Variable-Height Pedestal Heat Exchanger for PCB Thermal Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heat removal from application-specific integrated circuits and printed circuit boards with varying electronic component heights poses a challenge, as existing heat exchangers struggle to maintain effective thermal contact and transfer across components of different heights.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design featuring pedestals of varying heights with distinct materials and configurations, such as press-fit pins, sintering, and brazing or friction welding, to ensure integral connection with a bottom plate and facilitate thermal pathways across components of different heights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a flat heat exchanger contacts electronics with varying heights, then heat removal is attempted, but effective thermal contact and heat transfer are compromised due to height variations
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger incorporates pedestals of varying heights at different locations to match the height variations of electronic components. Each pedestal is locally adapted to provide optimal thermal contact with components of different heights, ensuring consistent heat transfer across the entire heat exchanger surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger is segmented into multiple pedestals rather than using a single flat surface. This segmentation allows each pedestal to be independently optimized for contact with specific components, maintaining reliable thermal contact despite overall height variations in the electronic assembly.
2Reliability
If pedestals of varying heights are used to accommodate different component heights, then thermal contact is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple pedestals of varying heights are merged into a single integrated heat exchanger structure. This combining approach maintains the benefits of varied heights for thermal contact while simplifying manufacturing by creating one unified component rather than assembling separate pedestals.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger utilizes composite construction techniques to create pedestals of different heights within a single structure. This allows for complex geometries to be achieved through material composition and integration rather than through complex machining or assembly processes.
3Manufacturing precision
If pins are used to connect pedestals to the bottom plate, then assembly precision is improved, but manufacturing steps increase
Solution Approach 1:
Holes for pins are pre-formed in both the bottom plate and pedestals during the manufacturing process. This preliminary action ensures precise alignment and positioning of pedestals relative to the bottom plate, while the pin insertion becomes a simple final assembly step rather than a complex positioning operation.
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 enables efficient heat transfer from components of varying heights by ensuring consistent and robust thermal contact, even with misalignment, thereby enhancing the reliability and performance of electronic systems.
Implementation Method 1
a sinter layer disposed between each pedestal in the plurality of pedestals and the second panel
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of weld zones each weld zone connecting a corresponding pedestal to the second panel
Implementation Method 3
Heat exchanger for electronics... The heat exchanger removes heat from the electronics and disperses the heat into the adjacent atmosphere
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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Figure 5~7
AI summary
An electronics heat exchanger including a fluid flow body (40) having a first panel (42), a second panel (44), and at least one fluid flow guide (46) connecting the first panel (42) and the second panel (44), a plurality of pedestals (48) extending from the second panel (44), the plurality of pedestals (48) including at least a first pedestal (48) having a first height and a second pedestal 48 having a second height, distinct from the first height, and wherein each of the pedestals (48) is integral with the second panel (44).