Cooler shell and cooler
Through the combination of aluminum-plastic design and elastic material coating, the problem of difficult and high cost of processing of cooler shells is solved, and a cooler shell with high thermal conductivity and low cost is achieved, which is suitable for water-cooled heat dissipation of inverters of new energy vehicles.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202421893869.9
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-08-06
- Publication Date
- 2025-07-04
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-08-06
AI Technical Summary
The existing cooler shell is difficult to process, has high cost and low thermal conductivity. Die casting is prone to pores and rough surfaces, and the mold costs are high and the lifespan is short.
The aluminum-plastic combination design is adopted, the plate is stamped aluminum, and the frame is injection molded. The joint is coated with elastic materials to eliminate stress caused by the difference in thermal expansion coefficient and reduce processing difficulty and cost.
The thermal conductivity is improved by 85%, the weight is reduced by 50%, the after-treatment steps and mold costs are reduced, and the low-cost, high-thermal conductivity cooler housing is realized.
Smart Images
Figure CN223067400U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of automobile cooling, in particular to a cooler housing and a cooler. Background Art
[0002] A cooler is a widely used heat exchange device, and in the field of new energy vehicles, it is usually used for water-cooled heat dissipation of inverters.
[0003] The cooler housing is usually formed by die-casting metal. However, on the one hand, due to the unstable flow state of the liquid metal used in die-casting, the formed cooler housing is prone to porosity. The pores will cause the surface of the cooler housing to be rough or even deformed due to gas expansion during heat treatment, and without heat treatment, it will seriously affect the hardness, strength and other properties of the cooler housing, resulting in the failure of the housing. Even if a mature cooler housing is produced through complex processes, its thermal conductivity is still not ideal. On the other hand, the die-cast cooler housing also requires a large amount of post-treatment, such as sandblasting, machining, high-pressure cleaning, etc., and the cost of post-treatment is high. On the other hand, the processing cost of die-casting molds is also relatively high, and the service life of the molds is low. Summary of the Utility Model
[0004] The purpose of the utility model is to solve the technical problems of the existing cooler housing, such as high processing difficulty, high processing cost and low thermal conductivity. The utility model provides a cooler housing and a cooler, which can achieve low cost and high thermal conductivity with relatively low processing difficulty.
[0005] To solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the utility model discloses a cooler housing, including a frame and a plate body. The plate body is made of stamped aluminum, the frame is injection-molded on the plate body, and the plate body is located at the bottom of the frame; the inner wall of the frame and the upper surface of the plate body define a cooling cavity for the cooling medium to flow through.
[0006] The traditional cooler housing is usually integrally formed by die-casting metal. For example, a complete traditional cooler housing is made of die-cast aluminum at one time, that is to say, the bottom plate and the support frame of the traditional cooler housing are integrally formed. While adopting the technical scheme of the embodiment of the present application, the cooler housing is made by a split processing method, that is, the cooler housing of the embodiment of the present application is a new design of an aluminum-plastic combined cooler housing. Specifically, on the one hand, the plate body in the cooler housing is made of stamped aluminum, and the surface of the stamped aluminum plate body is relatively smooth, without generating tiny pores that affect heat treatment, and the possibility of deformation and failure is relatively low. At the same time, compared with the traditional die-cast housing, the thermal conductivity of the stamped aluminum plate body can be effectively increased by 85%.
[0007] On the other hand, the frame in the cooler housing is directly injection-molded on the stamped aluminum plate body. Compared with the conventionally die-cast housing, the injection-molded frame in the embodiments of the present application effectively reduces the weight by about 50%, which is beneficial to the lightweight production of electronic devices (such as coolers, and further such as inverters applying such coolers), and the cost is relatively low.
[0008] For the complete cooler housing after molding, the processing difficulty of the plate body and the frame in the embodiments of the present application is relatively low, the processing precision is relatively high, and the process is simple. Therefore, the molded cooler housing does not need post-treatments such as sandblasting, machining, and high-pressure cleaning, effectively reducing the manufacturing cost. Secondly, the service life of the molding dies used for the plate body and the frame respectively is relatively high, and the die cost is relatively low, further reducing the production cost of the cooler housing.
[0009] According to another specific embodiment of the present invention, the plate body is coated with an elastic material, and the frame is injection-molded on the plate body coated with the elastic material.
[0010] Adopting the above technical solution, based on the above-mentioned aluminum-plastic combined cooler housing design in the embodiments of the present application, due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the stamped aluminum and the plastic, when the frame is injection-molded on the plate body, there may be a potential separation force at the joint between the two. Therefore, an elastic material can be coated on the plate body in the embodiments of the present application (specifically, the elastic material is coated on the joint of the plate body and the plastic coating), and then the plate body coated with the elastic material is placed into an external injection mold, and then the frame is injection-molded. The elastic material medium at the joint between the two can effectively eliminate the influence of the thermal deformation coefficients of different materials, that is, the elastic material can eliminate the stress generated between the plate body and the frame due to different thermal expansion coefficients.
