Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-09
2003-12-16
Chervinsky, Boris (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S689000, C361S694000, C361S698000, C257S714000, C174S015100, C174S252000, C165S080400, C428S166000, C428S188000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06665185
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the cooling of electronics, and more particularly to high capacity cooling systems for electronics located on circuit boards.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As electronics systems continue to decrease in size and increase in performance (with a concomitant increase in power consumption), power density becomes a major design issue. That is, electronic circuits operate efficiently and effectively only over a prescribed temperature range. Operating outside this range can degrade and even destroy the circuit. Although there are many performance and price motivations for packing as much circuitry into as small a volume as possible, packing too much circuitry into a given volume creates a power density that could destroy the electronic circuitry. Many electronic circuit cooling systems, both active and passive have been employed over the years to varying degrees of effectiveness. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,719,444; 6,313,992 B1; 5,880,931; 5,701,751; 4,392,153; 4,573,067; 5,239,200; 5,345,107; 5,049,973; 5,373,417; 6,141,214; 6,105,661; 6,190,941; 6,101,094; and 3,746,942 disclose various cooling systems and methods for electronics systems and are all hereby incorporated by reference.
Notwithstanding the performance afforded by conventional circuit board cooling systems, a circuit board cooling system that provides high capacity cooling at a relatively low cost, and which occupies very little space would be highly desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A circuit board cooler employs a closed fluid delivery system to transfer heat from electronic components to a cooling fluid. A fluid cooling system in accordance with the principles of the present invention includes one or more channels embedded within a circuit board that supports electronic components to be cooled. The electronic components may be discrete components, such as capacitors, resistors, or inductors, or integrated circuits, for example. Additionally, the components may be surface-mounted or through-hole mounted components. Each channel carries cooling fluid to and from at least one component. The cooling fluid absorbs excess thermal energy from the component and disposes of the excess heat using any of a variety of methods including the use of active or passive devices, such as heat exchangers or heatsinks, for example. After cooling, the fluid may be re-circulated for further cooling of the component of interest. Each circuit board layer may include a substrate having first and second surfaces and composed of a dielectric material, for example, with copper deposited on one or both of the first and second surfaces (also referred to herein as “top” and “bottom” surfaces). The deposited copper may also be referred to herein as a layer, although it may be patterned to form, not a sold layer of copper as for a power or ground plane, but, traces for the inter-connection of electronic devices.
Each cooling channel may be formed as a void in an inner layer of a multi-layer circuit board, with inlet and outlet ports formed in one or more adjoining layers for the introduction and evacuation, respectively, of the cooling fluid. A plurality of cooling channels may be formed in an individual circuit board. Circuit boards having a plurality of channels may have one or more channels formed in each of a plurality of layers. One or more thermal conduction enhancements, such as “thermal vias”, for example, may be employed to improve the heat transfer efficiency between the electronic component being cooled and the cooling fluid within a channel.
A circuit board cooler in accordance with the principles of the present invention may be particularly effective at cooling electronic components supported on both sides of a circuit board.
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Kulik Andreas
Roemer Andrew
Chervinsky Boris
LTX Corporation
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