System and method for thermal management of electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10123460-B2
Application number	US-201615339988-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2016
Priority date	Nov 13, 2015
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A thermal management system and method for electronic devices is provided. The system includes an electronic device, a heat sink, and a thermally conducting and electrically insulating thermal bridge that is interposed between the electronic device and the heat sink. The thermal bridge thermally couples the electronic device to the heat sink and electrically isolates the electronic device from the heat sink. The electronic device, the heat sink, and the thermal bridge are mounted on a same planar surface of a printed circuit board.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermal management system for electronic devices, comprising:
at least one electronic device;
a heat sink;
a thermally-conducting and electrically-insulating thermal bridge that is interposed between the at least one electronic device and the heat sink and that thermally couples the at least one electronic device to the heat sink and electrically isolates the at least one electronic device from the heat sink,
wherein the at least one electronic device, the heat sink, and the thermal bridge are mounted on a same planar surface of a printed circuit board and are arranged so as not to overlap each other when viewed along an axis perpendicular to the planar surface of the printed circuit board, wherein:
the at least one electronic device is one of a plurality of electronic devices included in the system,
the thermal bridge is one of a first plurality of thermal bridges included in the system,
each of the first plurality of thermal bridges is interposed between the heat sink and a respective one of the plurality of electronic devices, and thermally couples the respective one of the plurality of electronic devices to the heat sink and electrically isolates the respective one of the plurality of electronic devices from the heat sink, and
the plurality of electronic devices, the first plurality of thermal bridges, and the heat sink are mounted on the same planar surface of the printed circuit board; and

a second plurality of thermal bridges interposed between adjacent pairs of the plurality of electronic devices.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electronic devices are thermally coupled to the heat sink and electrically isolated from the heat sink and from each other.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electronic devices are electrically coupled to each other by way of a plurality of respective terminals thereof, thereby yielding a collective current handling capacity that is greater than individual current handling capacities of ones of the plurality of electronic devices.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor coupled to the heat sink and arranged to sense temperature of the heat sink and the plurality of electronic devices.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one electronic device is formed as an exposed tab semiconductor package that is solder-mounted to the printed circuit board.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the heat sink is electrically coupled to an electrical ground.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal bridge is formed of at least one of aluminum nitride, boron nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, or beryllium oxide.

8. A method of repairing a thermal management system for electronic devices,
wherein the system comprises:
a printed circuit board having affixed thereon:
a first electronic device;
a heat sink;
a thermally conducting and electrically insulating thermal bridge that is interposed between the first electronic device and the heat sink and that thermally couples the first electronic device to the heat sink and electrically isolates the first electronic device from the heat sink,

wherein the first electronic device, the heat sink, and the thermal bridge are mounted on a same planar surface of a printed circuit board and are arranged so as not to overlap each other when viewed along an axis perpendicular to the planar surface of the printed circuit board;
and the method comprises:
removing the first electronic device from the printed circuit board while at least one of the heat sink or the thermal bridge remains affixed to the printed circuit board, and
affixing a second electronic device to the printed circuit board in place of the first electronic device while at least one of the heat sink or the thermal bridge remains affixed to the printed circuit board, wherein:

the first electronic device is one of a plurality of electronic devices included in the system,
the thermal bridge is one of a first plurality of thermal bridges included in the system,
each of the first plurality of thermal bridges is interposed between the heat sink and a respective one of the plurality of electronic devices, and thermally couples the respective one of the plurality of electronic devices to the heat sink and electrically isolates the respective one of the plurality of electronic devices from the heat sink, and
the plurality of electronic devices, the first plurality of thermal bridges, and the heat sink are mounted on the same planar surface of the printed circuit board and are arranged so as not to overlap each other when viewed along the axis perpendicular to the planar surface of the printed circuit board; and
removing a first group of the plurality of electronic devices from the printed circuit board while at least one of the heat sink or the thermal bridge remains affixed to the printed circuit board, and
affixing a second group of electronic devices to the printed circuit board in place of the first group of the plurality of electronic devices while at least one of the heat sink or the thermal bridge remains affixed to the printed circuit board; and
wherein the system comprises:
a second plurality of thermal bridges, wherein, before the removing of the first group of the plurality of electronic devices from the printed circuit board, the second plurality of thermal bridges are interposed between adjacent pairs of the first group of the plurality of electronic devices, and wherein the second plurality of thermal bridges remains affixed to the printed circuit board during at least one of the removing of the first group of the plurality of electronic devices or the affixing of the second group of electronic devices.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of electronic devices are thermally coupled to the heat sink and electrically isolated from the heat sink and from each other.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of electronic devices are electrically coupled to each other by way of a plurality of respective terminals thereof, and a subset of the plurality of electronic devices remains affixed to the printed circuit board during at least one of the removing of the first group of the plurality of electronic devices or the affixing of the second group of electronic devices.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the system further comprises a temperature sensor coupled to the heat sink and arranged to sense temperature of the heat sink and the plurality of electronic devices, and wherein the temperature sensor remains affixed to the printed circuit board during at least one of the removing of the first group of the plurality of electronic devices or the affixing of the second group of electronic devices.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first electronic device is formed as an exposed tab semiconductor package, and the affixing of the second electronic device includes mounting the second electronic device to the printed circuit board by using solder.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the heat sink is electrically coupled to an electrical ground.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the thermal bridge is formed of at least one of aluminum nitride, boron nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, or beryllium oxide.

Assignees

• Covidien Lp
• Covidien LLP

Inventors

• Rupp Steven C
• Friedrichs Daniel A
• Smith Robert B

Classifications

• H10W40/259

  Ceramics or glasses (H10W40/254, H10W40/257, H10W40/255, H10W40/251, H10W40/253 take precedence) · CPC title

• H10W40/226

  characterised by projecting parts, e.g. fins to increase surface area (leadframes for cooling H10W70/461) · CPC title

• H10W40/60

  Securing means for detachable heating or cooling arrangements, e.g. clamps · CPC title

• H10W40/10 Primary

  Arrangements for heating · CPC title

• H05K7/205 Primary

  Heat-dissipating body thermally connected to heat generating element via thermal paths through printed circuit board [PCB] (details of PCBs relating to heat transfer H05K1/0201) · CPC title