Looking for breakthrough ideas for innovation challenges? Try Patsnap Eureka!

Modified heat pipe for phase change cooling of electronic devices

a technology of electronic devices and heat pipes, applied in the direction of heat exchange apparatus safety devices, semiconductor/solid-state device details, lighting and heating apparatus, etc., can solve the problems of low stand alone cooling capacity, low cooling capacity of conventional cooling devices, and failure of conventional heat pipes, so as to increase the volume of working fluid, improve the cooling capacity, and reduce the effect of pressur

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-12-02
TEXAS INSTR INC
View PDF4 Cites 71 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art and to provide a new heat pipe construction to minimize heat pipe dry-out, to provide more phase change working fluid volume to handle higher power peaks, and to integrate the heat sink onto the heat pipe in a compact structure intended for portable electronic devices. The new heat pipe can have increased stand alone cooling capacity as compared with conventional heat transfer components used in the art.
[0011]In order to develop such heat pipe, the Applicant incorporated an expandable chamber into a conventional heat pipe, such as a conventional cylindrical heat pipe. In one embodiment, the discovered expandable chamber can be connected to one end of a pipe structure and can have flexible corrugations so that the volume of the expandable chamber can increase or decrease. The incorporation of the inventive expandable chamber can be used to control internal pressure and boiling point of a working fluid or a phase change material flowing within the heat pipe. The incorporation of the inventive expandable chamber can allow for a large quantity of the working fluid or the phase change material to enable more peak power heat dissipation through its boiling.
[0015]In this manner, the inventive heat pipe can provide an increased cooling capacity by allowing a higher volume of working fluid, the water. The expanding chamber can act to maintain a lower pressure as the water boils while at the same time can perform the function of a heat sink to re-condense the water. Conventional heat pipes allow only minimal change in volume and have fixed physical dimensions that are dependent on only the thermal expansion constants of the materials. As a result, large volume of working fluids, such as water, cannot be used to absorb excess heat energy in conventional heat pipes.
[0016]Additionally, the disclosed heat pipe having an expandable chamber connected to a pipe structure can provide flexibility in assembly. For example, the pipe portion can be bent around curves to fit the contours of related electronic systems and the expandable structure portion can be flattened to fit any flat-like volume.
[0017]Further, the inventive heat pipe having expandable chambers can be very compact to enable cooling, e.g., in cell phones or other handheld applications and can be an enabler for high density stacked die components.

Problems solved by technology

Conventional cooling devices, such as heat spreaders, have low cooling capacity.
Conventional heat pipes use low volumes of phase change materials, such as water, and have low stand alone cooling capacity.
A common failing of conventional heat pipes is dry-out of the water.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Modified heat pipe for phase change cooling of electronic devices
  • Modified heat pipe for phase change cooling of electronic devices
  • Modified heat pipe for phase change cooling of electronic devices

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0001]1. Field of the Invention

[0002]This invention generally relates to heat transfer components and, more particularly, to heat pipes that include an expandable chamber.

[0003]2. Background of the Invention

[0004]The power density of components used in portable electronics such as cellphones, MP3 players and global positioning systems (GPSs) is increasing as more features are added to the equipment and with the advent of new package technologies such as stacked die, stacked packages, and through-silicon vias (TSV) packages. Additionally, new battery technologies have increased the power capacity, e.g., by about 10% per year. Due to these reasons, the operating temperature of portable electronic devices has increased dramatically. However, due to battery life concerns, these portable electronic devices do not use miniature fans and heat sinks.

[0005]Conventional methods to release the increased heat generated by these devices include the use of heat spreaders, which are either integra...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
Temperatureaaaaaaaaaa
Pressureaaaaaaaaaa
Lengthaaaaaaaaaa
Login to View More

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments provide a heat pipe including a flexible chamber that is capable of expanding, compressing and / or restoring. In one embodiment, the heat pipe can include a hollow metal casing including a pipe structure connected to an expandable chamber at one end of the pipe structure. The other end of the pipe structure can include an evaporating section for receiving heat and the expandable chamber can include a condensing section for releasing the heat. The expandable chamber can be configured to change in volume to control one or both of a temperature and a pressure in the hollow metal casing. The heat pipe can also include a capillary system arranged at an inner surface of the hollow metal casing that includes the pipe structure and the expandable chamber.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]This invention generally relates to heat transfer components and, more particularly, to heat pipes that include an expandable chamber.[0003]2. Background of the Invention[0004]The power density of components used in portable electronics such as cellphones, MP3 players and global positioning systems (GPSs) is increasing as more features are added to the equipment and with the advent of new package technologies such as stacked die, stacked packages, and through-silicon vias (TSV) packages. Additionally, new battery technologies have increased the power capacity, e.g., by about 10% per year. Due to these reasons, the operating temperature of portable electronic devices has increased dramatically. However, due to battery life concerns, these portable electronic devices do not use miniature fans and heat sinks.[0005]Conventional methods to release the increased heat generated by these devices include the use of heat spreade...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
IPC IPC(8): F28D15/02B21D53/02F28D15/00
CPCF28D15/0241H01L23/427H05K7/20336Y10T29/49353H01L2924/0002H01L2924/00F28F2265/12
Inventor EDWARDS, DARVIN RENNE
Owner TEXAS INSTR INC
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Patsnap Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Patsnap Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products