PCB Liquid Cooling Assembly for Tolerance-Adaptive Heat Dissipation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thermal management systems for electronic components on printed circuit boards face challenges in efficiently addressing varying thermal loads and mechanical tolerances, leading to uneven cooling, inefficiency, and design complexity, particularly in high-performance electronics with limited space.
Innovation Solution
A liquid cooling assembly with flexible fluid connections between heat sinks, allowing separate cooling pathways for components with different thermal loads, and a common inlet and outlet, which compensates for mechanical tolerances and misalignments, ensuring effective thermal contact and heat dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single rigid cooling element is used to cool multiple components, then the device complexity is reduced, but the cooling efficiency deteriorates due to mechanical tolerances and misalignments
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple independent heat sinks, each configured to thermally couple with specific electronic components. This segmentation allows each heat sink to be independently positioned and adjusted, ensuring optimal thermal contact with its target component while accommodating mechanical tolerances and misalignments between different components on the PCB.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate cooling pathways are provided for components with different thermal loads, then the adaptability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple heat sinks are fluidically connected through flexible fluid connections to a common liquid coolant distribution unit with shared inlet and outlet. This merging approach allows separate cooling pathways for different components while maintaining a unified system architecture, reducing the overall complexity compared to completely independent cooling systems for each component.
3Volume of moving object
If a compact design is pursued, then the volume is reduced, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to limited space for adjustment
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system incorporates flexible fluid connections and adjustable mounting mechanisms that enable the heat sinks to be positioned and adjusted within a compact form factor. The flexible connections allow for movement and adjustment of the heat sinks to achieve optimal thermal contact, while the overall system maintains a compact design suitable for space-constrained applications.
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
Enhances heat dissipation efficiency, enabling prolonged and stable operation of computationally intensive devices by adapting to diverse thermal requirements while maintaining a compact design.
Implementation Method 1
configured to form therewith a first liquid coolant circulation pathway
Implementation Method 2
circulating a fluid to absorb and transfer heat away from components
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to the technological field of microelectronics and electronic engineering, specifically to advanced liquid-cooling-based thermal management systems for electronic components on printed circuit boards. The claimed invention represents a liquid cooling assembly and a computing device that provide an improvement to the technological field of microelectronics and electronic engineering. Specifically, the suggested solution is easily adjustable to mitigate mechanical tolerances between the different electrical components of the target PCB and adaptable to address the diverse thermal loads presented by them, while maintaining the compactness of the design. The suggested solution thereby increases the overall heat dissipation efficiency of thermal management systems.