipment more compact.
(2) Heatsink Elements
Among those products categorized as heatsink elements
we find heatpipes, thermal sheets and Peltier devices.
Furukawa Electric’s heatpipes use fine grooves for theinner surface structure and environment-friendly purewater as the working fluid, so that there is very little deviation among heatpipes, and thermal resistance is low.
We have also developed a patented manufacturingmethod that delivers such long-term reliability that it iseven used for equipment where service life is required toexceed 20 years.
Following on the commercialization of the world’s thinnest heatpipes, with a thickness of only 1 mm, we haverecently succeeded in developing peraflex®, which is only
* Manager of Thermal and Antenna Solutions Dept., Electronic
Components Div., Electronics and Automotive Systems Co.

0.55 mm thick. We also have a program for the development and commercialization of thermal sheets and EMI
sheets to cope with electromagnetic interference. Thesesheets also feature outstanding environmental properties.
Recently there has been gradual progress in the commercialization of equipment using Peltier devices fortemperature control, but because they are vulnerable toheat cycling, they are of limited applicability in equipment
requiring long-term reliability. Currently we are working todevelop Peltier devices that combine long-term reliability
with a slim profile.
(3) Heatsinks
Commercially available heatsinks include not only thosewith extruded aluminum fins, but also those with brazed
and crimped fins, as well as the heatpipe style.
Extruded aluminum fins are widely used in a broad
range of equipment, but with the rapid increase in exothermic value or exothermic density, the more equipment
there is for which they are inadequate. The solution tothis problem is provided by brazed fins and crimped
fins, which offer a larger surface area per unit of volume.
Because of their outstanding thermal performance they
make possible small size and light weight unmatched byconventional technology, even without the use copper,
with its higher thermal conductivity.
The heatpipe style heatsink makes for heatsinks thatare smaller, lighter and slimmer, and are widely used indigital home appliances. Furukawa Electric’s heatsinks,
making wide use of high-performance heatpipes andtechniques for joining the block and the fins that competitors cannot match, are particularly in demand where there
is a requirement that the equipment be smaller, lighterand slimmer.
(4) Analytical Techniques
These are the materials, and the thermal and fluid
analysis technologies that support thermal solutions. At
Furukawa Electric we mobilize these analytical techniques
to shorten the time needed to develop new products andnew technologies. It is no exaggeration to say that ourmost recent products could not have been developed
without this analysis.
Furukawa Electric carries forward its program of development and commercialization, with major emphasis on theenvironment described above (smaller, lighter and slimmer equipment; saving of raw materials by eliminating

Furukawa Review, No. 27

2005

1

Special Issue Featuring Thermal Solutions —Moving Heat toward the Future—fins; and energy saving).
These include cooling devices for automotive use using
halogen-free heatpipes, systems for cooling electricalsubstations without the use of fans, heatsinks for lap-topcomputers, heatsinks for desk-top computers, heatsinks
for TV sets, and heatsinks for video cameras. They are
specific examples of environmentally friendly thermal
solutions that Furukawa Electric has been the first todevelop and commercialize.
We propose to continue our contribution to society
through the development and commercialization of environmentally conscious products.

Furukawa Review, No. 2720052