Heat conduction pad and electronic device

Abstract

A heat conduction pad and an electronic device, which relate to the technical field of heat dissipation and are used to effectively dissipate the heat of electronic components. The heat conduction pad comprises a first cover, a second cover, an elastic shell and a liquid metal, wherein the elastic shell is bent and closed to form a tubular structure; and the first cover and the second cover are respectively mounted at both ends of the tubular structure to form a sealed cavity for accommodating the liquid metal therein. By filling the elastic shell with the liquid metal, not only can the high heat conductivity of the liquid metal be utilized to achieve a better heat conduction effect, but the compressibility of the elastic shell can also be utilized to compress the heat conduction pad during the assembly of the heat conduction pad, so as to reduce the thickness of the heat conduction pad as much as possible, thus reducing the thermal resistance of the heat conduction pad, further improving the heat conduction effect of the heat conduction pad, and helping to effectively dissipate the heat of the electronic components.

Description

Thermal conductive pad and electronic equipment

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on August 25, 2023, with application number 202311086548.8 and application name "A Thermal Pad and Electronic Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of heat dissipation technology, and in particular to a thermal pad and an electronic device. Background Art

[0004] In recent years, with the advancement of autonomous driving technology, the computing power required by onboard chips has continued to increase. Research has found that with each level of autonomous driving technology advancement, the required computing power increases exponentially. For example, as shown in Figure 1, starting with Level 1 autonomous driving, each subsequent level requires approximately 12 to 14 times more computing power than the previous level. In particular, at Level 4 highly autonomous driving or Level 5 fully autonomous driving, onboard chips can perform over 4,000 teraflops (TFLOPS) or 1 trillion operations per second (TOPS). With such rapid computing power growth, the heat dissipation of onboard chips has also increased dramatically. Rapidly dissipating heat from high-computing chips will become a major technical challenge hindering the further development of autonomous driving technology.

[0005] Currently, thermal pads can be used to dissipate heat from onboard chips. However, these pads are typically made of materials such as metal oxides or silicone, which have poor thermal conductivity. Due to the manufacturing tolerances of existing devices, the thickness of the thermal pads needs to be between 1 and 2 mm. Such a thick thermal pad will result in very high thermal resistance and will not effectively dissipate heat from the onboard chips.

[0006] In summary, how to achieve effective heat dissipation of electronic components (such as chips) is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved in the development of high-computing-power electronic components.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a thermal pad and an electronic device for achieving effective heat dissipation of electronic components.

[0009] In a first aspect, the present application provides a thermal pad comprising 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, which is used to accommodate the liquid metal.

[0010] 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, thereby reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, further improving the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad, and helping to achieve effective heat dissipation of electronic components.

[0011] 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.

[0012] 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.

[0013] In one possible design, the elastic shell can be made of an elastic material, such as beryllium copper, phosphor copper, thin steel or rubber. The elastic material can make the elastic shell deformable, which helps to achieve compression of the thermal pad.

[0014] 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.

[0015] 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 set 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.

[0016] 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.

[0017] Through the above design, while compressing the thermal pad to reduce thermal resistance, it can also meet the force requirements of the electronic components and avoid damage to the electronic components.

[0018] In one 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 a first thickness, which is the initial thickness of the thermal pad. This allows the thermal pad to be compressed by utilizing the deformability of the elastic shell.

[0019] In one possible design, the thermal pad may further include a hollow rat-tail tube that extends through the first or second cover. One end of the rat-tail tube extends into the sealed cavity, while 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 manufacturing process.

[0020] In a further possible design, the elastic shell bulges outward. For example, during the process of injecting liquid metal through the rat-tail tube, injection is stopped until the elastic shell bulges outward, ensuring that the liquid metal fills the entire closed cavity, and the first cover and the second cover are connected through the filled liquid metal.

[0021] 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.

