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Helical fin design by additive manufacturing of metal for enhanced heat sink for electronics cooling
About
The reliability of electronic modules depends, to a great extent, on the thermal performance of the system. As the power density of electronic modules increases, so does the heat from electrical losses. In order to avoid degradation or device failure caused by operation over maximum allowable temperature, heat must be effectively dispersed. A new design has been developed that integrates Phase Change Materials into a heat sink to enhance heat removal performance. This design uses Additive Manufacturing for the encapsulation of PCM at critical locations to provide a buffer against intermittent temperature spikes, while also providing active cooling through optimized conductive and convective heat removal. The resultant novel geometries with optimized surface area would have been virtually out of reach using conventional manufacturing techniques. This invention takes advantage of 3D printing to enable combined active-passive cooling within a compact and cost-effective heat sink, whose performance exceeds that of traditional designs.
Key Benefits
* Compact * Easily Accessible Materials * Ease of manufacturing due to 3D Printing * Passive cooling effect of PCM leading to higher net performance, particularly at targeted temperature range of PCM melt
Applications
Electronics cooling, such as PCs, TVs, vehicle onboard electronics, power inverter systems (solar panels, vehicle chargers, motor drives) and other heat rejection schemes such as radiators etc