Getec Industrial, manufacturers of heat sinks, extruded aluminum, and drawn tube, provides an overview of how to select a heat sink. The problem is that every device builds up heat as waste energy during operation, energy that lowers the operating efficiency and can damage the device. Designers employ a heat sink to conduct heat away from a hot surface, distributing it across a broader area and dissipating the energy into another medium, usually air. This maintains the device temperature at the operating levels prescribed by the designer and manufacturer. Here's what's required to select a heat sink.