[0022] 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 narrowed by compressing the elastic shell, thereby reducing the thickness of the thermal pad, reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, improving the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad, and thus improving the heat dissipation effect of the electronic component.

[0023] In a possible design, the heat dissipation device may further include a first heat dissipation layer, which is placed between the first cover and the radiator to achieve heat dissipation from the first cover to the radiator.

[0024] In a further possible design, the first heat dissipation layer can be made of a thermally conductive phase change material, thermally conductive gel, solder paste, silicone grease, or other type of ultra-thin thermal pad. Thus, by designing the first heat dissipation layer as 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 as an ultra-thin silicone grease or ultra-thin thermal pad with poor thermal conductivity, the thermal resistance of the first heat dissipation layer can be reduced, thereby improving the heat dissipation from the first cover to the heat sink.

[0025] In a possible design, the heat dissipation device may further include a second heat dissipation layer, which is placed between the second cover and the electronic component to achieve heat dissipation from the electronic component to the second cover.

[0026] In a further possible design, the second heat dissipation layer can be made of silicone grease, thermally conductive phase change material, or thermally conductive gel. By designing the second heat dissipation layer as a non-metallic material with good thermal conductivity or heat dissipation properties, the thermal resistance of the second heat dissipation layer can be reduced, improving heat transfer from the electronic components to the second cover, while also avoiding the use of metal heat dissipation materials and reducing the risk of interference with the electronic components.

[0027] In a possible design, the heat dissipation device may further include a circuit board, which is used to carry electronic components to support and fix the electronic components.

[0028] 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.

[0029] In a third aspect, the present application provides an electronic device comprising a heat dissipation device as in any one of the designs of the second aspect. The electronic device may be an in-vehicle device, a terminal device, a network device, a computing device, an industrial device, or a smart home device.

[0030] The implementation and beneficial effects of the above-mentioned first to third aspects will be specifically introduced in the embodiment section. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] FIG1 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the correspondence between autonomous driving levels and computing power requirements;

[0032] FIG2 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a possible application scenario of a thermal pad provided by the present application;

[0033] FIG3 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a thermal pad provided by the present application;

[0034] FIG4 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of a thermal pad provided by the present application;

[0035] FIG5 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an assembly method of a thermal pad provided by the present application;

[0036] FIG6 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of another thermal pad provided by the present application;

[0037] FIG7 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a heat dissipation device provided by the present application;

[0038] FIG8 exemplarily shows a structural diagram of a liquid cooling radiator provided by the present application;

[0039] FIG9 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an assembly process of a heat dissipation device provided in the present application;

[0040] FIG10 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a circuit board provided by the present application integrating multiple electronic components;

[0041] FIG11 exemplarily shows a flow chart of the evolution of an in-vehicle electronic and electrical architecture;

[0042] FIG12 exemplarily shows a possible functional framework diagram of a processor provided by the present application;

[0043] FIG13 exemplarily shows a functional framework diagram of an electronic device provided in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The following is an introduction to possible application scenarios of this application.

[0045] In one possible application scenario, the thermal pad of the present application can be applied to a vehicle. The vehicle can be, for example, a vehicle, ship, airplane, high-speed train, drone, submarine, or subway. For example, referring to FIG. 2 , taking the application in a vehicle as an example, the thermal pad can be used in conjunction with any electronic component in the vehicle. For example, it can be connected between the electronic component and a radiator to conduct heat from the electronic component to the radiator to dissipate heat from the electronic component.

[0046] These application scenarios can be applied to fields such as unmanned driving, autonomous driving, assisted driving, intelligent driving, connected vehicles, security monitoring, biomedicine, or mapping (such as 3D mapping). For example, in the case of autonomous driving, thermal pads can be used in conjunction with autonomous driving-related electronic components in the vehicle, such as autonomous driving chips or autonomous driving system-on-chips (SOCs), to quickly and effectively dissipate heat and adapt to the increasing computing power of autonomous driving functions.

