Heat sink: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A heat sink is a physical device, often seen in electronic circuits, to assist bulk heat dissipation by conduction and convection. On circuit boards, the heat sink assembly usually consists of a flat metal body protruding up from the board, often bonded to a metal fin structure that reduces the thermal resistance to air. Temporary heat sinks are also sometimes used in soldering circuit boards in order to prevent the heat from damaging sensitive nearby electronics - in the simplest case, this means gripping part of a component to be soldered with a crocodile clip or similar.

In urban planning, an urban area may be referred to as a heat sink (or urban heat island) because of its tendency to absorb sunlight and re-radiate it as heat, together with heat from energy usage.