Thermal conductive pad and electronic device

Abstract

A thermal pad and electronic device, relating to the field of heat dissipation technology, are used to achieve effective heat dissipation of electronic components. The thermal pad includes a first cover, a second cover, an elastic shell and liquid metal, the elastic shell is bent and closed into a tubular structure, the first cover and the second cover are respectively installed at both ends of the tubular structure to form a closed cavity, and the closed cavity is used to accommodate the liquid metal. By filling the elastic shell with liquid metal, not only can the high thermal conductivity of the liquid metal be utilized to achieve a better thermal conductivity effect, but also the compressibility of the elastic shell can be utilized to compress the thermal pad when assembling it, thereby reducing the thickness of the thermal pad as much as possible, so as to reduce the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, further improve the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad, and help achieve effective heat dissipation of electronic components.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of heat dissipation technology, and in particular to a thermal conductive pad and an electronic device. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the in-depth development of autonomous driving technology, the computing power requirements of vehicles for on-board chips have continued to increase. Related research has found that with each level of autonomous driving technology improvement, the required computing power will increase exponentially. For example, please refer to Figure 1 , starting from L1 level autonomous driving, each subsequent level will increase computing power by about 12 to 14 times compared to the previous level. Especially in L4 level highly autonomous driving or L5 level fully autonomous driving, the number of tera floating-point operations per second (TFLOPS) or tera operations per second (TOPS) performed by the on-board chip reaches more than 4,000. With such a rapid growth in computing power, the heat consumption of on-board chips has also increased sharply. How to quickly dissipate the heat of high-computing-power on-board chips will become a technical difficulty that affects the further development of autonomous driving technology.

[0003] At present, thermal pads can be used to conduct heat away from vehicle-mounted chips. However, existing thermal pads are usually made of materials such as metal oxides or silicone, and the thermal conductivity of these materials is not good. Especially under the influence of the manufacturing tolerance of existing devices, the thickness of the thermal pad needs to be set between 1 and 2 mm. Such a thick thermal pad will bring very large thermal resistance and cannot achieve effective heat dissipation of vehicle-mounted chips.

[0004] In summary, how to achieve effective heat dissipation of electronic components (such as chips) is a technical problem that needs to be urgently solved in the development of high-computing power electronic components. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present application provides a thermally conductive pad and an electronic device, which are used to effectively dissipate heat for electronic components.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a thermally conductive pad, which includes a first cover, a second cover, an elastic shell and liquid metal, wherein the elastic shell is bent and closed into a tubular structure, and the first cover and the second cover are respectively installed at both ends of the tubular structure to form a closed cavity, and the closed cavity is used to accommodate the liquid metal.

[0007] In the above design, by filling the elastic shell with liquid metal, not only can the high thermal conductivity of the liquid metal be utilized to achieve a better thermal conductivity effect, but the compressibility of the elastic shell can also be utilized to compress the thermal pad when assembling it, thereby reducing the thickness of the thermal pad as much as possible to reduce the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, further improve the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad, and help achieve effective heat dissipation of electronic components.

[0008] In a possible design, the first cover and the second cover may be metal covers, and the metal covers may be made of metal materials with good thermal conductivity, such as copper covers, aluminum covers, silver covers or gold covers.

[0009] In the above design, by using a metal cover, the heat of the device outside the first cover (or the second cover) can be better transferred to the liquid metal, and the heat of the liquid metal can also be better transferred to the device outside the second cover (or the first cover), which helps to achieve rapid heat conduction between the device outside the first cover and the device outside the second cover.

[0010] In a possible design, the elastic shell may be made of an elastic material, such as beryllium copper, phosphor copper, thin steel or rubber. The elastic material may make the elastic shell deformable, which helps to achieve compression of the thermal pad.

[0011] In a possible design, when the thickness of the elastic shell is less than the first thickness, the thermal pad may further include an elastic structure connected between the first cover and the second cover.

[0012] Through the above design, when the thickness of the elastic shell is too small and the rebound force of the elastic shell cannot press the electronic device, an elastic structure can be provided so that the elastic structure and the rebound force provided by the elastic shell act together on the electronic components, thereby achieving compression of the electronic components, and then forming effective contact between the electronic components and the thermal pad to achieve effective heat transfer.

[0013] In a possible design, the thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink and the electronic component, and the pressure applied by the thermal pad to the electronic component is not less than the minimum pressure that the electronic component can withstand and not greater than the maximum pressure that the electronic component can withstand.

[0014] Through the above design, while compressing the thermal pad to reduce thermal resistance, it can also meet the force requirements of electronic components and avoid damage to the electronic components.

[0015] In a possible design, when the thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink and the electronic component, the thickness of the elastic shell is less than the first thickness, and the first thickness is the initial thickness of the thermal pad. In this way, the deformation ability of the elastic shell can be used to compress the thermal pad.

[0016] In a possible design, the thermal pad may further include a rat tail tube, which is hollow inside and passes through the first cover or the second cover, one end of the rat tail tube extends into the sealed cavity, and the other end is used to introduce liquid metal into the sealed cavity and then seal it. The rat tail tube can be integrally formed with the cover it passes through to simplify the preparation process.

[0017] In a further possible design, the elastic shell bulges outwards. For example, during the process of injecting liquid metal through the rat tail tube, the injection is stopped until the elastic shell bulges outwards, so as to ensure that the liquid metal fills the entire closed cavity, and the first cover and the second cover are connected through the filled liquid metal.

