Variable Cross-Section Heat Pipe for Compact Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat sinks face challenges in maximizing cooling performance due to limited installation space, particularly in the height direction, and inefficiencies in heat transport and radiation, leading to insufficient heat dissipation and increased thermal resistance.
Innovation Solution
A heat sink design featuring a heat transport member with an integral internal space filled with a working fluid, where the cross-sectional area varies between the heat receiving, insulating, and radiating portions, allowing for improved heat transfer and equalized heat input, while maintaining sufficient volumes and fin area, even in constrained spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If many heat pipes are arranged in parallel to increase heat transport capacity, then cooling performance is improved, but installation space in height direction is increased
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple heat pipes are merged into a single heat transport member with an integral internal space. This consolidation maintains the heat transport capacity of multiple pipes while reducing the overall height of the heatsink structure, thereby resolving the contradiction between cooling performance and installation space.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat transport member employs a nested structure where multiple internal channels are contained within a single external boundary. This allows multiple heat transport pathways to coexist within a compact volume, improving cooling performance without increasing the height of the heatsink.
2Reliability
If the fin area of the heat radiating fin is increased to improve heat radiation performance, then cooling performance is improved, but installation space in height direction is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The heat radiating fin is designed to extend in the horizontal direction rather than increasing vertical height. This dimensional shift allows for increased fin area and improved heat radiation performance while maintaining a compact height profile suitable for limited installation spaces.
3Reliability
If the cross-sectional area of the heat transport member is increased to equalize heat input, then thermal resistance is reduced, but volume of the heat transport member is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The heat transport member features a non-uniform cross-sectional area that is optimized for local heat distribution requirements. The cross-sectional area is larger at the heat receiving portion to equalize heat input from the heating element, and smaller at other portions to reduce overall volume, thereby resolving the contradiction between thermal resistance and volume.
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 enhances cooling performance by optimizing heat transfer and radiation, reducing thermal resistance, and allowing for uniform cooling of electronic components, even when heat is generated unevenly, while minimizing the heat sink's size and maintaining efficient reflux characteristics.
Implementation Method 1
an integral internal space that communicates from the heat receiving portion to a connection portion with the pipe body and that is filled with a working fluid
Implementation Method 2
a heat transport member having a heat receiving portion thermally connected to a heating element; a pipe body connected to a heat radiating portion of the heat transport member
Implementation Method 3
a heat radiating fin group which is thermally connected to the pipe body and in which a plurality of heat radiating fins is arranged
Implementation Method 4
a cross-sectional area of an internal space in a direction orthogonal to a heat transport direction of the heat transport member in the heat radiating portion is smaller than the cross-sectional area in a heat insulating portion between the heat receiving portion and the heat radiating portion
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a heatsink that can increase a fin area of a heat radiating fin while securing sufficient volumes of a heat receiving portion, heat insulating portion, and heat radiating portion even in an environment in which an installation space for the heatsink, more specifically, an installation space in a height direction of the heatsink is limited.A heatsink including: a heat transport member having a heat receiving portion thermally connected to a heating element; a pipe body connected to a heat radiating portion of the heat transport member; and a heat radiating fin group which is thermally connected to the pipe body and in which a plurality of heat radiating fins is arranged, wherein the heat transport member has an integral internal space that communicates from the heat receiving portion to a connection portion with the pipe body and that is filled with a working fluid, the internal space of the heat transport member communicating with an internal space of the pipe body, and a cross-sectional area of an internal space in a direction orthogonal to a heat transport direction of the heat transport member in the heat radiating portion is smaller than the cross-sectional area in a heat insulating portion between the heat receiving portion and the heat radiating portion.