Cooling element for electronic components

Details Cooling element for electronic components Cooling element for electronic components

1998-02-27

1999-04-13

Leo, Leonard R.

Heat exchange

With retainer for removable article

Electrical component

165185, 174 163, 257718, 257719, 361704, F28F 700, H01L 2336

Patent

active

058934090

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a heat sink for electronic components, in particular to a heat sink which can be mounted on and coupled to the top of a component which, absorbs the heat losses from the component, and which emits them via cooling surfaces. As a rule, such a heat sink is in contact with a heat distributor (or heat slug) of the component.
Good heat dissipation is essential to reliable use of semiconductor components. The requirement for heat sinks with ever greater performance arises as the power density increases and components become ever smaller, with the increasing power loss resulting from this. These heat sinks should have good thermal conductivity for internal heat conduction, and should have a large surface area for external dissipation of the heat. In this case, the power loss is initially transmitted from the semiconductor casing via contact surfaces to the heat sink. The heat distribution within the heat sink takes place by thermal conduction. The external emission of the heat takes place by means of radiation and/or convection.
As the surfaces to be cooled become smaller while the power loss to be dissipated at the same time becomes higher, irregularities in the surfaces to be cooled have an increasingly unfavourable effect on the heat transmission from the component to the heat sink. These irregularities can be compensated for by the use of heat conducting foils. However, this means an increased cost for material and handling costs.
A very wide range of designs of heat sinks is known in the prior art. For example, German Laid-Open Specification DE 43 35 299 proposes a heat sink for connection to a semiconductor casing, in which two opposite sides can be connected to a housing, like brackets. The heat sink has cooling ribs and a contact surface which, for heat transmission, are in contact with electronic component, in particular with its top.
Other forms of heat sinks are known, for example, from the German Laid-Open Specification DE 24 25 723 or from the Japanese Patent Application No. 64-23 11 04.
The solutions which have been proposed in the prior art have the disadvantages that they occupy too much space, are too complicated and are thus too expensive or too unreliable, so that the cooling effect breaks down or fails, for example, in the event of vibration.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on the object of providing a cost-effective, self-centring heat sink which is fixed well, is nevertheless flexible and has a high heat dissipation capability.
The invention is based on the knowledge that the optimum position of contact surfaces of the heat sink on the heat distributor of an electronic component can be obtained after the action of forces by means of a spring structure of a heat sink, which structure is bent in a meandering or intricate shape from a sheet-metal strip, since the heat sink is subject to prestressing. Furthermore, shoulders and lugs in the region of the contact surfaces of the heat sink ensure effective centring and positioning relative to the component. Although the heat sink is thus elastic and can absorb certain mechanical stresses, it assumes its original position again, however, so that reliable heat dissipation is ensured at all times. The surface area required by a heat sink in plan view is only slightly larger than the surface area of the component to be cooled. The heat sink may be built to any desired height in order to match the performance to the heat dissipation. The solution according to the invention, that the heat sink is produced by a stamped/bent part from a sheet-metal strip and is bent in an intricate shape, offers the opportunity of placing appropriate contact surfaces accurately in position on the component, and of producing a prestress which acts by means of appropriate bends, so that a snap-action connection draws the heat sink with its cooling surfaces onto the component, and that the shoulders and lugs which are used for centring are constructed integrally on the strip, that is to say they are stamped a

REFERENCES:
patent: 3670215 (1972-06-01), Wilkins et al.
patent: 4605058 (1986-08-01), Wilens
patent: 4945401 (1990-07-01), Trunk et al.

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