[0018] In a second aspect, the present application provides a heat dissipation device, comprising a heat sink, an electronic component and a thermal pad as in any design of the first aspect above, wherein the thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink and the electronic component, and the rebound force of the elastic shell is used to press the first cover toward the heat sink and the second cover shell toward the electronic component.

[0019] In the above design, by compressing the thermal pad between the heat sink and the electronic component, even if the gap between the electronic component and the heat sink is large due to deviations in the existing manufacturing process, the gap can be reduced by compressing the elastic shell, thereby reducing the thickness of the thermal pad, reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, and improving the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad, thereby improving the heat dissipation effect on the electronic component.

[0020] In a possible design, the heat dissipation device may further include a first heat dissipation layer, which is disposed between the first cover and the heat sink and is used to achieve heat dissipation from the first cover to the heat sink.

[0021] In a further possible design, the first heat dissipation layer may be a thermally conductive phase change material, thermally conductive gel, solder paste, silicone grease or other types of ultra-thin thermal pads. In this way, by designing the first heat dissipation layer to be a thermally conductive phase change material, thermally conductive gel or solder paste with good thermal conductivity, the thermal conductivity of the first heat dissipation layer can be improved. Alternatively, by designing the first heat dissipation layer to be a silicone grease or ultra-thin thermal pad with poor thermal conductivity but ultra-thin thickness, the thermal resistance of the first heat dissipation layer can be reduced, and the heat dissipation effect from the first cover to the radiator can be improved.

[0022] In a possible design, the heat dissipation device may further include a second heat dissipation layer, which is disposed between the second cover and the electronic component to achieve heat dissipation from the electronic component to the second cover.

[0023] In a further possible design, the second heat dissipation layer may be silicone grease, thermally conductive phase change material or thermally conductive gel. Thus, by designing the second heat dissipation layer to be a non-metallic material with good thermal conductivity or heat dissipation, the thermal resistance of the second heat dissipation layer can be reduced, the heat transfer effect from the electronic component to the second cover can be improved, and the risk of interference with the electronic component can be reduced by avoiding the use of metal heat dissipation materials.

[0024] In a possible design, the heat dissipation device may further include a circuit board, and the circuit board is used to carry electronic components to support and fix the electronic components.

[0025] In a further possible design, the circuit board and the heat sink may be fixedly connected by screw columns to clamp the electronic components and the thermal pad between the circuit board and the heat sink to prevent movement.

[0026] In a third aspect, the present application provides an electronic device, including a heat dissipation device as in any one of the designs of the second aspect above. The electronic device may be a vehicle-mounted device, a terminal device, a network device, a computing device, an industrial device, or a smart home device.

[0027] The implementation and beneficial effects of the first to third aspects above will be specifically introduced in the embodiment section. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing an exemplary relationship between the level of autonomous driving and computing power requirements;

[0029] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing a possible application scenario of a thermal pad provided by the present application is exemplified;

[0030] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the structure of a thermal conductive pad provided by the present application is exemplified;

[0031] Figure 4 A schematic diagram showing an exemplary manufacturing process of a thermal pad provided by the present application;

[0032] Figure 5 A schematic diagram showing an assembly method of a thermal pad provided by the present application is exemplified;

[0033] Figure 6 The structural schematic diagram of another thermal conductive pad provided by the present application is exemplified;

[0034] Figure 7 A schematic diagram showing the structure of a heat dissipation device provided by the present application is exemplified;

[0035] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a liquid cooling radiator provided by the present application is shown as an example;

[0036] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of an assembly process of a heat dissipation device provided by the present application is exemplified;

[0037] Fig.10 A schematic diagram showing a structure of a circuit board provided by the present application with multiple electronic components integrated thereon is exemplified;

[0038] Fig.11 A flowchart showing an exemplary evolution of an in-vehicle electronic and electrical architecture;

[0039] Fig.12 A possible functional framework diagram of a processor provided by the present application is exemplarily shown;

[0040] Fig.13 The functional framework diagram of an electronic device provided by the present application is exemplified. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] The following is an introduction to possible application scenarios of this application.

[0042] In one possible application scenario, the thermal pad in the present application can be applied to a vehicle. The vehicle can be, for example, a vehicle, a ship, an airplane, a high-speed train, a drone, a submarine, or a subway. For example, see Figure 2 Taking the application in vehicles as an example, the thermal pad can be used in conjunction with any electronic component in the car. For example, it can be connected between the electronic component and the radiator to conduct the heat of the electronic component to the radiator to achieve heat dissipation of the electronic component.

[0043] The above application scenarios can be applied to unmanned driving, automatic driving, assisted driving, intelligent driving, networked vehicles, security monitoring, biomedicine or mapping (such as 3D mapping) and other fields. For example, taking automatic driving as an example, the thermal pad can be used in conjunction with electronic components related to automatic driving in the car, such as automatic driving chips or automatic driving system-on-chip (SOC), to quickly and effectively dissipate heat to adapt to the automatic driving function with gradually increasing computing power.