[0047] It should be understood that the above application scenarios are only examples, and the thermal pad provided in this application can also be applied to other possible scenarios, not limited to the scenarios exemplified above. For example, the thermal pad can also be applied to terminal devices as a heat conductor for chips or other electronic components in the terminal device to achieve heat evacuation of the terminal device. For another example, the thermal pad can also be applied to computing devices to keep the computing device at the most suitable operating temperature and maintain the stability of computing power. For another example, the thermal pad can also be applied to network equipment as a heat conductor for devices such as switches, base stations, and gateways to achieve stability in the interaction between these devices and other devices. For another example, the thermal pad can also be applied to industrial equipment to achieve temperature controllability of industrial equipment under long-term working conditions. For another example, the thermal pad can also be applied to smart home devices to maintain the safety of the user's living environment. And so on. I will not list them one by one here.

[0048] 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.

[0049] 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 better thermal conductivity by utilizing the high thermal conductivity of liquid metal.

[0050] It should be noted that enclosing liquid metal in an elastic shell to conduct heat is only a part of the invention of this application, and this application is also used to compress the thermal pad wrapped 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 cool down by enclosing water and capillary wicks in beryllium copper (an elastic material), which look similar to this application, the existing thermal pad itself cannot be compressed because the capillary wick is rigid. 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 ability of the elastic shell to achieve thinning of the thickness of the thermal pad during assembly to further enhance the heat conduction effect.

[0051] Based on the above content, the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 3 to 11.

[0052] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a thermal pad provided in this 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 sealed cavity for containing the liquid metal 340.

[0053] For example, please continue to refer to Figure 3. The thermal pad may also 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 liquid metal 340 into the closed cavity and then seal it.

[0054] Optionally, taking the rat tail tube 350 passing through the second cover 320 as an example, refer to FIG4 , which exemplifies a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of a thermal pad provided by the present application. The manufacturing process mainly includes the following steps:

[0055] Step 1, as shown in FIG4(A), the first cover 310 is cast.

[0056] In step 2, as shown in FIG. 4 (B), the second cover 320 and the rat tail tube 350 are cast as one piece, and the two ends of the rat tail tube 350 are connected.

[0057] Step three, as shown in FIG4(C), the elastic shell 330 is bent into a tubular structure.

[0058] It can be understood that (C) in Figure 4 takes the elastic shell 330 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, etc.

[0059] In step 4, as shown in FIG. 4 (D), the first cover 310 is installed on one end of the elastic shell 330, and the second cover 320 is installed on the other end of the elastic shell 330 to form a closed cavity.

[0060] In step five, as shown in FIG. 4 (E), the liquid metal 340 is injected into the sealed cavity through the other end (k end) of the rat tail tube 350 .

[0061] In step six, as shown in FIG4(F), after the liquid metal 340 has filled the sealed cavity, the K end of the rat tail tube is sealed. Sealing methods include, but are not limited to, welding, extrusion, gluing, sealing with a sealing strip, slotting, or snapping.

[0062] It is understood that in step 6, since the elastic shell 330 is opaque, to ensure that the liquid metal 340 fills the entire closed cavity, injection can be stopped when the elastic shell 330 is slightly bulged through the rat tail tube 350. At this point, the elastic shell 330 presents an outwardly bulging tubular structure, such as the bulging barrel shown in Figures 3 or 4.

[0063] The following describes each component involved in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 to provide an exemplary specific implementation solution.

[0064] 1. First Cover and Second Cover

[0065] In an optional implementation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 can be configured as metal covers. The metal covers can be considered to be made of a metal material with good thermal conductivity, such as copper, aluminum, silver, or gold. Using metal covers can effectively transfer heat from devices outside the first cover 310 (or second cover 320) to the liquid metal, and also effectively transfer heat from the liquid metal to devices outside the second cover 320 (or first cover 310), thereby facilitating effective heat conduction between the first cover 310 and the second cover 320.

