Thermally Conductive Housing and PCB Integration for Optical Transceiver Heat Dissipation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Optical transceiver designs face challenges in efficiently dissipating heat generated by active components, which can lead to thermal management issues and performance degradation.
Innovation Solution
An opto-mechanical device with a printed circuit board, a thermally conductive housing, and a heat sink that forms continuous heat dissipation paths using thermally conductive materials to efficiently transfer heat from the active components to the environment, eliminating voids in the thermal path for enhanced cooling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional heat dissipation methods are used with discrete thermal paths and fasteners, then device assembly is simplified, but thermal efficiency deteriorates due to voids and thermal boundary layers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the printed circuit board and housing into a single integrated structure where the PCB extends to form the housing walls. This integration eliminates the discrete thermal paths and fastener interfaces that create thermal boundary layers, creating continuous thermal conduction paths from the active component through the PCB to the heat sink, thereby resolving the contradiction between thermal efficiency and structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a thermally conductive material as an intermediary substance that fills gaps and voids between thermal components. This material acts as a thermal mediator that bridges thermal discontinuities, ensuring continuous heat flow paths without requiring mechanical fasteners, thus improving thermal efficiency while maintaining assembly simplicity.
2Strength
If fasteners are used to assemble thermal components, then structural stability is improved, but thermal performance deteriorates due to thermal boundary layers at fastener interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the PCB and housing into one continuous structure, eliminating the need for separate fasteners to join discrete components. This integration removes the fastener interfaces that create thermal boundary layers, allowing structural stability to be achieved through the integrated design rather than through mechanical fastening, thereby eliminating the trade-off between structural strength and thermal performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes the fastener elements from the thermal assembly path. By eliminating fasteners entirely through the integrated PCB-housing design, the source of thermal boundary layers at fastener interfaces is removed, allowing thermal conduction to occur through continuous material paths without interruption by mechanical joining elements.
3Manufacturing precision
If gaps are left between PCB and housing, then assembly tolerance is improved, but thermal conduction deteriorates due to voids in thermal path
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces thermally conductive material as an intermediary that fills the gaps between the PCB and housing. This material maintains the beneficial assembly tolerances allowed by the gap while simultaneously providing continuous thermal conduction paths, effectively mediating between the conflicting requirements of manufacturing precision and thermal performance by converting the gap from a thermal barrier into a thermal conduit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal conduction parameter of the gap region by filling it with thermally conductive material. This parameter change transforms the gap from a low thermal conduction region (air void) into a high thermal conduction region (filled with conductive material), allowing assembly tolerance gaps to be maintained while achieving continuous thermal paths for efficient heat dissipation.
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 effectively dissipates heat generated by active components, improving thermal management and maintaining the performance of optical transceivers by ensuring continuous and efficient thermal flow without the need for fasteners and minimizing thermal boundary layers.
Implementation Method 1
a thermally conductive material that is positioned between the housing and the printed circuit board and forms at least one gapless thermally conductive path between the housing and the printed circuit board
Implementation Method 2
a heat sink that is thermally coupled to the upper portion of the housing
Implementation Method 3
The housing may include sidewalls for dissipating the heat that passes through the one or more continuous heat dissipation paths
Data Source
AI summary
A method for passively coupling an optical fiber to an optoelectronic chip, the method may include connecting the optical fiber to an optical cable interface of a first portion of an optical coupler; wherein the optical coupler further comprises a second portion; wherein the first portion comprises first optics that comprises a first lens array, an optical cable interface and three contact elements, each contact element has a spherical surface; and wherein the second portion comprises second optics that comprise a second lens array, and three elongated grooves; connecting the optical coupler to a substrate that supports the optoelectronic chip; and mechanically coupling the first portion to the second portion by aligning the three contact elements of the first portion with the three elongated grooves of the second portion thereby an optical axis related to a first lens array of the first portion passes through a point of intersection between longitudinal axes of the three elongated grooves, and an optical axis related to the second lens array passes through the point of intersection.