Flexible Heat Pipe Coupling for Multi-Surface Thermal Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-chip packages face challenges in efficient heat removal due to varying component heights and power demands, leading to suboptimal thermal performance when using traditional heat sinks with thick thermal interface materials and isolated heat sinks.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a heat sink with flexible heat pipes that thermally couple multiple components, allowing for self-adjusting heat transfer across differing surface heights, minimizing thermal interface material bond line thickness and enhancing cooling capability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional heat sinks with thick thermal interface materials are used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but thermal performance deteriorates due to increased thermal resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible heat pipes with thin-walled structures that can conform to varying component heights. These flexible heat pipes replace thick thermal interface materials while maintaining excellent thermal contact, thereby improving thermal performance without significantly complicating the manufacturing process. The flexible nature allows adaptation to different surface geometries while keeping the overall structure manufacturable.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible heat pipes act as intermediary elements between the heat sink base and the heat-generating components. They provide a thin, high-performance thermal interface that mediates heat transfer more effectively than traditional thick interface materials, resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and thermal performance.
2Ease of manufacture
If isolated heat sinks are used for each component, then ease of manufacture is improved, but thermal performance deteriorates due to inability to share cooling resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple heat sink functions into a single integrated heat sink structure with a common base. The flexible heat pipes enable this unified structure to simultaneously contact multiple components at different heights, allowing heat dissipation resources to be shared across all components. This improves thermal performance while maintaining relatively simple manufacturing compared to multiple separate heat sinks.
Solution Approach 2:
The single heat sink base serves multiple functions by cooling different components simultaneously through the flexible heat pipes. This multi-functional design improves thermal performance by enabling heat sharing while avoiding the complexity of manufacturing and assembling multiple separate heat sink units.
3Manufacturing precision
If rigid heat sink structures are used, then manufacturing precision is improved, but adaptability deteriorates due to inability to accommodate varying component heights
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic flexibility into the heat pipe structure, allowing it to adapt its shape to accommodate varying component heights. The flexible heat pipes can bend and conform to different geometries while maintaining thermal contact, thus providing adaptability without sacrificing the precision of the rigid heat sink base manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible heat pipes with thin-walled structures serve as adaptable intermediaries that can conform to varying component heights and surface geometries. This flexibility compensates for the rigidity of the manufactured heat sink base, enabling the system to adapt to different configurations while maintaining manufacturing precision for the base structure itself.
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
This solution significantly improves thermal performance by reducing component temperatures and increasing power cooling capability, adapting to dynamic workloads while maintaining simplicity and using existing thermal interface materials.
Implementation Method 1
a heat pipe coupled to the first heat sink base and the second heat sink base
Implementation Method 2
heat transfer across differing surface heights
Implementation Method 3
thermally couple with respective surfaces of two or more dies
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus including a primary device and at least one secondary device coupled in a planar array to a substrate; a first heat exchanger disposed on the primary device and having an opening over an area corresponding to the at least one secondary device; a second heat exchanger disposed in the opening on the at least one secondary device; at least one heat pipe coupled to the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger. A method including placing a heat exchanger on a multi-chip package, the heat exchanger including a first portion, a second portion and at least one heat pipe coupled to the first portion and the second portion; and coupling the heat exchanger to the multi-chip package.