[0066] In a further implementation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 can 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 can both be copper covers.

[0067] In one optional implementation, the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 are respectively mounted at the two ends of the tubular structure. This means that the first cover 310 is sealed and fixed to one end of the elastic shell 330 (e.g., the upper side shown in the figure), and the second cover 320 is sealed and fixed to the other end of the elastic shell 330 (e.g., the lower side shown in the figure). Sealing and fixing methods may include, but are not limited to, welding, gluing (adhesive or tape, etc.), sealing with a sealing strip, slotting, snapping, or clamping, etc., without limitation.

[0068] 2. Elastic Shell

[0069] As will be appreciated, the elastic shell 330 may be made of an elastic material. Examples of such elastic materials include, but are not limited to, beryllium copper, phosphor copper, thin steel, or rubber. Alternatively, beryllium copper may be used to make the elastic shell 330, given its advantages of high thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, cold resistance, and wear resistance.

[0070] In one alternative implementation, referring to FIG5 , when the thermal pad is in use, the elastic shell 330 may be compressed between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420, which is typically placed on the circuit board 430. In other words, compared to the elastic shell 330 in the initial state shown in FIG3 , the elastic shell 330 in the in-use state shown in FIG5 swells more, and thus experiences a greater deformation than in the initial state. This deformation is within the deformation capacity of the elastic shell 330 and can be pre-designed based on the actual application scenario.

[0071] In this implementation, by allowing the elastic shell 330 to have a greater deformation, the rebound force generated by the deformation of the elastic shell 330 can be used to press the first cover 310 and the second cover 320 between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420. For example, when the thermal pad is placed as shown in Figure 5 (A), the rebound force generated by the deformation of the elastic shell 330 can press the first cover 310 below the heat sink 410 as shown, and simultaneously press the second cover 320 above the electronic component 420 as shown. As a result, 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. Alternatively, when the thermal pad is placed as shown in (B) in Figure 5, the rebound force generated by the deformation of the elastic shell 330 can press the first cover 310 above the electronic component 420 as shown in the figure, and at the same time press the second cover 320 below the heat sink 410 as shown in the figure, so that the heat of the electronic component 420 can be transferred to the heat sink through the first cover 310, liquid metal 340 and second cover 320 in sequence.

[0072] For example, 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 that degree of deformation. Conversely, the smaller the thickness of the elastic shell 330, the smaller the rebound force generated by compressing the elastic shell 330 to that degree of 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.

[0073] For further example, taking the assembly method shown in FIG5 (A) as an example, assuming that the rebound force applied by the elastic shell 330 to the second cover 320 is a first pressure, and the first pressure is transmitted to the electronic component 420 below the figure via the second cover 320 and then converted into a second pressure, then to ensure that the electronic component 420 is pressed tightly against the second cover 320 and is not crushed by the second cover 320, the second pressure must be no less than the minimum pressure that the electronic component 420 can withstand and no 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 thickness of the elastic shell 330 can be changed to test and obtain 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. Thus, when mass-producing the thermal pad, the thickness of the elastic shell 330 can be selected to be no less than the first thickness and no greater than the second thickness, for example, the average thickness of the first thickness and the second thickness can be selected to accommodate the pressure deviation of the electronic component 420 due to manufacturing tolerances.

[0074] For further example, considering that if the thickness of the elastic shell 330 is too small, the elastic shell 330 itself may not be able to provide the rebound force required to compress the electronic component 420 (which can be understood as close contact), therefore, referring to FIG6 , when 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 can be considered to be the thickness at which the maximum rebound force provided by the elastic shell 330 is just sufficient to compress the electronic component 420. This thickness can be set by those skilled in the art based on experience or obtained through experimental testing, and is not specifically limited.