[0044] It should be understood that the above application scenarios are only examples, and the thermal pads provided in this application can also be applied to other possible scenarios, not limited to the scenarios exemplified above. For example, thermal pads can also be applied to terminal devices as heat-conducting parts for chips or other electronic components in terminal devices to achieve heat evacuation of terminal devices. For another example, thermal pads can also be applied to computing devices to keep computing devices at the most suitable operating temperature and maintain the stability of computing power. For another example, thermal pads can also be applied to network equipment as heat-conducting parts for switches, base stations, gateways and other devices to achieve the stability of these devices interacting with other devices. For another example, thermal pads can also be applied to industrial equipment to achieve temperature controllability of industrial equipment under long-term working conditions. For another example, thermal pads can also be applied to smart home devices to maintain the safety of the user's living environment. And so on. They are not listed one by one here.

[0045] It should be noted that the application scenarios described in this application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of this application and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in this application.

[0046] As described in the background art, existing thermal pads are usually made of non-metallic materials, which cannot guarantee their thermal conductivity. In view of this, the present application provides a thermal pad that fills liquid metal in an elastic shell to achieve a better thermal conductivity by utilizing the high thermal conductivity of the liquid metal.

[0047] It should be noted that encapsulating liquid metal in an elastic shell for heat conduction is only a part of the invention of this application, and this application is also used to compress the thermal pad encapsulated with liquid metal when it is assembled between the radiator and the electronic component, so that the thickness of the thermal pad becomes thinner, thereby effectively reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad by utilizing the positive correlation between thickness and thermal resistance, and further improving the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad. Although there are some thermal pads in the prior art that encapsulate water and capillary cores in beryllium copper (an elastic material) to cool down, which looks similar to this application, since the capillary core is rigid, the existing thermal pad itself cannot be compressed. In other words, the thickness of this thermal pad can only be maintained at the initial thickness produced by the process, or may only be slightly smaller than the initial thickness. In comparison, this application not only replaces the thermal conductive material in the elastic shell, but also utilizes the elastic compression capacity of the elastic shell during assembly to achieve the thinning of the thickness of the thermal pad to further improve the thermal conductivity effect.

[0048] Based on the above content, the following Figure 3 To Attachment Fig.11 , the embodiments of the present application are described in detail.

[0049] See also Figure 3 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of a thermal pad provided in the present application. The thermal pad includes a first cover 310, a second cover 320, an elastic shell 330 and liquid metal 340, the elastic shell 330 is bent and closed into a tubular structure, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 are respectively installed at both ends of the tubular structure to form a closed cavity, and the closed cavity is used to contain the liquid metal 340.

[0050] For example, please refer to Figure 3 The thermal pad may further include a rat tail tube 350, the interior of the rat tail tube 350 is hollow, and passes through the first cover 310 or the second cover 320 (the figure takes passing through the second cover 320 as an example), one end of the rat tail tube 350 extends into the closed cavity, and the other end of the rat tail tube 350 is used to inject the liquid metal 340 into the closed cavity and then seal it.

[0051] Optionally, taking the rat tail pipe 350 passing through the second cover 320 as an example, see Figure 4, exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of a thermal pad provided by the present application, and the manufacturing process mainly includes the following steps:

[0052] Step 1, such as Figure 4 As shown in (A), the first cover 310 is cast.

[0053] Step 2, such as Figure 4 As shown in (B), the second cover 320 and the rat tail tube 350 are cast in one piece, and both ends of the rat tail tube 350 are connected.

[0054] Step three, such as Figure 4 As shown in (C), the elastic shell 330 is bent into a tubular structure.

[0055] Understandably, Figure 4 In (C), the elastic shell 330 is bent into a circular tube as an example, but it should be understood that the elastic shell 330 can also be bent into a tube of any other shape, such as an elliptical tube, a square tube, a rectangular tube, other polygonal tubes, an anisotropic tube, or a spliced ​​tube composed of at least two tubes.

[0056] Step 4: Figure 4 As shown in (D), the first cover 310 is installed at one end of the elastic shell 330, and the second cover 320 is installed at the other end of the elastic shell 330 to form a closed cavity.

[0057] Step 5: Figure 4 As shown in (E), the liquid metal 340 is injected into the closed cavity through the other end (k end) of the rat tail tube 350.

[0058] Step 6: Figure 4 As shown in (F), after the liquid metal 340 fills the sealed cavity, the k end of the rat tail tube is sealed. The sealing method may include but is not limited to: welding, extrusion, pasting, sealing with a sealing strip, slot locking or buckling, etc.

[0059] It is understandable that in step six, since the elastic shell 330 is opaque, in order to ensure that the liquid metal 340 fills the entire closed cavity, the injection can be stopped when the elastic shell 330 is slightly bulged through the rat tail tube 350. At this time, the elastic shell 330 presents a tubular structure bulging outward, such as Figure 3 or Figure 4 The bulging barrel shown.

[0060] Below Figure 3 or Figure 4 Each of the components involved is introduced and explained separately to provide an exemplary specific implementation scheme.

[0061] 1. First Cover and Second Cover

[0062] In an optional implementation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 may be set as metal covers. The metal cover can be considered to be made of a metal material with good thermal conductivity, such as a copper cover, an aluminum cover, a silver cover or a gold cover. The use of a metal cover can better transfer the heat of the device outside the first cover 310 (or the second cover 320) to the liquid metal, and can also better transfer the heat of the liquid metal to the device outside the second cover 320 (or the first cover 310), which helps to achieve effective heat conduction between the first cover 310 and the second cover 320.

[0063] In a further implementation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 may be metal covers of the same material or metal covers of different materials. For example, in one example, to reduce the cost of the thermal pad, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 may both be copper covers.

