Heat Pipe Housing Layout for Simpler Power Electronics Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing electronic systems for electric or hybrid motor vehicles face challenges in cooling power components due to complex and difficult-to-implement sealing of cooling systems, which can lead to damage from excessive heating.
Innovation Solution
An electronic system that uses a housing with a first and second radiator, a fan, and heat pipes to dissipate heat without relying on a cooling channel within the housing, instead utilizing conduits and thermal pastes for efficient heat transfer and improved thermal contact between components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a cooling channel is formed by a cavity in the bottom of the housing and closed by a cover with seal, then the electronic components can be cooled, but the assembly and sealing become complex and difficult to implement
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the heat pipe from the traditional enclosed cooling channel system and places it directly in conduits on the housing surface. This eliminates the need for a sealed cavity and cover assembly, removing the sealing complexity while maintaining cooling functionality through direct heat pipe exposure to ambient air.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system is segmented into individual heat pipes that can be independently positioned in separate conduits, rather than requiring a single integrated sealed cooling channel. This segmentation allows each heat pipe to be independently installed and positioned, simplifying the overall assembly process.
2Reliability
If a sealed cooling channel with cover and seal is used, then the cooling system can be enclosed, but the sealing is difficult to implement reliably
Solution Approach 1:
The heat pipe is extracted from the sealed enclosure and placed directly in open conduits on the housing surface. This eliminates the seal and cover components entirely, removing the sealing reliability concerns and manufacturing difficulties associated with creating and maintaining sealed cooling channels.
Solution Approach 2:
The conduit acts as an intermediary structure that guides and positions the heat pipe without requiring sealing. The conduit provides a structured pathway for the heat pipe while allowing ambient air to access the heat pipe for cooling, eliminating the need for sealed enclosures.
3Temperature
If thermal paste is used to improve thermal contact between electronic components and heat pipes, then heat transfer efficiency improves, but additional assembly steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses thermal paste that self-distributes when the electronic component is pressed against the heat pipe during assembly. The pressure from component installation automatically spreads the thermal paste to create optimal thermal contact, eliminating the need for separate thermal paste application steps while maintaining high heat transfer efficiency.
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 effectively cools electronic components without the need for a complex cooling channel, simplifying assembly and sealing, thereby preventing damage from heat and enhancing the reliability of the cooling system.
Implementation Method 1
a first heat pipe intended to be in thermal contact with a first electronic component, one end of said first heat pipe passing through said first wall and at least a portion of said first radiator
Implementation Method 2
the first electronic component is in thermal contact with the first heat pipe and said first electronic component is further, by means of an electrically insulating thermal paste, in thermal contact with the first conduit
Implementation Method 3
a first radiator and a first fan fixed to the outside of said housing on said first wall, said first fan being fixed on said first wall, so as to cool said first radiator
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is an electronic system (100, 200, 300, 400, 500) comprising: a. a housing (160, 360, 460, 560) comprising a bottom (161, 361, 461, 561) and at least one first wall (163, 363, 463, 563), b. a first heat sink (140, 340, 440, 540) and a first fan (120, 320, 420, 520) attached to the outside of the housing on the first wall (163, 363, 463, 563), the first fan (120, 320, 420, 520) being attached to the first wall (163, 363, 463, 563), in such a way as to cool the first heat sink (140, 340, 440, 540), c. a first heat pipe (110, 310, 410, 510) intended to be in thermal contact with a first electronic component (170), a first end of the first heat pipe (110, 310, 410, 510) passing through the first wall (163, 363, 463, 563) and at least part of the first radiator (140, 340, 440, 540), d. a first duct (130, 3301, 430, 530) included in the bottom or arranged on an inner surface of the bottom, e. the first heat pipe (110, 310, 410, 510) being arranged at least partially in the first duct (130, 3301, 430, 530).