[0075] 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 in a slightly compressed state to ensure that they are fully 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 deep compression state, the rebound force of the elastic shell 330 and the rebound force of the elastic structure 360 ​​act together on the electronic component 420. The rebound force of the elastic structure 360 ​​is used to supplement the insufficient elastic force of the elastic shell 330, thereby achieving 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.

[0076] It is further understandable 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 being 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.

[0077] 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, and the specific thickness can be set according to actual needs and is not limited.

[0078] 3. Liquid Metal

[0079] 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 generally no higher than the melting point 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.

[0080] Using the thermal pad shown in Figure 3, by filling the elastic shell with liquid metal, not only can the high thermal conductivity of the liquid metal be utilized to achieve good thermal conductivity, but the compressibility of the elastic shell can also be used to compress the thermal pad during assembly, thereby minimizing the thickness of the thermal pad, reducing the thermal resistance of the thermal pad, and further improving the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad. In this way, the thermal pad can efficiently conduct heat away from the electronic components, facilitating effective heat dissipation from the electronic components.

[0081] The above content introduces the structure of the thermal pad. The following will introduce the heat dissipation device equipped with the thermal pad.

[0082] Please refer to Figure 7, which shows a schematic structural diagram 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 aforementioned embodiments. The thermal pad is compressed between the heat sink 410 and the electronic component 420. For example, please refer to Figures 3 and 7 together. When the thermal pad is not in use, 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. The degree of bulging of the elastic shell 330 under the second deformation is greater than the degree of bulging 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.

[0083] It is understood that the radiator 410 can be a radiator using any one or more heat dissipation methods, such as a liquid-cooled radiator, an air-cooled radiator, a semiconductor cooler, or a heat pipe radiator. For example, referring to FIG8 , a schematic diagram of the structure of a liquid-cooled radiator provided in this application is shown. The liquid-cooled radiator has a hollow cavity, in which a plurality of finned tubes 411 are disposed. Salt water or low-temperature water is passed through the finned tubes 411 to cool the air in the hollow cavity.

[0084] In an optional implementation, please continue to refer to Figure 7, the heat dissipation device may also include a first heat dissipation layer 451, which is placed between the first cover 310 and the radiator 410 to achieve heat dissipation from the first cover 310 to the radiator 410. The first heat dissipation layer 451 can 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. Among them, thermally conductive phase change materials, thermally conductive gels and solder pastes are materials with good thermal conductivity. Using them as the first heat dissipation layer 451 can improve the thermal conductivity of the first cover 310 to the radiator 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 radiator 410.

[0085] In an optional implementation, referring to FIG. 7 , the heat dissipation device may further include a second heat dissipation layer 452 disposed between the second cover 320 and the electronic component 420 for dissipating heat from the electronic component 420 to the second cover 320. The second heat dissipation layer 452 may be made of a non-metallic material with good thermal conductivity or heat dissipation properties, such as silicone grease, thermally conductive phase change material, thermally conductive gel, or other types of ultra-thin thermal pads. This reduces the thermal resistance of the second heat dissipation layer 452, improving heat transfer from the electronic component 420 to the second cover 320, while also reducing the risk of interference with the electronic component 420 by avoiding the use of metallic heat dissipation materials.

[0086] 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 means, such as threaded screws.

[0087] In an optional implementation, referring to FIG7 , the heat dissipation device may further include a circuit board 430, which 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.

[0088] In a further optional implementation, the circuit board 430 can 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 may also include a screw column 440, and the screw column 440 is fixed on the heat sink 410, for example, it can be integrally formed with the heat sink 410. Correspondingly, a screw hole can be provided on the circuit board 430 at a position relative 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 components 420 and the thermal pad carried on the circuit board 430 between the circuit board 430 and the heat sink 410 to prevent movement.

