Heat exchange – Flow passages for two confined fluids – Interdigitated plural first and plural second fluid passages
Utility Patent
1998-03-03
2001-01-02
Flanigan, Allen (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
Flow passages for two confined fluids
Interdigitated plural first and plural second fluid passages
C165S080400, C165SDIG003, C165SDIG003
Utility Patent
active
06167952
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to cooling devices, and more particularly to cooling apparatus, for example, for high power solid state devices, and a method of assembling same.
BACKGROUND ART
Higher packaging densities and increasing power dissipation of electronic devices make thermal management an extremely important design consideration so that reliability is enhanced. Because of the high heat fluxes that are encountered, future high power electronics for commercial aircraft and aerospace installations will likely be liquid cooled. In these applications where space and weight are important, compact cold plates and device coolers are needed. Further, the devices should be low cost and provide high performance cooling, for example, of solid state power devices used in variable speed, constant frequency power generation systems, DC converters, motor drives, inverters, variable frequency converters and bidirectional converters.
In applications employing high power electronic devices, high performance liquid plate fin heat exchangers or impingement type coolers have been used. Such devices have surface density ranges on the order of 500-1000 and 1500-2500 square meters of surface area per cubic meter of exchanger volume, respectively. While these surface density values are impressive, there are instances where an even greater increase in surface density is necessary or desirable. Further, because cooling requirements vary substantially from application to application, prior cooling devices have either been individually designed for the specific application or an already existing cooling device has been selected having a cooling performance which is equal to or greater than the required cooling performance. In the former case, the need to develop a design can increase overall costs beyond an acceptable level. In the latter case, inefficiencies are often encountered due to the oversizing of the cooling device.
Patents disclosing cooling devices include Jenssen U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,737, Skoog U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,778, Bland et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,171, Lutfy U.S. Pat. No 4,559,580, Sutrina U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,573, Yamauchi et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,342, Crowe U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,530 and Lee U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,071. The Bland et al., Lutfy, Sutrina and Crowe patents are owned by the assignee of the present application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A cooling apparatus according to the present invention is configurable and easily assembled to have a selected cooling capability tailored to the requirements of the particular application so that the desired thermal performance can be obtained with the least requirements on the cooling flow.
More particularly, according to one aspect of the present invention, a cooling apparatus includes first and second laminations each having a plurality of openings wherein the openings of the first and second laminations are substantially coincident when the laminations are disposed in identical orientations and the first lamination is aligned with and overlies the second lamination. In addition, means are provided for maintaining the first and second laminations in a stacked and aligned relationship and in different orientations wherein passages are formed extending through the laminations.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment, the openings of each lamination are disposed in a regularly spaced pattern which is non-symmetric with respect to a center line of the lamination. Further, the first and second laminations are preferably identical to one another. Also, the maintaining means preferably maintains the first lamination in a first orientation and the second lamination in one of second and third orientations different than the first orientation.
Still further in accordance with the preferred embodiment, the openings in each lamination comprise slots which may be disposed in rows and columns between headers and which may be inclined relative to four sides of the lamination.
The passages preferably have a zig-zag shape and may have a first set of flow characteristics when the laminations are disposed in a first orientation configuration and a second set of flow characteristics different than the first set of flow characteristics when the laminations are disposed in a second orientation configuration.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the cooling apparatus includes a plurality of substantially identical stacked laminations arranged in differing orientations and each having openings and means for securing the laminations together to form cooling passages extending through the laminations.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a lamination for cooling apparatus comprises a body of lamination material having a plurality of slanted openings therethrough disposed in a regularly spaced pattern which is non-symmetric with respect to a center line of the lamination and first and second header portions disposed on opposing sides of the pattern.
In accordance with a still further aspect of the present invention, a method of assembling cooling apparatus includes the steps of providing first and second laminations each having a plurality of openings wherein the openings of the first and second laminations are substantially coincident when the laminations are disposed in identical orientations and the first lamination is aligned with and overlies the second lamination and securing the first and second laminations in a stacked and aligned relationship and in different orientations wherein passages are formed extending through the laminations.
Other features and advantages are inherent in the apparatus claimed and disclosed or will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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pat
Flanigan Allen
Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
Marshall O'Toole Gerstein Murray & Borun
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