[0064] In an optional implementation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 are respectively mounted at both ends of the tubular structure, which can be understood as the first cover 310 being sealed and fixed to one end (such as the upper side in the figure) of the elastic shell 330, and the second cover 320 being sealed and fixed to the other end (such as the lower side in the figure) of the elastic shell 330. The sealing and fixing methods may include, but are not limited to: welding, pasting (adhesive or tape, etc.), sealing strip sealing, slot locking, buckling or clamping, etc., without specific limitation.

[0065] 2. Elastic Shell

[0066] It is understandable that the elastic shell 330 can be made of an elastic material. The elastic material may include, but is not limited to, beryllium copper, phosphor copper, thin steel or rubber. Optionally, considering that beryllium copper has advantages such as high thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, cold resistance and wear resistance, the elastic shell 330 can be made of beryllium copper.

[0067] In an alternative implementation, see Figure 5 When the thermal pad is used, the elastic shell 330 can be compressed between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420, and the electronic component 420 is usually placed on the circuit board 430. In other words, compared to Figure 3 The elastic shell 330 is shown in the initial state. Figure 5 The elastic shell 330 in the shown usage state will be more swollen, and the elastic shell 330 will have a larger deformation compared to the initial state, and the deformation is within the deformation capacity of the elastic shell 330, which can be pre-designed according to the actual application scenario.

[0068] In this implementation, by making the elastic shell 330 have a greater deformation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 can be pressed tightly between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420 by utilizing the rebound force generated by the deformation of the elastic shell 330. Figure 5 When placed in the manner shown in (A), the elastic shell 330 generates a rebound force due to deformation to press the first cover 310 tightly below the heat sink 410, and at the same time press the second cover 320 tightly above the electronic component 420, so that the heat of the electronic component 420 can be transferred to the heat sink 410 through the second cover 320, the liquid metal 340 and the first cover 310 in sequence. Figure 5 When placed in the manner shown in (B), the rebound force generated by the deformation of the elastic shell 330 can press the first cover 320 tightly above the electronic component 420 as shown in the figure, and at the same time press the second cover 310 tightly below the heat sink 410 as shown in the figure, so that the heat of the electronic component 420 can be transmitted to the heat sink through the first cover 310, the liquid metal 340 and the second cover 320 in sequence.

[0069] Exemplarily, when the deformation of the elastic shell 330 is fixed, the thickness of the elastic shell 330 can be determined by the force bearing capacity of the electronic component 420. For example, if the elastic shell 330 is to be compressed to a certain degree of deformation, the greater the thickness of the elastic shell 330, the greater the rebound force generated by compressing the elastic shell 330 to the deformation, and conversely, the smaller the thickness of the elastic shell 330, the smaller the rebound force generated by compressing the elastic shell 330 to the deformation. Therefore, when the deformation degree of the elastic shell 330 is fixed, the greater the force bearing capacity of the electronic component 420 used for compression, the thicker the elastic shell 330 can be designed, and the smaller the force bearing capacity of the electronic component 420 used for compression, the thinner the elastic shell 330 can be designed.

[0070] Further illustratively, Figure 5 Taking the assembly method shown in (A) as an example, assuming that the rebound force applied by the elastic shell 330 to the second cover 320 is the first pressure, and the first pressure is transferred to the electronic component 420 shown below through the second cover 320 and then converted into the second pressure, in order to ensure that the electronic component 420 is pressed tightly against the second cover 320 and will not be crushed by the second cover 320, the second pressure must be not less than the minimum pressure that the electronic component 420 can withstand and not greater than the maximum pressure that the electronic component 420 can withstand. Therefore, in one example, after the shape and deformation degree of the elastic shell 330 are designed, the first thickness when the second pressure is the minimum pressure that the electronic component 420 can withstand and the second thickness when the second pressure is the maximum pressure that the electronic component 420 can withstand can be tested by changing the thickness of the elastic shell 330. Therefore, when mass-producing the thermal pad, the thickness of the elastic shell 330 can be selected as a thickness that is not less than the first thickness and not greater than the second thickness, for example, it can be selected as the average thickness of the first thickness and the second thickness, so as to be compatible with the pressure deviation of the electronic component 420 caused by the manufacturing tolerance.

[0071] Further exemplary, considering that the thickness of the elastic shell 330 is too small, the elastic shell 330 itself may not be able to provide a rebound force that can compress the electronic component 420 (which can be understood as close contact), therefore, please refer to Figure 6 In the case where the thickness of the elastic shell 330 is less than the first thickness, the thermal pad may further include an elastic structure 360, which is connected between the first cover 310 and the second cover 320. The first thickness may be considered to be the thickness when the maximum rebound force provided by the elastic shell 330 is just enough to press the electronic component 420. The thickness may be set by those skilled in the art based on experience, or may be obtained through experimental testing, and is not specifically limited.

[0072] It is understandable that when the thermal pad is not compressed between the radiator 410 and the electronic component 420, the elastic shell 330 and the elastic structure 360 ​​are both in a relaxed state, or are both in a slightly compressed state due to ensuring that they are filled with liquid metal. When the thermal pad is compressed between the radiator 410 and the electronic component 420, the elastic shell 330 and the elastic structure 360 ​​are both in a state of deep compression. In the state of deep compression, the rebound force of the elastic shell 330 and the rebound force of the elastic structure 360 ​​act on the electronic component 420 together, and the rebound force of the elastic structure 360 ​​is used to supplement the insufficient elastic force of the elastic shell 330, so as to achieve close contact between the second cover 320 and the electronic component 420, thereby achieving effective heat conduction between the second cover 320 and the electronic component 420.