[0089] Optionally, taking the first heat dissipation layer 451 as solder paste and the second heat dissipation layer 452 as silicone grease as an example, refer to FIG9 , which exemplifies a schematic diagram of an assembly process of a heat dissipation device provided by the present application. The assembly process, taking the assembly of a thermal pad as an example, mainly includes the following steps:

[0090] Step 1, as shown in FIG9 (A), the electronic component 420 is fixed on the circuit board 430;

[0091] Step 2, as shown in FIG9 (B), the first cover 310 of the thermal pad and the heat sink 410 are soldered together using solder paste;

[0092] Step 2, as shown in FIG9 (C), after aligning the threaded hole on the circuit board 430 with 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;

[0093] In step 4, as shown in FIG9 (D), screws 440 are screwed into threaded holes in circuit board 430 and tightened further, squeezing the thermal pad. The elastic shell 330 on the thermal pad expands outward, compressing the elastic shell 330 and reducing the thickness of the thermal pad. The compressed elastic shell 330 presses the first cover 310 against the bottom of the heat sink 410 (as shown) and presses the second cover 320 against the top of the electronic component 420 (as shown).

[0094] For example, according to the thickness and shape design of the elastic shell 330 in the aforementioned thermal pad introduction, the thickness of the elastic shell 330 itself in this 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 heat sink 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, research has found that compared to the existing 1 to 2 mm thick silicone thermal pad, the thermal conductivity efficiency of the thermal pad provided by this application can be increased by at least 22%, which greatly improves the thermal conductivity of the thermal pad.

[0095] It should be noted that the above content is introduced based on the example of carrying an electronic component 420 on the 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 separate thermal pad.

[0096] For example, referring to FIG10 , a single-layer circuit board 430 carries two electronic components 4201 and 4202. Both electronic components 4201 and 4202 can be connected to the heat sink 410 through their corresponding thermal pads for heat dissipation. For example, the electronic component 4201 is connected to the heat sink 410 through the corresponding thermal pads (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 heat sink 410 through the corresponding thermal pads (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.

[0097] 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 larger 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 and faster it is to transfer the heat of the electronic component to the heat sink 410 above.

[0098] In addition, the aforementioned electronic components can be any device or combination of devices with processing capabilities. For example, in the field of intelligent driving, the electronic components can be electronic control units (ECUs) in vehicles used to implement autonomous driving functions. The vehicle can be a vehicle under any electrical / electronic architecture (EEA) architecture that currently exists or may evolve in the future. For example, please refer to Figure 11, which illustrates an exemplary flow chart of the evolution of an in-vehicle EEA, as shown in Figure 11:

[0099] In one example, a vehicle might adopt a traditional distributed electrical and electronic architecture (distributed EEA). Distributed EEA has evolved from a functional modularization phase to a functional integration phase. In the functional modularization phase, a single ECU typically controls a single function, such as one ECU for the vehicle's lights, one ECU for the doors, and another for the keyless system. In the functional integration phase, a single ECU can control multiple functional units, such as a single ECU controlling both the doors and the keyless system.

[0100] In distributed EEA vehicles, electronic components can 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.

[0101] In another example, the vehicle may be a domain-centralized EEA, which is a commonly used domain. 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 its functions, 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.

[0102] In a domain-centralized EEA vehicle, the electronic component can be a domain controller of a single functional domain, a cross-domain integrated domain controller, or an ECU in any domain, such as a power domain controller, chassis domain controller, body domain controller, cockpit domain controller, autonomous driving domain controller, vehicle domain controller, or the ECUs it manages.

[0103] 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, moving from the functional domain to the zone (such as the left front zone, left rear zone, right front zone, and right rear zone), and each zone 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 fully realizing software-defined vehicle functions.

[0104] In vehicle-centralized EEA vehicles, the electronic components can be the on-board computer computing platform, the ZCU of any one or more areas, the ECU in the ZCU, or the ECU that can be defined by software, etc.

