Dual Heat Sink Side-Wall Cooling With Spring Pressure Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic devices with multiple circuit boards experience poor cooling performance due to mechanical tolerances that prevent full contact between heat sinks and housing, necessitating complex and costly cooling measures.
Innovation Solution
The device is divided into two electronic assemblies with heat sinks that are pressed against the housing using pressure elements, such as pins or spring elements, ensuring optimal contact and compensating for component tolerances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If heat sinks are screwed onto external cooling plates and circuit boards are screwed together, then the assembly can be manufactured with standard mechanical tolerances, but the heat sinks do not make full contact with the inner side walls of the housing resulting in poor cooling performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs spring elements as pressure elements that provide elastic, dynamic contact between the heat sinks and the housing side walls. This elastic pressure compensates for manufacturing tolerances and ensures full contact without requiring precision machining or complex rigid mounting structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the contact parameter from rigid fixed-position contact to elastic variable contact. The spring elements allow the contact pressure and position to adjust automatically within tolerance ranges, ensuring continuous full contact between heat sinks and housing surfaces.
2Temperature
If additional cooling measures such as heat pipes are implemented, then cooling performance can be improved, but the device becomes more complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The housing side walls themselves serve as the cooling elements, eliminating the need for separate heat pipes or additional cooling components. The elastic pressure elements ensure that the heat sinks make full contact with the housing, allowing the housing to perform the cooling function directly.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing serves dual functions: structural enclosure and thermal management. By ensuring full contact between heat sinks and housing through elastic pressure elements, the housing acts as both the mechanical structure and the cooling surface, eliminating the need for dedicated heat pipe systems.
3Manufacturing precision
If mechanical tolerances are tightly controlled to ensure full contact, then cooling performance improves, but manufacturing cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The spring elements provide dynamic adjustment capability that compensates for manufacturing tolerances. Instead of requiring tight tolerance control, the elastic elements automatically adjust to ensure full contact, significantly easing manufacturing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from fixed rigid contact parameters to variable elastic contact parameters. This allows the contact interface to adapt to tolerance variations, eliminating the need for precision manufacturing while maintaining full contact.
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 design achieves improved heat dissipation by ensuring full contact between heat sinks and the housing, optimizing cooling performance without additional complex or costly measures.
Implementation Method 1
The contact elements ensure a precise fit of the heat sinks against the inside of the housing, thus compensating for component tolerances, particularly those of the housing itself
Implementation Method 2
at least one pressure element is designed as a spring element which is enclosed by the connecting board
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to an electronic device (1), in particular a power supply system, comprising: - a housing (2); - a first electronic assembly (3), in particular a first power supply unit, comprising a first heat sink (4); and - a second electronic assembly (5), in particular a second power supply unit, comprising a second heat sink (6); - wherein the first and the second electronic assembly (3, 5) are arranged in the housing (2); and - the first heat sink (4) and the second heat sink (6) are pressed against the inside of the housing (2) by means of pressure elements (7).