FlyinAgain
Member
Hey Community -
there's been some discussion about water proofing an ESC (refering to Peter S's video guide) ... but most all of them ending up completely potting the ESC either in a layer of heatshrink or a conformal coating ... which results in an ESC that's hard to keep cool ... I figured there must be a better way ... so ... how's about a 3D printed case with an integrated heatsink ?
I started off with and EMAX Simon Series 12A ESC ... a 22mm x 22mm x10mm anodized aluminum heatsink (from Amazon, Gadgeteer 10 pcs. Aluminum Heatsink Cooler Circuit Board Cooling Fin, $8.99 for 10) ... and a design of a 3D printed, two part case. All the components were modeled in a solid modeler (I use Alibre / GeoMagic) and printed in PETG on a Makerbot 2X
The heatsink was attached to the chips on the ESC using the included double-sided thermal transfer tape ... and the heatsink/ESC was inserted into the 3D printed case with the heat exchange fins protruding out of the hole in the case ... the seam between the heatsink and the case was sealed with epoxy ... as were the seams around the wire feed throughs ... the cover was added with a small piece of foam to fill the gap between the back of the board and the cover ... and sealed with epoxy
I've run the system on the bench ... and even at full load, the heatsink barely gets warm ... have yet to try it in an aircraft, specifically, a water going aircraft ... but have plans to install it in an AP Kwak seaplane (thanks for the plans AircPirateNinsei)
so if anyone is interested ... here are the .stl's and .iges for the case ...
happy water landings
Mike
"FlyinAgain"
there's been some discussion about water proofing an ESC (refering to Peter S's video guide) ... but most all of them ending up completely potting the ESC either in a layer of heatshrink or a conformal coating ... which results in an ESC that's hard to keep cool ... I figured there must be a better way ... so ... how's about a 3D printed case with an integrated heatsink ?
I started off with and EMAX Simon Series 12A ESC ... a 22mm x 22mm x10mm anodized aluminum heatsink (from Amazon, Gadgeteer 10 pcs. Aluminum Heatsink Cooler Circuit Board Cooling Fin, $8.99 for 10) ... and a design of a 3D printed, two part case. All the components were modeled in a solid modeler (I use Alibre / GeoMagic) and printed in PETG on a Makerbot 2X
The heatsink was attached to the chips on the ESC using the included double-sided thermal transfer tape ... and the heatsink/ESC was inserted into the 3D printed case with the heat exchange fins protruding out of the hole in the case ... the seam between the heatsink and the case was sealed with epoxy ... as were the seams around the wire feed throughs ... the cover was added with a small piece of foam to fill the gap between the back of the board and the cover ... and sealed with epoxy
I've run the system on the bench ... and even at full load, the heatsink barely gets warm ... have yet to try it in an aircraft, specifically, a water going aircraft ... but have plans to install it in an AP Kwak seaplane (thanks for the plans AircPirateNinsei)
so if anyone is interested ... here are the .stl's and .iges for the case ...
happy water landings
Mike
"FlyinAgain"
