Additive Cooling Assemblies with Non-Planar Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooling methods for electronic devices, such as cold plates, are heavy, bulky, and limited to planar geometries, making them unsuitable for weight-constrained environments like aircraft, and struggle to effectively manage heat from non-planar sources, thereby restricting processing power and functionality.
Innovation Solution
A cooling assembly with non-planar, hermetic walls and enhancement structures is additively manufactured to create a three-dimensional cooling channel that changes the flow path and increases the surface area contacted by the cooling fluid, allowing for efficient thermal energy transfer and reducing weight and volume.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional planar cold plates are used for cooling, then cooling function is provided, but weight and volume increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from conventional planar (2D) cold plates to three-dimensional (3D) non-planar cooling assemblies. The cooling channels are configured in complex 3D pathways within the body, allowing coolant to flow through multiple levels and directions, thereby increasing heat transfer surface area and effectiveness without proportionally increasing weight and volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs non-planar, curved surfaces and three-dimensional geometries for the cooling channels and enhancement structures. The channels follow curved paths and the bodies feature rounded, organic shapes rather than flat planar forms, maximizing heat transfer efficiency within compact volumes and reducing overall assembly weight compared to traditional planar designs.
2Temperature
If conventional planar cold plates are used for cooling, then cooling function is provided, but adaptability to non-planar heat sources is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates cooling channels with varying local geometries that match the specific thermal requirements of different heat source regions. The channels are configured to contact heat sources at specific locations with optimized surface areas, allowing the cooling assembly to adapt to non-planar heat source geometries such as processors with irregular shapes or mounted at various angles.
Solution Approach 2:
The transition to 3D non-planar cooling channels enables the assembly to conform to heat sources in three-dimensional space rather than being restricted to flat surfaces. The channels can wrap around, enclose, or contact heat sources from multiple directions, providing versatile adaptability to various heat source configurations.
3Temperature
If cooling channel surface area is increased to improve heat transfer, then thermal management efficiency improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the cooling channels and enhancement structures as monolithic features within the cooling assembly body, manufactured as a single piece using additive manufacturing. The channels are embedded within the body structure rather than being separate components, merging the cooling function with the structural form to achieve high surface area without proportional increases in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes additive manufacturing technology to create complex 3D cooling channel geometries that would be impossible or extremely difficult to manufacture using conventional methods. The manufacturing process parameters enable the creation of intricate internal channels with high surface area-to-volume ratios, achieving superior heat transfer efficiency without requiring assembly of multiple complex components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables effective heat management in compact and lightweight designs, enhancing processing capability while eliminating the need for separate heat sinks, thus overcoming the limitations of traditional cooling methods.
Implementation Method 1
A liquid flowing in the internal tube of the cold plate cools heat sources that are in contact with the cold plate. This liquid carries heat away from the heat sources to cool the sources.
Implementation Method 2
The one or more non-planar hermetic walls extending around, enclosing, and defining a cooling channel configured to carry cooling fluid through the body such that the cooling fluid contacts internal surfaces of the cooling channel inside the body.
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling assembly includes a body configured to be placed into thermal contact with a heat source and one or more non-planar, hermetic walls disposed within the body. The one or more non-planar hermetic walls extending around, enclosing, and defining a cooling channel configured to carry cooling fluid through the body such that the cooling fluid contacts internal surfaces of the cooling channel inside the body. The assembly including one or more enhancement structures disposed within the body and coupled with the one or more non-planar hermetic walls. The one or more enhancement structures shaped to change a flow path of the cooling fluid as the cooling fluid moves within the cooling channel and shaped to increase a surface area contacted by the cooling fluid within the cooling channel.