Fixture facilitating heat sink fabrication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11404287-B2
Application number	US-202017130041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2020
Priority date	Feb 20, 2018
Publication date	Aug 2, 2022
Grant date	Aug 2, 2022

Abstract

A fixture to facilitate fabrication of a heat sink includes a base plate to support a lower section of the heat sink, and multiple registration pins extending from the base plate. A platen is provided over a heat transfer element (HTE) of the heat sink, with the platen including slip fit regions to slip fit around respective registration pins, and with the lower section and HTE disposed between the base plate and the platen, and forming a fixture stack segment aligned with an active region of the cold plate. A load plate is provided which includes slip fit regions configured to slip fit around corresponding registration pins with the load plate disposed over the fixture stack segment. The load plate includes a single load pin centrally disposed to apply a load to the fixture stack segment and facilitate bonding the lower section and HTE together.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fixture to facilitate fabrication of a cold plate with multiple heat transfer elements, the fixture comprising:
a base plate to support a lower section of the cold plate, the cold plate comprising multiple active regions, each active region including a respective heat transfer element to facilitate cooling a respective heat-generating electronic component;
multiple registration pins extending from the base plate;
multiple platens to reside above an upper section of the cold plate, a platen of the multiple platens including outer perimeter recesses that define perimeter slip fit regions which facilitate slip fit of the platen around respective registration pins of the multiple registration pins with the respective registration pins passing through the outer perimeter recesses in the platen and the lower section and upper section of the cold plate disposed between the base plate and the platen, and forming a fixture stack segment aligned with a heat transfer element in a respective active region of the multiple active regions of the cold plate; and
multiple load plates, a load plate of the multiple load plates including outer perimeter recesses that define perimeter slip fit regions which facilitate slip fit of the load plate around corresponding registration pins of the multiple registration pins with the corresponding registration pins passing through the outer perimeter recesses in the load plate and the load plate disposed over the fixture stack segment, above the platen of the multiple platens, and the load plate including a single load pin, the single load pin of the load plate extending through the load plate and pressing against the platen to facilitate applying a load to the fixture stack segment to facilitate bonding the lower section, the respective heat transfer element and upper section of the cold plate together.

2. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the fixture facilitates applying a uniform load to the fixture stack segment to facilitate brazing or soldering the multiple heat transfer elements to the lower section in the multiple active regions thereof.

3. The fixture of claim 2 , wherein the multiple heat transfer elements comprise multiple cooling structures through which liquid coolant is to flow, each cooling structure to be brazed or soldered to the lower section in a respective active region of the cold plate.

4. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the slip fit regions in the platen of the multiple platens are differently-shaped outer perimeter recesses in the platen to facilitate slip fitting the platen around the respective registration pins of the multiple registration pins.

5. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the slip fit regions in the load plate of the multiple load plates are differently-shaped outer perimeter recesses in the load platen to facilitate slip fitting the load plate around the corresponding registration pins of the multiple registration pins.

6. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the corresponding registration pins around which the load plate is slip fit include registration pin heads against which the load plate rests when the single load pin is applying the load to the fixture stack segment.

7. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the platen of the multiple platens and the load plate of the multiple load plates are identically configured, and wherein the platen and the load plate slip fit around the same registration pins of the multiple registration pins.

8. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the single load pin is a single load screw disposed centrally in the load plate.

9. The fixture of claim 1 , wherein the respective heat transfer element comprises a cooling structure through which liquid coolant is to flow.

10. The fixture of claim 9 , wherein the heat sink further comprises a raised coolant inlet coupling extending from the upper shell and a raised coolant outlet coupling extending from the upper shell, and wherein the fixture further comprises an alignment outrigger coupled to the raised coolant inlet and outlet couplings to facilitate holding the raised coolant inlet and outlet couplings in position during thermal treatment of the heat sink.

11. A method of facilitating fabrication of a cold plate with multiple heat transfer elements, the method comprising:
assembling a fixture comprising:
providing a base plate to support a lower section of the cold plate, the cold plate comprising multiple active regions, each active region including a respective heat transfer element to facilitate cooling a respective heat-generating electronic component;
positioning multiple registration pins to extend from the base plate;
slip fitting multiple platens above an upper section of the cold plate, a platen of the multiple platens including outer perimeter recesses that define perimeter slip fit regions which facilitate slip fit of the platen around respective registration pins of the multiple registration pins, with the respective registration pins passing through the outer perimeter recesses in the platen and the lower section and the upper section of the cold plate disposed between the base plate and the platen, and forming a fixture stack aligned with a heat transfer element in a respective active region of the multiple active regions of the cold plate; and
slip fitting multiple load plates, a load plate of the multiple load plates including outer perimeter recesses that define perimeter slip fit regions which facilitate flip fit of the load plate around corresponding registration pins of the multiple registration pins, with the corresponding registration pins passing through the outer perimeter recesses in the load plate and the load plate disposed over the fixture stack segment, above the platen of the multiple platens, and the load plate including a single load pin, the single load pin of the load plate extending through the load plate pressing against the platen to facilitate applying a load to the fixture stack segment to facilitate bonding the lower section, the respective heat transfer element and the upper section of the cold plate together.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the cold plate further comprises an upper section, and wherein the method comprises using the fixture to facilitate fabricating the cold plate, the using comprising:
placing the lower section of the cold plate onto the base plate, locating the lower section relative to the multiple registration pins;
placing the respective heat transfer element on the lower section of the active region of the cold plate configured for cooling the respective heat-generating electronic component, with a braze or solder material disposed between the heat transfer element and the lower section;
placing the upper section of the cold plate onto the lower section of the heat transfer element in the active region disposed between the lower plate and the upper sections;
slip fitting the platen of the multiple platens around the respective registration pins to form the fixture stack segment;
slip fitting the load plate of the multiple load plates around the corresponding registration pins of the multiple registration pins over the fixture stack segment, and above the platen of the multiple platens; and
applying a torque to the single load pin in the load plate to apply the load to the fixture stack segment to facilitate brazing or soldering of the cold plate, including brazing or soldering of the lower section and the heat transfer element together using the braze or solder material disposed therebetween.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the braze or solder material is a first joining material, and wherein the method further comprises providing a

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Isaacs Phillip D
• Marroquin Christopher M
• Simmons Daren
• Pompeo Frank L
• Eagle Jason R
• Hoffmeyer Mark K
• Ellsworth Jr Michael J
• Singh Prabjit
• Ostrander Steve

Classifications

• H10W40/611

  Bolts or screws · CPC title

• H10W40/226

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

• H10W40/228

  the projecting parts being wire-shaped or pin-shaped · CPC title

• H10W40/60

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

• H10W40/47

  by flowing liquids, e.g. forced water cooling · CPC title