[0073] It is further understood that the greater the degree to which the elastic shell 330 is compressed, the smaller the thickness of the thermal pad will become. Studies have found that the thermal resistance of the thermal pad is positively correlated with the thickness of the thermal pad. Therefore, in order to further reduce the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, the thermal pad can be compressed as much as possible after the thermal pad is placed between the radiator 410 and the electronic component 420, until the pressure provided by the elastic shell 330 (or also including the elastic structure 360) to the electronic component 420 reaches the maximum pressure that the electronic component 420 can withstand, or the pressure provided by the elastic shell 330 (or also including the elastic structure 360) to the radiator 410 reaches the maximum pressure that the radiator 410 can withstand. In this state, the thickness of the thermal pad reaches the maximum bearing capacity of the electronic component 420 or the radiator 410, so that the thickness of the thermal pad is the minimum feasible thickness, the thermal resistance of the thermal pad is minimized, and the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad is the best.

[0074] It should be noted that compressing the thickness of the thermal pad to the minimum feasible thickness is only an optional implementation. In actual operation, the thickness of the thermal pad can be compressed to any thickness between the initial thickness and the minimum feasible thickness, which can be set according to actual needs without limitation.

[0075] 3. Liquid Metal

[0076] It is understood that liquid metal refers to a metal or alloy that is liquid and fluid at room temperature or a lower heating temperature, and its melting point is usually not more than the melting temperature of aluminum (660.37°C). Some examples of liquid metals include, but are not limited to, the following metals or their alloys: mercury, cesium, gallium, rubidium, potassium, sodium, indium, lithium, tin, bismuth, thallium, cadmium, lead, zinc, antimony, magnesium, aluminum, etc.

[0077] use Figure 3 The thermal pad shown, by filling liquid metal in the elastic shell, can not only utilize the high thermal conductivity of the liquid metal to achieve a good thermal conductivity effect, but also utilize the compressibility of the elastic shell to compress the thermal pad when assembling it, thereby reducing the thickness of the thermal pad as much as possible, thereby reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad and further improving the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad. In this way, the heat of the electronic components is efficiently conducted away through the thermal pad, which helps to effectively dissipate the heat of the electronic components.

[0078] The above content introduces the structure of the thermal pad, and the heat dissipation device equipped with the thermal pad will be introduced below.

[0079] See also Figure 7 , exemplarily showing a schematic diagram of the structure of a heat dissipation device provided by the present application. The heat dissipation device includes a heat sink 410, an electronic component 420 and a thermal pad described in any of the above embodiments. The thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420. For example, please refer to Figure 3 and Figure 7 When the thermal pad is not used, the elastic shell 330 has a first deformation, but when the thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420, the elastic shell 330 has a second deformation, and the bulging degree of the elastic shell 330 under the second deformation is greater than the bulging degree of the elastic shell 330 under the first deformation, and the second deformation is greater than the first deformation. In this way, the rebound force of the elastic shell 330 under the second deformation can press the first cover 310 toward the heat sink 410 and the second cover 320 toward the electronic component 420, so as to achieve effective heat conduction between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420.

[0080] It is understandable that the heat sink 410 can be a heat sink of any one or more heat dissipation modes, such as a liquid cooling heat sink, an air cooling heat sink, a semiconductor refrigerator or a heat pipe heat sink. Figure 8 , showing a schematic structural diagram of a liquid-cooled radiator provided in the present application, the liquid-cooled radiator having a hollow cavity, a plurality of fin tubes 411 are arranged in the hollow cavity, salt water or low-temperature water is passed through the fin tubes 411 to cool the air in the hollow cavity.

[0081] In an alternative implementation, see Figure 7The heat dissipation device may further include a first heat dissipation layer 451, which is disposed between the first cover 310 and the heat sink 410, and is used to achieve heat dissipation from the first cover 310 to the heat sink 410. The first heat dissipation layer 451 may be, for example, a thermally conductive phase change material, a thermally conductive gel, solder paste, silicone grease or other types of ultra-thin thermal pads. Thermally conductive phase change materials, thermally conductive gels and solder pastes are materials with good thermal conductivity, and using them as the first heat dissipation layer 451 can improve the thermal conductivity effect from the first cover 310 to the heat sink 410. In addition, although silicone grease or other types of ultra-thin thermal pads may not be materials with particularly ideal thermal conductivity, they can be made particularly thin to reduce the thermal resistance of the first heat dissipation layer 451, which can also improve the heat dissipation effect from the first cover 310 to the heat sink 410.

[0082] In an alternative implementation, see Figure 7 The heat dissipation device may further include a second heat dissipation layer 452, which is disposed between the second cover 320 and the electronic component 420 and is used to dissipate heat from the electronic component 420 to the second cover 320. The second heat dissipation layer 452 may be made of non-metallic materials with good thermal conductivity or heat dissipation, such as silicone grease, thermally conductive phase change material, thermally conductive gel or other types of ultra-thin thermal pads, etc., so that the thermal resistance of the second heat dissipation layer 452 can be reduced, the heat transfer effect from the electronic component 420 to the second cover 320 can be improved, and the risk of interference with the electronic component 420 can be reduced by avoiding the use of metal heat dissipation materials.