[0011] According to another specific embodiment of the present invention, the elastic material includes NBR glue.
[0012] Adopting the above technical solution, NBR nitrile rubber glue has good water resistance, airtightness, high temperature resistance, and antistatic properties, and can be applicable to the working environment where the cooler in the automotive inverter is in long-term contact with the coolant.
[0013] According to another specific embodiment of the present invention, the elastic material includes liquid silicone.
[0014] Adopting the above technical solution, liquid silicone has good resilience, thermal stability, and heat aging resistance. In addition, the transparency of liquid silicone is high, and during the injection molding process of the frame, it is convenient to see the situation where the plate body positioned in the injection mold is coated with plastic.
[0015] According to another specific embodiment of the present utility model, the plate body includes a first plate body, a second plate body, and a third plate body that are integrally formed. The third plate body is located between the first plate body and the second plate body. The third plate body includes a positioning portion for positioning the plate body to an external injection mold. Along the length direction and the width direction of the plate body, the positioning portion protrudes relative to the first plate body and the second plate body, and the elastic material is coated on the positioning portion.
[0016] According to another specific embodiment of the present utility model, the inner wall of the frame and the first surface of the first plate body define the cooling inner cavity, and the second surface of the second plate body is a heat dissipation surface for an electronic component to contact.
[0017] An embodiment of the present utility model also discloses a cooler, including the cooler housing in any of the above embodiments. Description of the Drawings
[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing the application scenario of the cooler in an embodiment of the present utility model.
[0019] Figure 2 A bottom view showing the cooler housing in an embodiment of the present utility model.
[0020] Figure 3 A perspective view showing the cooler housing in an embodiment of the present utility model; wherein, the state after injection molding is shown in the figure.
[0021] Figure 4 An exploded view showing the cooler housing in an embodiment of the present utility model.
[0022] Figure 5 A perspective view showing the plate body in the cooler housing in an embodiment of the present utility model Figure 1 .
[0023] Figure 6 A perspective view showing the plate body in the cooler housing in an embodiment of the present utility model Figure 2 . Specific Embodiments
[0024] The following specific embodiments illustrate the implementation manners of the present utility model. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present utility model from the content disclosed in this specification. Although the description of the present utility model will be introduced in conjunction with preferred embodiments, this does not mean that the features of this utility model are limited to this implementation manner. On the contrary, the purpose of introducing the utility model in conjunction with the implementation manner is to cover other alternatives or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present utility model. In order to provide a deep understanding of the present utility model, many specific details will be included in the following description. The present utility model can also be implemented without using these details. In addition, in order to avoid confusing or obscuring the key points of the present utility model, some specific details will be omitted in the description. It should be noted that, without conflict, the embodiments in the present utility model and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other.
[0025] It should be noted that in this specification, similar reference numerals and letters indicate similar items in the following drawings. Therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be further defined and explained in subsequent drawings.
[0026] In the description of this embodiment, it should be noted that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by terms such as "upper", "lower", "inner", "bottom", etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, or the orientation or positional relationship in which the utility model product is usually placed during use. It is only for the convenience of describing the present utility model and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation to the present utility model.
[0027] Terms such as "first", "second", etc. are only used for distinguishing descriptions and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.
[0028] In the description of this embodiment, it should also be noted that unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "set", "connected", "connected to" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and it can be the communication inside two elements. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in this embodiment can be understood according to specific situations.
[0029] To make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present utility model clearer, the implementation manners of the present utility model will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
[0030] Refer to Figure 1, an embodiment of the present application provides a cooler, which includes a cooler housing 1 and a heat-conducting substrate 2. It can be seen that the cooler housing 1 has a cooling inner cavity 10 for the external cooling medium to flow through, and the heat-conducting substrate 2 covers the top of the cooler housing 1, and a plurality of heat dissipation fins 21 at the bottom of the heat-conducting substrate 2 are located in the cooling inner cavity 10.
[0031] Further, the top of the cooler is used to support the heating element that needs to dissipate heat (such as the power module 3), and the bottom of the cooler is used to contact the heating element whose heat dissipation requirement is lower than that of the power module 3 but still generates a certain amount of heat during operation (such as the DC-Link capacitor 4, that is, the DC support capacitor). Specifically, a plurality of power modules 3 are installed on the top of the heat-conducting substrate 2 of the cooler, and the DC-Link capacitor 4 is in contact with the outer bottom wall 13 of the cooler housing 1.
