Henkel BERGQUIST GAP PAD TGP HC3000 Optimizes Thermal Performance, Reduces Cost for an Industrial Autonomous Guided Vehicle (AGV) ECU

Customer Challenges

• A new Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) design required a robust thermal management solution with no outgassing risk.
• As the system can be used in a variety of machines and production environments, the thermal materials must be conducive to many conditions.
• The customer requested the use of a silicone-free thermal solution to avoid silicone contamination, but wanted to maintain the stress control and heat benefits generally consistent with silicone-based thermal interface materials (TIMs).

Customer Challenge

• The customer’s new design for a power supply used in a high-power industrial application incorporates several discrete packages, making traditional mechanical attachment processes inefficient.
• In addition, the system’s power levels, high breakdown voltage and heat generation suggested that use of conventional adhesives as a mechanical replacement could not deliver the thermal performance necessary. 
• The customer aimed to reduce overall manufacturing costs, while improving production efficiency, performance and yield. 

Customer Challenge

• The customer’s new design for a DC-DC power converter required a more efficient, high-volume solution for the application of thermal management materials. 
  
  
• For previous-generation designs, silicone pads were applied in several locations between the DC-DC converter’s printed circuit board and metal housing. Use of the pads presented several inventory and production-related issues, including:
  
  - Operator handling difficulty of the thin sheets
  - Manual and time-consuming application process
  - Sourcing of silicone pads in many different sizes and thicknesses
  
  
• Any new material solution had to provide similar or better thermal performance as that achieved with the silicone pads. 

Significant advances and transformational changes across the industrial automation and power conversion markets are bringing impressively intelligent capabilities that will shape the future of smart manufacturing, energy efficiency and power access worldwide.

How Much Better Could They Be Doing It?

Industry 4.0’s automation and the digitalization of manufacturing protocols are delivering positive results across market sectors. Massively improved efficiency and consequential cost savings are clear advantages of the transformation, with reliability and maximized performance the enablers that underpin this hands-free capability.

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