[0105] It should be understood that the above description uses autonomous driving in a vehicle as an example to illustrate possible scenarios for electronic components. This application does not limit electronic components to those in vehicles. For example, in other scenarios, electronic components may also be components with processing functions in terminal devices, network devices, servers, industrial equipment, smart home devices, or smart grids.

[0106] Based on the structure and functional principles of the thermal pad described above, the present application may also provide a processor. Please refer to Figure 12, which is a schematic diagram of a possible functional framework of a processor provided by the present application. The processor 1200 may be, for example, an integrated chip, and may include one or more processing units 1210 and peripheral circuits 1220 disposed around each processing unit 1210. Any processing unit 1210 may be connected to a heat sink via the thermal pad described in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0107] 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.

[0108] In some examples, the peripheral circuit 1220 may include, but is not limited to, a general-purpose unit, an accelerator unit, an input / output control unit, an interface unit, an external buffer, an internal buffer, etc. The memory (e.g., 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.

[0109] It is understood that the functional framework shown in FIG12 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 or split certain components, or arrange the components differently, or arrange them in different positions, without specific limitation.

[0110] Based on the structure and functional principles of the processor described above, the present application may also provide an electronic device. Please refer to Figure 13, which is a schematic diagram of a possible functional framework of an electronic device provided by the present application. The electronic device 1300 may include a processor 1310 and a memory 1320, or may also 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 via a bus, such as via an IO bus. The processor 1310 can read and write data in the memory 1320 via the IO bus.

[0111] The memory 1320 may specifically be 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.

[0112] In some scenarios, the electronic device 1300 may further include an external memory interface, and the electronic device 1300 may connect an external memory card, such as a Micro SD card, via the external memory interface to expand its storage capacity. For example, the external memory card communicates with the processor 1310 via the external memory interface to implement data storage.

[0113] The transceiver 1330 enables the electronic device 1300 to communicate wirelessly with the outside world. It 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 that integrate at least one communication processing module. The transceiver 1330 receives electromagnetic waves via an antenna, frequency 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 transmitted from the processor 1310, frequency modulate and amplify it, and convert it into electromagnetic waves for radiation through the antenna.

[0114] In some examples, the electronic device may be a terminal device, such as a mobile phone, computer, smartwatch, virtual reality device, projector, smart camera, etc. Alternatively, the electronic device may be a vehicle, such as a car, airplane, ship, drone, subway, train, truck, etc. Alternatively, the electronic device may be a computer, such as a desktop computer, handheld computer, laptop computer, computer cluster, etc. Alternatively, the electronic device may be a network device, such as a gateway, switch, router, firewall, bridge, wireless access point, modem, fiber optic transceiver, etc.

[0115] In addition, the functional framework of the electronic device shown in FIG13 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 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.

[0116] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0117] In this 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 "plurality" 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 mean: 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 mean: 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 this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. In the formula of this application, the character " / " indicates that the related objects before and after are in a "division" relationship. Additionally, in this application, the word "exemplarily" is used to mean an example, illustration, or explanation. Any embodiment or design described in this application as an "exemplary" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Alternatively, it can be understood that the use of the word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner and does not constitute a limitation of this application.

[0118] It will be appreciated that the various numerical numbers involved in this application are merely for the purpose of describing the distinctions made, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic. Terms such as "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, comprising a series of steps or units. Methods, systems, products, or devices are not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or that are inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices.

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, and 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.

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

3. The thermally conductive pad according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: 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 4, characterized in that: 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.

6. The thermally conductive pad according to any one of claims 1 to 5, 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.

7. 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 6; 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.

8. The heat dissipation device according to claim 7, 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.

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

10. The heat dissipation device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that: The heat dissipation device further includes a second heat dissipation layer disposed between the second cover and the electronic component.

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

12. The heat dissipation device according to any one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that: The heat dissipation device further comprises a circuit board, and the circuit board is used for carrying the electronic components.

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

14. An electronic device, characterized in that: Comprising the heat dissipation device as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 13.

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