[0032] Refer to Figure 1 and combine with Figure 2 , the working principle of this cooler is as follows: the heat generated by the power module 3 will be transferred to the cooling medium in the cooling inner cavity 10 through the heat-conducting substrate 2, and the cooling medium flows through the liquid inlet 100 and the liquid outlet 110 on the cooler housing 1, so as to effectively cool the power module 3. At the same time, the above-mentioned outer bottom wall 13 of the cooler can also be used for heat conduction, so the heat generated by the DC-Link capacitor 4 during operation will also be transferred to the cooling medium in the cooling inner cavity 10, thereby correspondingly realizing the temperature reduction and cooling of the DC-Link capacitor 4.
[0033] Traditional cooler housings are usually formed by die-casting aluminum. However, the die-cast aluminum cooler housing is extremely prone to pores, resulting in rough or even deformed surfaces, and difficult processing; moreover, a large amount of post-processing is required, resulting in a high processing cost; at the same time, the thermal conductivity of the die-cast aluminum cooler housing is not ideal (generally about 130 W / mK); in addition, the cost of the die-casting mold used for die-cast aluminum is very high, but its service life is relatively short.
[0034] Refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 , based on the above technical problems, the cooler housing 1 of the embodiment of the present application includes a frame 11 and a plate body 12. It should be noted that Figure 3 The exemplary figure shows a three-dimensional view of the cooler housing after processing and forming; Figure 4 The exemplary figure shows an exploded view of the cooler housing, and this exploded view is only for facilitating the structural schematic, and does not represent the production process of the cooler housing 1.
[0035] The plate body 12 is made of stamped aluminum, the frame 11 is injection-molded on the plate body 12, and the plate body 12 is located at the bottom of the frame 11 (such as Figure 3 shown in the Z1 direction in the figure). Figure 3 andFigure 4 The frame 11 shown exemplarily in the figure is rectangular, and the plate body 12 is an irregular pentagon. However, the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the shapes and sizes of the frame 11 and the plate body 12.
[0036] Exemplarily, the frame 11 and the plate body 12 of the embodiments of the present application can be processed by insert injection molding. That is, first, the plate body 12 (i.e., the insert) made of stamped aluminum is pre-embedded and positioned in the injection mold, and then the frame 11 is injection molded. After the mold is opened, the plate body 12 is wrapped and buried at the bottom of the frame 11.
[0037] Refer to Figure 3 , it can be seen that a cooling cavity 10 is defined by the inner wall 111 of the frame 11 and the upper surface of the plate body 12. The cooling cavity 10 is used for the circulation of a cooling medium.
[0038] Conventionally, the cooler housing is usually integrally formed by die casting of metal. However, with the above technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, the cooler housing 1 is made by a split processing method. That is, the cooler housing 1 of the embodiments of the present application is a new design of an aluminum-plastic combined cooler housing 1. Specifically, on the one hand, the plate body 12 in the cooler housing 1 is made of stamped aluminum. The surface of the stamped aluminum plate body 12 is relatively smooth, and there will be no tiny air holes that affect heat treatment, and the possibility of deformation and failure is relatively low. At the same time, compared with the conventionally die-cast housing, the thermal conductivity of the stamped aluminum plate body 12 can be effectively increased by 85% (for example, the thermal conductivity is increased to 240 W / mK).
[0039] On the other hand, the frame 11 in the cooler housing 1 is directly injection molded on the stamped aluminum plate body 12. Compared with the conventionally die-cast housing, the injection-molded frame 11 of the embodiments of the present application effectively reduces the weight by about 50%, which is beneficial to the lightweight production of electronic devices (such as coolers, and for another example, inverters using such coolers), and the cost is relatively low.
[0040] For the complete cooler housing 1 after molding, the processing difficulties of the plate body 12 and the frame 11 of the embodiments of the present application are both relatively low, the processing precision is relatively high, and the processes are simple. Therefore, the molded cooler housing 1 does not require post-treatment such as sandblasting, machining, and high-pressure cleaning, effectively reducing the manufacturing cost. Secondly, the service life of the molding molds used for the plate body 12 and the frame 11 is relatively high and the mold cost is relatively low, further reducing the production cost of the cooler housing 1.
[0041] Refer to Figure 5 and Figure 6 , in a possible implementation manner, the plate body 12 includes a first plate body 121, a second plate body 122, and a third plate body 123 that are integrally formed. It should be noted that Figure 5 and Figure 6Perspective views of the plate body 12 are respectively shown exemplarily, where Figure 6 The shown plate body 12 is a structural schematic perspective view. For the convenience of structural illustration only, the first plate body 121, the second plate body 122, and the third plate body 123 are actually integrally formed.