[0083] It is understandable that the first heat dissipation layer 451 or the second heat dissipation layer 452 can not only realize the heat dissipation function between the upper and lower layer devices, but also exist as a fixing part. For example, the first cover 310 and the radiator 410 are fixedly connected by solder paste welding or silicone grease filling (or other types of first heat dissipation layer 451), and the second cover 320 and the electronic component 420 are fixedly connected by silicone grease filling (or other types of second heat dissipation layer 452). However, this is only an optional implementation method. In actual assembly, the first cover 310 and the radiator 410, or the second cover 320 and the radiator 420 can also be fixed by other methods, such as threaded screws.

[0084] In an alternative implementation, see Figure 7 The heat dissipation device may further include a circuit board 430, and the circuit board 430 is used to carry the electronic component 420. For example, the electronic component 420 may be fixed on the circuit board 430. The circuit board 430 may be, for example, a printed circuit board (PCB), a ceramic circuit board, a circuit board, an aluminum substrate, a high-frequency board, a thick copper board, or an impedance board.

[0085] In a further optional implementation, the circuit board 430 may also be fixedly connected to the heat sink 410, wherein the fixed connection method may include but is not limited to: screw column connection, spline connection, wedge pin connection, welding, riveting or tenon fitting, etc. For example, taking the screw column connection as an example, please continue to refer to Figure 7 The heat dissipation device 430 may further include a screw column 440, which is fixed to the heat sink 410, for example, it may be integrally formed with the heat sink 410. Correspondingly, a screw hole may be provided on the circuit board 430 at a position corresponding to the screw column 440, and the heat sink 410 and the circuit board 430 are fixed together by screwing the screw column 440 into the screw hole, thereby clamping the electronic component 420 and the thermal pad carried on the circuit board 430 between the circuit board 430 and the heat sink 410 to prevent movement.

[0086] Optionally, taking the first heat dissipation layer 451 as solder paste and the second heat dissipation layer 452 as silicone grease as an example, please refer to Fig. 9 , exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an assembly process of a heat dissipation device provided by the present application. The assembly process takes the assembly of a thermal pad as an example and mainly includes the following steps:

[0087] Step 1, such as Fig. 9 As shown in (A), the electronic component 420 is fixed on the circuit board 430;

[0088] Step 2, such as Fig. 9 As shown in (B), the first cover 310 of the thermal pad and the heat sink 410 are soldered together by solder paste;

[0089] Step 2, such as Fig. 9 As shown in (C), after aligning the threaded hole on the circuit board 430 and the screw column 440 integrally formed with the heat sink 410, the circuit board 430 and the heat sink 410 are assembled together, and silicone grease is filled between the second cover 320 of the thermal pad and the electronic component 420;

[0090] Step 4: Fig. 9 As shown in (D), the screw column 440 is screwed into the threaded hole on the circuit board 430 and further tightened, so that the thermal pad is squeezed, the elastic shell 330 on the thermal pad bulges outward, the elastic shell 330 is compressed, and the thickness of the thermal pad becomes shorter. The compressed elastic shell 330 presses the first cover 310 below the heat sink 410 as shown in the figure, and presses the second cover 320 above the electronic component 420 as shown in the figure.

[0091] Exemplarily, according to the thickness and shape design of the elastic shell 330 in the aforementioned thermal pad introduction section, the thickness of the elastic shell 330 itself in the present application can be compressed by about 50%. In this way, even if the screw column 440 and the electronic component 420 have a certain height tolerance due to the existing manufacturing process, so that the gap between the electronic component 420 and the radiator 410 is about 1 to 2 mm, the elastic shell 330 can be used to compress the gap to 0.5 to 1 mm during the assembly process, thereby greatly reducing the thickness of the thermal pad, effectively reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, and improving the thermal conductivity. For example, it is found that compared with the existing 1 to 2 mm thick silicone thermal pad, the thermal conductivity efficiency of the thermal pad provided by the present application can be increased by at least 22%, which greatly improves the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad.

[0092] It should be noted that the above contents are all introduced based on the example of carrying an electronic component 420 on a circuit board 430. In some scenarios, the circuit board 430 may also carry multiple electronic components 420 at the same time. For example, in the development of autonomous driving, as the required computing power increases, the vehicle will most likely work with multiple electronic components (such as on-board chips). These multiple electronic components may be distributed on a single-layer circuit board in the form of a planar array, or they may be distributed on a multi-layer circuit board in the form of a three-dimensional array. In this scenario, each electronic component can correspond to a thermal pad individually.

[0093] For example, see Fig.10 , for example, taking the case where two electronic components 4201 and 4202 are carried on a single-layer circuit board 430, both of the electronic components 4201 and 4202 can be connected to the radiator 410 through their corresponding thermal pads for heat dissipation. For example, the electronic component 4201 is connected to the radiator 410 through the corresponding thermal pad (including the first cover 3101, the second cover 3201, the elastic shell 3301 and the liquid metal 3401) and the corresponding first heat dissipation layer 4511 and the second heat dissipation layer 4521 for heat dissipation, and the electronic component 4202 is connected to the radiator 410 through the corresponding thermal pad (including the first cover 3102, the second cover 3202, the elastic shell 3302 and the liquid metal 3402) and the corresponding first heat dissipation layer 4512 and the second heat dissipation layer 4522 for heat dissipation.

