Air bearing heat exchanger methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10801787-B2
Application number	US-201916518400-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2019
Priority date	Sep 26, 2017
Publication date	Oct 13, 2020
Grant date	Oct 13, 2020

Abstract

The various technologies presented herein relate to fabrication and operation of a heat exchanger that is configured to extract heat from an underlying substrate. Heat can be extracted by way of an air gap formed between an impeller and a baseplate. By utilizing a pump to create an initial air gap that is further maintained by rotation of the impeller relative to the baseplate, a spring can be utilized that can apply a force of greater magnitude to the impeller than is used in a conventional approach, thus enabling the weight of the impeller to be negligible with respect to a width of the air gap, thereby conferring the desirable feature of orientation independence with respect to gravity with no performance degradation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a heat exchanger, comprising:
operating a pump in the heat exchanger, wherein the pump applies a first air flow between a bearing surface of a baseplate and a bearing surface of a heat sink impeller (HSI) having a weight, the first air flow causing the HSI to move away from the baseplate with an air gap formed between the HSI and the baseplate;
operating a motor in the heat exchanger, wherein the motor causes the HSI to rotate relative to the baseplate, rotation of the HSI relative to the baseplate generates a second air flow, wherein the second air flow supplements the first air flow in the air gap; and
terminating operation of the pump causing the first air flow to cease, a width of the air gap being controlled by the second air flow, wherein the width of the air gap is a function of a spring force F spring applied to the HSI to force the HSI towards the baseplate and an air pressure P air bearing A base created by the second air flow away from the baseplate, wherein F spring and P air bearing A base exceed the weight of the HSI.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein F spring is at least 5 times greater than the weight of the HSI.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein F spring is at least twenty times the weight of the HSI.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pump is a diaphragm pump.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising re-operating the pump, wherein re-operating the pump re-establishes the first air flow in the air gap.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising subsequent to re-operating the pump, terminating operation of the motor, thereby causing the HSI to cease rotation causing the second air flow to cease, wherein the air gap is maintained by the first air flow.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising terminating operation of the pump subsequent to re-operating the pump, thereby causing the first air flow to cease and the bearing surface of the HSI to contact the bearing surface of the baseplate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the baseplate has spiraled grooves etched therein.

9. A method for operating a heat exchanger, the method comprising:
applying a force F spring against an impeller located in the heat exchanger causing the impeller to be located against a baseplate, wherein F spring is applied in a first direction by a spring acting on an upper surface of the impeller, wherein F spring exceeds the weight of the impeller; and
generating an air gap having a width G between the impeller and a baseplate, wherein the air gap is generated by a pump directing a first airflow between a lower surface of the impeller and an upper surface of the baseplate, the first airflow exerts a force of magnitude P air bearing A base comprising an average pressure P air bearing acting on the lower surface of the impeller having an area A base , wherein P air bearing A base exceeds the weight of the impeller and acts on the impeller in an opposite direction to F spring .

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising activating a motor, wherein the motor is connected to the impeller, rotation of the motor causes the impeller to rotate relative to the baseplate, thereby creating a second airflow in the air gap.

11. The method of claim 10 for operating a heat exchanger, wherein the magnitude of F spring is at least twenty times the magnitude of the weight of the impeller.

Assignees

• Nat Tech & Eng Solutions Sandia Llc

Inventors

• Staats Jr Wayne Lawrence

Classifications

• F16C21/00 Primary

  Combinations of sliding-contact bearings with ball or roller bearings, for exclusively rotary movement (F16C17/24, F16C19/52 take precedence) · CPC title

• F16C32/0625

  via supply slits · CPC title

• F16C17/04

  for axial load only · CPC title

• F16C32/0603

  supported by a gas cushion, e.g. an air cushion · CPC title

• F16C2360/46

  Fans, e.g. ventilators · CPC title