Partable Thermal Heat Pipe

Abstract

A heat pipe for conducting heat away from an electronic device attached to a removable electronic module includes two self-aligning sections. A source section is attached to the removable electronic module and a target section passes through and is retained by a fixed member. One end of the source section is in thermal contact with a heat source and the other end includes a self aligning female thermal interface. One end of the target section includes a self aligning male thermal interface and the other end includes a heat sink. The female end of the source section and the male end of the target section are moved into contact with each other to form a thermal connection that permits heat from the heat source to be transferred to the heat sink.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 61 / 200,717 filed Dec. 3, 2008, which application is incorporated herein by references in its entirety.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present disclosure relates generally to thermal management, and more particularly to devices and methods for transferring heat from a removable module within a chassis.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]High-performance semiconductor devices sometimes produce more waste heat than can be carried away from the device package by thermal radiation, conduction, and / or convection across the device package. Cooling problems may arise due to the power density of the device relative to its cooled surface area, difficulty in providing sufficient coolant flow across the device, and / or due to difficulty in providing a sufficiently large temperature differential between the device package and the coolant flowing across the device. Co...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Cooling problems may arise due to the power density of the device relative to its cooled surface area, difficulty in providing sufficient coolant flow across the device, and / or due to difficulty in providing a sufficiently large temperature differential between the device package and the coolant flowing across the device.

Coolant temperature problems may arise due to the ambient temperature in which a system operates, and / or due to heating of the coolant flow prior to the coolant reaching the device package.

In some systems, spacing and packaging constraints and or local airflow / air temperature conditions prevent the successful application of a heat sink and / or secondary cooling fan directly to a semiconductor package.

One difficulty with heat pipes arises when a device to be cooled by the heat pipe is built into a removable module, and the cooling fluid stream used by the heat pipe is located outside the module.

In such cases, it may be difficult or even undesirable to design the heat pipe in a way that allows extraction of the heat pipe from the fluid stream and / or system when the module is removed from the system.

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