Method and apparatus for an enclosed ionic thermal module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12547225-B2
Application number	US-202217967389-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2022
Priority date	Oct 17, 2022
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

An information handling system includes a processor, a memory device, and a PMU to provide power to the processor and memory device. The information handling system may also include an enclosed ion emitter cooling system including an ion emitter hub and an ion collector ring surrounding the ion emitter hub, the processor executing code instructions of an ion emitter control system to activate an ionic driving circuit, and an ionic driving circuit operatively coupled to the ion emitter hub and applying a first voltage to produce and repel ionized gases at the ion emitter hub and the ion collector ring and applying a second voltage to attract and deionize those ionized gases wherein movement of the ionized gases from the ion emitter hub to the ion collector ring causes an airflow within the enclosed ion emitter cooling system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An information handling system comprising:
a processor; a memory device; a power management unit (PMU) to provide power to the processor and memory device; an enclosed ion emitter cooling system including an ion emitter hub with hub protrusions that extend out from a central portion of the ion emitter hob and an ion collector ring of a plurality of circularly arranged collector fins surrounding the ion emitter hub; the processor executing code instructions of an ion emitter control system to activate an ionic driving circuit; and the ionic driving circuit operatively coupled to:
the ion emitter hub and applying a first voltage to produce and repel ionized gases at the ion emitter hub; and
the ion collector ring and applying a second voltage to attract and deionize those ionized gases,
wherein movement of the ionized gases from the ion emitter hub to the ion collector ring causes an airflow within the enclosed ion emitter cooling system.

2 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the ion collector ring formed at an external opening of the cooling system to provide a deionization source for the ionized gases in a polygonal ion collector ring.

3 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the ion collector ring includes the plurality of circularly arranged collector fins that are a plurality of thermal fins to dissipate heat from information handling system components into air drawn into the enclosed ion emitter cooling system via the created airflow.

4 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the hub protrusions on the ion emitter hub shaped for one or more electron source points to facilitate generation of the ions.

5 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the ion collector ring operatively coupled to a heat pipe with the heat pipe being coupled to a processing device of the information handling system.

6 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the ion collector ring thermally coupled to a vapor chamber to conduct heat into the ion collector ring to allow air to flow past the ion emitter hub and through ion collector ring via the movement of the ionized gases to cool the ion collector ring.

7 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
an air intake vent of the information handling system positioned above the ion emitter hub to draw air into the ion emitter hub and through to the ion collector ring via the airflow.

8 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
an insulative layer positioned below the ion collector ring and ion emitter hub, wherein the ion collector ring and ion emitter hub are coupled to the insulative layer to maintain the location of the ion emitter hub relative to the ion collector ring.

9 . An enclosed ion emitter cooling system for an information handling system comprising:
the enclosed ion emitter cooling system including an ion collector hub and an ion emitter ring surrounding the ion collector hub; and an ionic driving circuit operatively coupled to a hardware controller executing code instructions of an ion emitter control system to:
apply a first voltage at the ion emitter ring to produce and repel ionized gases at the internal edges of the ion emitter ring;
apply a second voltage at the ion collector hub to attract and deionize those ionized gases,
wherein movement of the ionized gases from the ion emitter ring to the ion collector hub causes an airflow out of the enclosed ion emitter cooling system through an aperture at the ion collector hub.

10 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 further comprising:
the ion collector hub formed at an external opening of the enclosed ion emitter cooling system to provide a deionization source for the ionized gases and an outlet for airflow to a heat exhaust vent of an information handling system.

11 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 further comprising:
the ion emitter ring comprising a plurality of thermal fins to dissipate heat from heated air drawn into the cooling system via the airflow.

12 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 further comprising:
the internal edges on the ion emitter ring having sharp edges that create one or more electron source points to facilitate creation of ions.

13 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 further comprising:
the ion emitter ring operatively coupled to a heat pipe with the heat pipe being thermally coupled to a processing device of the information handling system to dissipate heat from the processing device.

14 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 further comprising:
the ion emitter ring thermally coupled to a vapor chamber to conduct heat into the ion emitter ring to allow air to flow through the ion emitter ring via the movement of the ionized gases that creates the airflow within the cooling system to dissipate heat from the information handling system.

15 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 wherein the ionic driving circuit applies a grounding source as the second voltage at the ion collector hub to provide a voltage potential difference between the ion emitter ring and ion collector hub.

16 . The enclosed ion emitter cooling system of claim 9 further comprising:
an air intake around and edge of the ion emitter ring to draw air in between thermal fins of the ion emitter ring and out from an air outlet aperture positioned at the ion collector hub.

17 . A method of operating an enclosed ion emitter cooling system of an information handling system comprising:
with an ionic driving circuit, applying a first voltage from a voltage source to an ion emitter hub with hub protrusions that extend out from a central portion of the ion emitter hub placed within an ion collector ring-to create ionized gases and to produce and repel ionized gases at the ion emitter hub; and with the ionic driving circuit, applying a second voltage to create a voltage potential difference between the ion emitter hub and the ion collector ring formed of a plurality of circularly arranged collector fins to attract the ionized gases towards the ion collector ring, the ionized gases to be deionized at the ion collector ring, where the movement of the ionized gases from the ion emitter hub to the ion collector ring creates a sheer force against the air between the ion emitter hub and the ion collector ring to create an airflow within the enclosed ion emitter cooling system to draw air into an inlet aperture and out through the ion collector ring and across the plurality of circularly arranged collector fins.

18 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
the ion collector ring comprising the plurality of circularly arranged collector fins that are a plurality of thermal fins to dissipate heat into the air drawn into the cooling system in the inlet aperture via the airflow when air moves out across the plurality of circularly arranged collector fins, wherein the inlet aperture is placed at an external opening of the information handling system to draw air in from within a housing of the information handling system.

19 . The method of claim 18 further comprising:
the edges of hub protrusions of the ion emitter hub including sharpened edges that create one or more electron source points used to facilitate creation of ions at the ion emitter hub.

20 . The method of

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• He Qinghong
• North Travis C
• Markow Mitchell Anthony

Classifications

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• H01T19/00

  Devices providing for corona discharge (for charging electrographic elements G03G15/02) · CPC title

• H05K7/20136

  Forced ventilation, e.g. by fans (H05K7/202 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/20318

  Condensers · CPC title

• H05K7/20172

  Fan mounting or fan specifications · CPC title