Compliant Mandrel for Internally Cooled Phased Array Antennas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing phased array antenna systems face inefficiencies in cooling, particularly as they support increasing numbers of radiating elements and associated components that generate more heat, without complicating construction or limiting the number of elements or interfering with ceramic chip carrier board mounting.
Innovation Solution
A longitudinally compliant phased array antenna system with a mandrel featuring leaf spring-like sections formed by removing material from the interior and exterior sides, allowing the mandrel to flex and conform to a surface, ensuring excellent electrical contact and internal cooling through a passageway for a cooling medium, which efficiently cools electronic components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid core component is used to support electronic components, then structural stability is maintained, but cooling efficiency deteriorates due to inability to conform to mounting surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The mandrel incorporates compliant sections with leaf spring-like structures that enable dynamic flexing and conforming to the mounting surface while maintaining structural integrity. This dynamic capability allows the rigid core component to adapt its shape for optimal thermal contact without sacrificing overall structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The mandrel's physical parameters are changed by introducing compliant sections with modified material properties or structural configurations in specific regions. These sections have different rigidity characteristics that allow localized flexing, enabling the core component to conform to surfaces while maintaining cooling efficiency.
2Productivity
If the number of radiating elements and electronic components is increased to enhance antenna performance, then antenna capability is improved, but heat generation increases requiring more sophisticated cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling function is extracted and integrated directly into the mandrel structure itself through internally formed channels. This eliminates the need for separate external cooling systems and allows the cooling medium to be delivered directly to the heat-generating electronic components, efficiently managing the increased heat load from higher component counts.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling channels are nested within the mandrel structure, with the cooling medium flow path embedded inside the core component. This nested arrangement allows the cooling system to be integrated within the structural element itself, providing efficient heat removal without adding external complexity.
3Temperature
If internal cooling channels are formed within the mandrel to improve cooling efficiency, then thermal management is enhanced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling channels are merged with the mandrel structure as an integrally formed feature rather than a separate component. This combining of the cooling function with the structural element reduces the total number of parts and simplifies assembly, offsetting the manufacturing complexity of forming the internal channels.
Solution Approach 2:
The mandrel serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, enables compliance for surface conforming, and incorporates internal cooling channels for thermal management. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components and simplifies the overall system architecture despite the complexity of forming the integrated features.
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 compliant mandrel design maintains electrical contact along the full length and enhances cooling efficiency by allowing the cooling medium to flow close to heat sources, supporting a higher number of radiating elements without complicating construction or interfering with component mounting.
Implementation Method 1
The mandrel is made from a thermally conductive material such as aluminum... The fluid helps to draw heat from the core component... internally cooled phased array antenna system in which a cooling medium is flowed through an interior area of a core component to cool the core component
Implementation Method 2
leaf spring-like sections formed by removing material from the interior and exterior sides, allowing the mandrel to flex and conform to a surface
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3~4
AI summary
A phased array antenna system including a mandrel having compliant portions and an internally formed cooling passageway. The compliant portions are formed by removing portions of material along one end of the mandrel to form a plurality of pairs of generally U-shaped, leaf spring-like connecting areas. The connecting areas allow a degree of movement of a lower portion of the mandrel relative to the remainder of the mandrel, when the mandrel is fixedly secured to a printed wiring board (PWB). This enables flexible electrical interconnects, positioned over the compliant portions, to make electrical contact with circuit traces on the PWB, even if the PWB has a curved or undulating surface.