[0094] It is understandable that due to the influence of manufacturing tolerances, the thicknesses of electronic components 4201 and 4202 may not be the same. For example, the electronic component 4202 shown in the figure has a greater thickness than the electronic component 4201. However, since the thermal pad used is elastic, these thickness deviations can be absorbed by compressing the thermal pad to different thicknesses. The thinner the thermal pad is compressed, the smaller the thermal resistance during the heat transfer process, and the easier it is to quickly transfer the heat of the electronic components to the heat sink 410 above.

[0095] In addition, the aforementioned electronic components may be any device or combination of devices with processing capabilities. For example, in the field of intelligent driving, the electronic components may be electronic control units (ECUs) used in vehicles to implement autonomous driving functions. The vehicle may be a vehicle under any electrical / electronic architecture (EEA) that currently exists or may evolve in the future, for example, see Fig.11 , which exemplifies a flow chart of the evolution of vehicle-mounted EEA, such as Fig.11 As shown:

[0096] In one example, the vehicle may be a traditional distributed electrical and electronic architecture (distributed EEA), which has evolved from a functional modularization stage to a functional integration stage. In the functional modularization stage, a single ECU is usually responsible for controlling only a single function, such as one ECU for the lights on the vehicle, one ECU for the doors, and one ECU for the keyless system. In the functional integration stage, a single ECU may be responsible for multiple functional units, such as the doors and keyless systems are controlled by one ECU.

[0097] In distributed EEA vehicles, the electronic components may be ECUs responsible for implementing a single function or multiple functions, such as light controllers, door controllers, keyless systems, or integrated controllers for controlling doors and keyless systems.

[0098] In another example, the vehicle may be a domain-centralized EEA, which is currently more commonly used. The domain-centralized EEA has evolved from the domain integration stage to the cross-domain fusion stage. In the domain integration stage, the entire vehicle is divided into multiple domains according to function, such as the power domain, chassis domain, body domain, cockpit domain and autonomous driving domain. The domain controller of each domain is connected to all ECUs in the corresponding domain. In the cross-domain fusion stage, multiple domain controllers are cross-domain fused and uniformly controlled by a cross-domain control unit. For example, in a cross-domain fusion solution, the power domain, chassis domain and body domain are merged into the vehicle control domain.

[0099] In domain-centralized EEA vehicles, electronic components can be domain controllers of a single functional domain, cross-domain integrated domain controllers, or ECUs in any domain, such as power domain controllers, chassis domain controllers, body domain controllers, cockpit domain controllers, autonomous driving domain controllers, vehicle domain controllers, or the ECUs they manage.

[0100] In another example, the vehicle may be a vehicle-centralized EEA that may evolve in the future. The vehicle-centralized EEA is expected to evolve from the vehicle-based computer computing stage to the vehicle-based cloud computing stage. In the vehicle-based computer computing stage, the functional domain will be further upgraded to a more general vehicle-based computer computing platform, crossing from the functional domain to the region (such as the left front domain, left rear domain, right front domain, and right rear domain), and each region will be equipped with a corresponding zonal control unit (ZCU). In the vehicle-based cloud computing stage, some or all of the functions on the vehicle will be further transferred to the cloud, and the sensors and actuators on the vehicle will be software-defined and controllable. The components on the vehicle will gradually become standard parts, further simplifying the in-vehicle architecture and completely realizing software-defined vehicle functions.

[0101] In vehicle-centralized EEA vehicles, the electronic components can be an on-board computer computing platform, a ZCU in any one or more areas, an ECU in a ZCU, or an ECU that can be defined by software, etc.

[0102] It should be understood that the above content only introduces the possible situations of electronic components by taking the autonomous driving in a vehicle as an example, and this application does not limit the electronic components to only those in the vehicle. For example, in some other scenarios, the electronic components can also be components with processing functions in terminal equipment, network equipment, servers, industrial equipment, smart furniture equipment or smart grids.

[0103] Based on the structure and functional principle of the thermal pad described above, the present application can also provide a processor. Fig.12 , which is a possible functional framework diagram of a processor provided in the present application. The processor 1200 may be, for example, an integrated chip, and may include one or more processing units 1210 and a peripheral circuit 1220 arranged around each processing unit 1210. Any processing unit 1210 may be connected to a heat sink via a thermal pad in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0104] In some examples, the processing unit 1210 can be an application processor (AP), a modem processing unit, a graphics processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a video codec unit, a digital signal processor (DSP), a baseband processing unit, and / or a neural-network processing unit (NPU), etc., or it can also be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a SoC, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD) or other devices with processing capabilities.

[0105] In some examples, the peripheral circuit 1220 may include, but is not limited to: a general unit, an accelerator unit, an input / output control unit, an interface unit, an external buffer, an internal buffer, etc. Among them, the memory (such as the internal memory and the external buffer) may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories, without specific limitation.

[0106] Understandably, Fig.12 The functional framework shown does not constitute a specific limitation on the processor. In other embodiments of the present application, the processor may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or arrange the components differently, or arrange them in different positions, without specific limitation.

[0107] Based on the structure and functional principle of the processor described above, the present application can also provide an electronic device. Fig.13 , is a possible functional framework diagram of an electronic device provided by the present application, the electronic device 1300 may include a processor 1310 and a memory 1320, or may further include a transceiver 1330. Among them, the processor 1310 may be the aforementioned processor 1200. The processor 1310 and its peripheral components, such as the memory 1320 and the transceiver 1330, may be connected through a bus, such as through an IO bus. The processor 1310 can read and write data in the memory 1320 through the IO bus.