[0042] It can be seen that the third plate body 123 is located between the first plate body 121 and the second plate body 122, and the third plate body 123 includes a positioning portion 1231. That is to say, along the length direction of the plate body 12 (such as Figure 5 and Figure 6 the Y direction shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 the X direction shown in
[0043] Referring to Figure 5 and Figure 6 and combining with Figure 3 , according to the previous description, a cooling inner cavity 10 is defined between the inner wall of the frame 11 and the upper surface of the plate body 12. Exemplarily, that is to say, the inner wall of the frame 11 and the first surface 1211 of the first plate body 121 jointly define the above-mentioned cooling inner cavity 10.
[0044] Referring to Figure 2 and Figure 6 and combining with Figure 1 , according to the previous description, the DC-Link capacitor 4 is in contact with the outer bottom wall 13 of the cooler housing 1. In a possible implementation manner, specifically, the outer bottom wall 13 includes the bottom wall 112 of the frame 11 and the second surface 1221 of the second plate body. The second surface 1221 of the second plate body serves as a heat dissipation surface to conduct the heat of the DC-Link capacitor 4.
[0045] Referring to Figure 3 , Figure 5 and Figure 6 , the cooler housing 1 of the embodiment of the present application is an aluminum-plastic combined design. Due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the stamped aluminum (plate body 12) and the plastic (frame 11), there may be potential stresses between the frame 11 and the plate body 12.
[0046] In a possible implementation, the plate body 12 is coated with an elastic material 14. Exemplarily, the elastic material 14 is coated on the positioning portion 1231 of the above-mentioned third plate body 123. Exemplarily, it can be coated on the upper surface of the positioning portion 1231, or can be coated on the lower surface of the positioning portion 1231, or can be coated at the periphery of the positioning portion 1231. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this. The frame 11 is injection-molded on the plate body 12 coated with the elastic material 14.
[0047] With the above technical solution, an elastic material is coated on the plate body 12 in the embodiment of the present application (specifically, the elastic material is coated on the joint of the plate body 12 and the plastic coating, which is the above-mentioned positioning portion 1231), and then the plate body 12 coated with the elastic material 14 is placed into an external injection mold, and then the frame 11 is injection-molded. The elastic material 14 medium at the joint can effectively eliminate the influence of the thermal deformation coefficients of different materials, that is, the elastic material 14 can eliminate the stress generated between the plate body 12 and the frame 11 due to different thermal expansion coefficients.
[0048] In a possible implementation, the above-mentioned elastic material 14 includes NBR glue. With this technical solution, NBR nitrile rubber glue has good water resistance, airtightness, high temperature resistance and antistatic properties, and can be applied to a working environment such as a cooler in an automotive inverter that is in long-term contact with coolant.
[0049] In another possible implementation, the elastic material 14 includes liquid silicone. With this technical solution, liquid silicone has good resilience, thermal stability and heat aging resistance. In addition, liquid silicone has high transparency, and during the injection molding process of the frame 11, it is convenient to see the situation where the plate body 12 positioned in the injection mold is coated with plastic.
[0050] Although the present invention has been illustrated and described by referring to some preferred embodiments of the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the above content is a further detailed description of the present invention in combination with specific embodiments, and it cannot be determined that the specific implementation of the present invention is only limited to these descriptions. Those skilled in the art can make various changes in form and details, including making several simple deductions or substitutions, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A cooler housing, characterized in that, It includes a frame and a plate body. The plate body is made of stamped aluminum. The frame is injection-molded on the plate body, and the plate body is located at the bottom of the frame. The inner wall of the frame and the upper surface of the plate body define a cooling cavity for the circulation of a cooling medium.
2. The cooler housing according to claim 1, wherein, The plate body is coated with an elastic material, and the frame is injection-molded on the plate body coated with the elastic material.
3. The cooler housing according to claim 2, characterized in that, The elastic material includes NBR glue.
4. The cooler housing according to claim 2, characterized in that, The elastic material includes liquid silicone rubber.
5. The cooler housing according to claim 2, characterized in that, The plate body includes a first plate body, a second plate body, and a third plate body that are integrally formed. The third plate body is located between the first plate body and the second plate body. The third plate body includes a positioning portion for positioning the plate body to an external injection mold. Along the length direction and the width direction of the plate body, the positioning portion protrudes relative to the first plate body and the second plate body, and the elastic material is coated on the positioning portion.
6. The cooler housing according to claim 5, characterized in that, The inner wall of the frame and the first surface of the first plate body define the cooling cavity. The second surface of the second plate body is a heat dissipation surface for an electronic component to contact.
7. A cooler, comprising the cooler housing according to any one of claims 1 to 6.