Heat dissipation apparatus and methods for UV-LED photoreactors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11649175-B2
Application number	US-202017093092-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2020
Priority date	Jan 19, 2016
Publication date	May 16, 2023
Grant date	May 16, 2023

Abstract

A UV reactor irradiates a flow of fluid with UV radiation. The reactor comprises: a fluid conduit defined by a heat conducting conduit body comprising one or more heat conducting walls for permitting a flow of fluid therethrough; a UV-LED operatively connected to a PCB and oriented for directing radiation into the fluid conduit. The PCB comprises a heat conducting substrate having a first surface. The conduit body is in thermal contact with the first surface of the heat conducting substrate. Heat is dissipated from the UV-LED via the heat conducting substrate, the thermal contact between the first surface of the heat conducting substrate and the heat conducting conduit body, and from the one or more heat conducting walls of the heat conducting conduit body to the fluid flowing through the fluid conduit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultraviolet (UV) reactor for irradiating a flow of fluid with UV radiation, the reactor comprising:
a fluid conduit comprising thermally conductive material;
a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising a heat conducting substrate having a first surface comprising a circuit region;
a solder mask coating on the circuit region of the first surface of the heat conducting substrate; and
a UV light emitting diode (UV-LED) operatively connected to the PCB, the UV-LED oriented for directing radiation into the fluid conduit;
wherein a thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate is devoid of the solder mask coating and the thermally conductive material is thermally coupled to the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate of the PCB.

2. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the thermally conductive material is in walls of the fluid conduit.

3. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the thermally conductive material is in thermal contact with the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate.

4. A reactor according to claim 3 wherein the thermal contact between the thermally conductive material and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate of the PCB comprises a thermal contact enhancing component interposed between the thermally conductive material and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate.

5. A reactor according to claim 4 wherein the thermal contact enhancing component comprises a thermally conductive and deformable thermal pad, or a thermally conductive gel or paste.

6. A reactor according to claim 3 wherein the thermal contact between the thermally conductive material and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate of the PCB comprises a heat conducting intermediate component interposed between the thermally conductive material and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate.

7. A reactor according to claim 3 wherein:
the fluid conduit comprises: a plurality of fluid flow channels; and a manifold located at the ends of at least two of the plurality of fluid flow channels and shaped to provide fluid communication between the at least two fluid flow channels, the manifold comprising at least some of the thermally conductive material; and
the thermal contact between the thermally conductive material and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate comprises thermal contact between the thermally conductive material of the manifold and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate.

8. A reactor according to claim 7 wherein at least some fluid flow channels of the plurality of fluid flow channels comprise at least some of the thermally conductive material.

9. A reactor according to claim 7 wherein the thermal contact between the fluid conduit and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate of the PCB comprises a thermal contact enhancing component interposed between the thermally conductive material of the manifold and the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate, the thermal contact enhancing component reducing a thermal contact resistance (increasing the thermal contact conductivity) between the thermally conductive material of the manifold and the heat conducting substrate of the PCB.

10. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the solder mask coating of the PCB is removed from the thermal contact region of the PCB.

11. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the fluid conduit is defined by a heat conducting conduit body.

12. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein when the fluid flows through the fluid conduit, the fluid flowing through the fluid conduit contacts the thermally conductive material to dissipate heat from the thermally conductive material into the fluid.

13. A reactor according to claim 12 wherein when the fluid flows through the fluid conduit, the contact between the fluid flowing through the fluid conduit and the thermally conductive material occurs, at least in part, inside a UV active region of the reactor.

14. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the fluid conduit comprises at least one thermally conductive material and at least one non-thermally-conductive material.

15. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the fluid conduit is made of the one or more thermally conductive materials.

16. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the heat conducting substrate comprises a wall defining a portion of a fluid flow path in the fluid conduit between an inlet of the fluid conduit and an outlet of the fluid conduit.

17. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the UV-LED is on a first side of the heat conducting substrate and a portion of a fluid flow path in the fluid conduit between an inlet of the fluid conduit and an outlet of the fluid conduit is on a second side of the heat conducting substrate opposite the first side of the heat conducting substrate.

18. A reactor according to claim 1 wherein the thermally conductive material is in thermal contact with the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate via an end surface of the fluid conduit at a longitudinal end of the fluid conduit.

19. A method of fabricating a reactor according to claim 1 , the method comprising removing the solder mask coating of the PCB from the thermal contact region of the PCB.

20. A reactor according to claim 3 wherein the thermal contact region is on the first surface of the heat conducting substrate.

21. A reactor according to claim 20 wherein the first surface of the heat conducting substrate and the UV-LED are on a first side of the heat conducting substrate.

22. A reactor according to claim 20 wherein the first surface of the heat conducting substrate is generally planar.

23. A reactor according to claim 22 wherein the UV-LED is oriented for directing radiation to have a principal optical axis extending in a first direction from the UV-LED to the fluid conduit, and a normal vector of the first surface of the heat conducting substrate is oriented substantially in the first direction.

24. A reactor according to claim 23 wherein the principal optical axis is generally parallel with a direction of flow of the fluid through the fluid conduit when the fluid flows through the fluid conduit.

25. A reactor according to claim 22 wherein the circuit region is adjacent to the thermal contact region.

26. A reactor according to claim 22 wherein the thermally conductive material is in direct thermal contact with the thermal contact region of the heat conducting substrate.

27. A reactor according to claim 22 wherein the UV-LED is oriented for directing radiation to have a principal optical axis extending in a first direction from the UV-LED to the fluid conduit, and a normal vector of the first surface of the heat conducting substrate is oriented substantially opposite the first direction.

Assignees

• Univ British Columbia

Inventors

• Taghipour Fariborz

Classifications

• H05K1/0203

  Cooling of mounted components (H05K1/0272 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K3/0061

  onto a metallic substrate, e.g. a heat sink (heat sinks for electric apparatus H05K7/20) · CPC title

• H05K2201/10106

  Light emitting diode [LED] · CPC title

• C02F2201/3227

  Units with two or more lamps · CPC title

• C02F2303/04

  Disinfection · CPC title