Enclosure assemblies, and related devices and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12414223-B2
Application number	US-202118265049-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2021
Priority date	Dec 3, 2020
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

A cooling plate assembly for dual-sided cooling, the cooling plate assembly can include a first cooling plate and a second cooling plate. The first cooling plate that has a first cooling plate connector side and a first cooling plate cooling side that is opposite the first cooling plate connector side. The second cooling plate that has a second cooling plate connector side and a second cooling plate cooling side that is opposite the second cooling plate connector side. The second cooling plate is configured to attach to the first cooling plate such that formed between the first cooling plate connector side and the second cooling plate connector side is at least one cooling passage through which a cooling fluid is flowed to transfer heat from both the first cooling plate cooling side and the second cooling plate cooling side to the cooling fluid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly, comprising:
a cooling plate assembly for dual-sided cooling, the cooling plate assembly comprising:
a first cooling plate that has a first cooling plate connector side and a first cooling plate cooling side that is opposite the first cooling plate connector side; and
a second cooling plate that has a second cooling plate connector side and a second cooling plate cooling side that is opposite the second cooling plate connector side,
the second cooling plate configured to attach to the first cooling plate such that formed between the first cooling plate connector side and the second cooling plate connector side is at least one cooling passage through which a cooling fluid is flowed to transfer heat from both the first cooling plate cooling side and the second cooling plate cooling side to the cooling fluid; and
a flexible circuit assembly, comprising:
a first circuit member that has a first circuit member first side and a first circuit member second side that is opposite the first circuit member first side;
a second circuit member that has a second circuit member first side and a second circuit member second side; and
a connector member that is configured to electrically and mechanically connect the first circuit member to the second circuit member such that the first circuit member is in electrical communication with the second circuit member and so as to form a gap therebetween with which to receive the cooling plate assembly that is configured to promote cooling of both the first circuit member first side and the second circuit member first side,
wherein at least one of the first cooling plate connector side and the second cooling plate connector side includes a groove with which to receive a sealing gasket that is configured to promote sealing of the at least one cooling passage formed between the first cooling plate connector side and the second cooling plate connector side.

2. The flexible circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first circuit member and the second circuit member comprises a printed circuit board.

3. The flexible circuit assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first circuit member is the printed circuit board, and the first circuit member first side includes an insulated-gate bipolar transistor.

4. The flexible circuit assembly of claim 1 , when the cooling plate assembly is secured between the first circuit member and the second circuit member, the first circuit member and the second circuit member are substantially parallel to each other.

5. The flexible circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein the connector member is a ribbon connector.

6. The flexible circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein a periphery of the first circuit member includes a first circuit member first edge, wherein a periphery of the second circuit member includes a second circuit member first edge, and wherein the first circuit member first edge and the second circuit member first edge are coplanar when the cooling plate assembly is secured between the first circuit member and the second circuit member.

7. The cooling plate assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one cooling passage comprises at least two separate cooling passages that have a shared inlet, and wherein a flow splitter is positioned at the shared inlet and configured to split a flow of the cooling fluid between the at least two separate cooling passages.

8. The cooling plate assembly of claim 7 , wherein the at least two separate cooling passages are symmetric about a midplane extending through and perpendicular to a length of the cooling plate assembly.

9. The cooling plate assembly of claim 1 , wherein each cooling passage in the at least one cooling passage includes a plurality of obstructions that is configured to influence a flow of the cooling fluid through the at least one cooling passage.

10. The cooling plate assembly of claim 9 , wherein a first obstruction is included in an interior of the at least one cooling passage and a second obstruction is included at a wall of the at least one cooling passage.

11. The cooling plate assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first cooling plate is identical to the second cooling plate.

12. The cooling plate assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one cooling passage guides a flow of the cooling fluid from an inner portion of the cooling plate assembly to an outer portion of the cooling plate assembly.

13. The cooling plate assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cooling plate assembly is configured to receive a flow of the cooling fluid at a cooling plate assembly inlet side and guide the flow of the cooling fluid between the cooling plate assembly inlet side and a cooling plate assembly outlet side via the at least one cooling passage before expelling the flow of the cooling fluid at the cooling plate assembly outlet side.

14. An enclosure assembly for an electrical device, the enclosure assembly comprising:
an enclosure body that is configured to house components of the electrical device in a component cavity included in the enclosure body; and the assembly of claim 1 ,
a cooling plate assembly for dual-sided cooling, the cooling plate assembly arranged at the component cavity and comprising:
a first cooling plate that has a first cooling plate connector side and a first cooling plate cooling side that is opposite the first cooling plate connector side; and
a second cooling plate that has a second cooling plate connector side and a second cooling plate cooling side that is opposite the second cooling plate connector side, the second cooling plate configured to attach to the first cooling plate such that formed between the first cooling plate connector side and the second cooling plate connector side is at least one cooling passage through which a cooling fluid is flowed to transfer heat from both the first cooling plate cooling side and the second cooling plate cooling side to the cooling fluid.

15. The enclosure assembly of claim 14 , wherein a portion of the at least one cooling passage is formed between the enclosure body and the cooling plate assembly.

16. The enclosure assembly of claim 14 , wherein both a supply inlet for supplying the cooling fluid to the cooling plate assembly and a supply outlet for expelling the cooling fluid from the cooling plate assembly are included in the enclosure body.

17. The enclosure assembly of claim 14 , wherein the electrical device is a traction inverter.

Assignees

• Cummins Inc

Inventors

• Pandey Vineet K
• Fields William B
• Llaguno Isreal I
• Ramakrishnan Bharadwaj
• Palmer Bradford K O
• Patel Jaydeep V
• Hays Michael
• Murthy-Bellur Dakshina S
• Tamboli Amir Tajuddin
• Saha Rohit

Classifications

• H05K2201/1031

  Surface mounted metallic connector elements · CPC title

• H05K2201/1028

  Thin metal strips as connectors or conductors · CPC title

• H05K2201/10166

  Transistor · CPC title

• H05K2201/064

  Fluid cooling, e.g. by integral pipes · CPC title

• H05K2201/042

  Stacked spaced PCBs; Planar parts of folded flexible circuits having mounted components in between or spaced from each other · CPC title