[0108] The memory 1320 may be specifically an internal memory, which may be used to store computer executable program codes, and the executable program codes include instructions. The internal memory may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Among them, the program storage area may store an operating system, an application required for at least one function (such as a call function, a time setting function, etc.), etc. The data storage area may store data created during the use of the electronic device (such as a phone book, world time, etc.), etc. In addition, the internal memory may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, a universal flash storage (UFS), etc. The processor 1310 executes various functional applications and data processing of the electronic device 1300 by running instructions stored in the internal memory.

[0109] In some scenarios, the electronic device 1300 may further include an external memory interface, and the electronic device 1300 may be connected to an external memory card, such as a Micro SD card, through the external memory interface to expand its storage capacity. For example, the external memory card communicates with the processor 1310 through the external memory interface to implement a data storage function.

[0110] The transceiver 1330 can enable the electronic device 1300 to communicate wirelessly with the outside world, and can provide wireless local area networks (WLAN) (such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), Bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), frequency modulation (FM), near field communication (NFC), infrared (IR) and other wireless communication solutions. The transceiver 1330 can be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The transceiver 1330 receives electromagnetic waves via an antenna, modulates and filters the electromagnetic wave signals, and sends the processed signals to the processor 1310. The transceiver 1330 can also receive the signal to be sent from the processor 1310, modulate and amplify it, and convert it into electromagnetic waves for radiation through the antenna.

[0111] In some examples, the electronic device may be a terminal device, such as a mobile phone, a computer, a smart watch, a virtual reality device, a projector, a smart camera, etc. Alternatively, the electronic device may be a means of transportation, such as a car, an airplane, a ship, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a subway, a train, a truck, etc. Alternatively, the electronic device may be a computer, such as a desktop computer, a handheld computer, a laptop computer, a computer cluster, etc. Alternatively, the electronic device may be a network device, such as a gateway, a switch, a router, a firewall, a bridge, a wireless access point, a modem, a fiber optic transceiver, etc.

[0112] in addition, Fig.13 The electronic device functional framework provided is only an example. In other embodiments of the present application, the electronic device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine some components, or split some components, or arrange the components differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0113] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or provided in a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between the different embodiments are consistent and may be referenced to each other, and the technical features in the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0114] In the present application, "thickness" does not refer to absolute thickness, which may have certain engineering errors. "Shape" does not refer to an absolutely uniform shape, which may have certain engineering errors. "At least one" refers to one or more, and "multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can represent: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple. In the text description of the present application, the character " / " generally indicates that the front and back associated objects are in an "or" relationship. In the formula of the present application, the character " / " indicates that the front and back associated objects are in a "divided" relationship. In addition, in this application, the word "exemplarily" is used to mean an example, illustration or description. Any embodiment or design described as an "example" in this application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Alternatively, it can be understood that the use of the word "example" is intended to present concepts in a specific way and does not constitute a limitation on this application.

[0115] It is to be understood that the various digital numbers involved in the present application are only for the convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic. The terms "first", "second" and similar expressions are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, including a series of steps or units. Methods, systems, products or equipment are not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or equipment.

Claims

1. A thermal pad, characterized in that: It includes a first cover, a second cover, an elastic shell and liquid metal; The elastic shell is bent and closed into a tubular structure, the first cover and the second cover are respectively installed at two ends of the tubular structure to form a closed cavity, and the closed cavity is used to contain the liquid metal; The thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink and the electronic component, and the rebound force of the elastic shell is used to press the first cover toward the heat sink and the second cover toward the surface of the electronic component. The pressure applied by the thermal pad to the electronic component is not less than the minimum pressure that the electronic component can withstand and not greater than the maximum pressure that the electronic component can withstand.

2. The thermal pad according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first cover and the second cover are metal covers.

3. The thermal pad according to claim 1, wherein: The elastic shell is made of beryllium copper, phosphor bronze, thin steel or rubber.

4. The thermally conductive pad according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: In a case where the thickness of the elastic shell is less than the first thickness, the thermal pad further includes an elastic structure connected between the first cover and the second cover.

5. The thermally conductive pad according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The thermal pad also includes a rat tail tube, which is hollow inside and passes through the first cover or the second cover. One end of the rat tail tube extends into the closed cavity, and the other end is used to introduce the liquid metal into the closed cavity and then seal it.

6. A heat dissipation device, characterized in that: A heat sink, an electronic component and a thermal pad as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5; The thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink and the electronic component, and the rebound force of the elastic shell is used to press the first cover toward the heat sink and the second cover toward the surface of the electronic component.

7. The heat dissipation device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The heat dissipation device further includes a first heat dissipation layer, which is disposed between the first cover and the heat sink.

8. The heat dissipation device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The first heat dissipation layer is silicone grease, thermally conductive phase change material, thermally conductive gel or solder paste.

9. The heat dissipation device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that: The heat dissipation device further includes a second heat dissipation layer disposed between the second cover and the electronic component.

10. The heat dissipation device according to claim 9, characterized in that: The second heat dissipation layer is silicone grease, thermally conductive phase change material or thermally conductive gel.

11. The heat dissipation device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that: The heat dissipation device further comprises a circuit board, and the circuit board is used for carrying the electronic components.

12. The heat dissipation device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The circuit board is fixedly connected to the heat sink via screw columns.

13. An electronic device, characterized in that: Comprising the heat dissipation device as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 12.

Images