Adjustable heat sink supporting multiple platforms and system configurations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9377828-B2
Application number	US-201313964466-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2013
Priority date	Aug 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

An adjustable heat sink which allows factory, service, or customers to adjust the width of the heat sink to take advantage of some or all available unpopulated DIMM space to optimize cooling and performance. Such an adjustable heat sink addresses many of the limitations of other heat sinks and is advantageous for reducing part numbers within a platform and across platforms. Such an adjustable heat sink also simplifies field upgrades when either adding or removing populated DIMMs to an information handling system thus enhancing performance without a need to change CPU Heat sinks.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heat sink comprising:
a main portion, the main portion comprising a heat sink base and a heat dissipation portion;
an extendable portion thermally coupled to the main portion, the extendable portion comprising an adjustable heat sink base and a heat dissipation portion; and,
another extendable portion thermally coupled to the main portion, the another extendable portion comprising an adjustable heat sink base and a heat dissipation portion;
an adjustment mechanism, the adjustment mechanism thermally and physically coupling the main portion, the extendable portion and the another extendable portion; and wherein
the extendable portion and the another extendable portion are positioned on opposite sides of the main portion, the extendable portion extending perpendicularly from the base portion in a first direction and the another extendable portion extending perpendicularly from the base portion in a second direction, the second direction being opposite that of the first direction; and,
the extendable portion is configured to selectively extend over a portion of first and second memory sockets of an information handling system motherboard depending on whether memory modules are inserted within one or both of the first and second memory sockets and the another extendable portion is configured to extend over third and fourth memory sockets of an information handling system motherboard a portion of a memory socket of the information handling system motherboard depending on whether memory modules are inserted within one or both of the third and fourth memory sockets.

2. The heat sink of claim 1 wherein:
the adjustment mechanism comprises a heat pipe, the heat pipe coupling the main portion and the extendable portion.

3. The heat sink of claim 2 wherein:
the heat pipe is fixed to one of the main portion and the extendable portion and extends into the other of the main portion and the extendable portion via an aperture, the aperture allowing the other of the main portion and the extendable portion to slide along the heat pipe.

4. The heat sink of claim 1 wherein:
the main portion heat dissipation portion and the extendable portion heat dissipation portion comprise respective fin arrays.

5. An information handling system comprising:
a motherboard, the motherboard comprising first, second third and fourth memory sockets;
an adjustable heat sink, the adjustable heat sink comprising
a main portion, the main portion comprising a heat sink base and a heat dissipation portion;
an extendable portion thermally coupled to the main portion, the extendable portion comprising an adjustable heat sink base and a heat dissipation portion;
another extendable portion thermally coupled to the main portion, the another extendable portion comprising an adjustable heat sink base and a heat dissipation portion; and,
an adjustment mechanism, the adjustment mechanism thermally and physically coupling the main portion and the extendable portion, the extendable portion and the another extendable portion; and wherein
the extendable portion and the another extendable portion are positioned on opposite sides of the main portion, the extendable portion extending perpendicularly from the base portion in a first direction and the another extendable portion extending perpendicularly from the base portion in a second direction, the second direction being opposite that of the first direction; and,
the extendable portion is configured to selectively extend over a portion of the first and second memory sockets of an information handling system motherboard depending on whether memory modules are inserted within one or both of the first and second memory sockets and the another extendable portion is configured to extend over the third and fourth memory sockets of an information handling system motherboard a portion of a memory socket of the information handling system motherboard depending on whether memory modules are inserted within one or both of the third and fourth memory sockets.

6. The information handling system of claim 5 wherein:
the adjustment mechanism comprises a heat pipe, the heat pipe coupling the main portion and the extendable portion.

7. The information handling system of claim 6 wherein:
the heat pipe is fixed to one of the main portion and the extendable portion and extends into the other of the main portion and the extendable portion via an aperture, the aperture allowing the other of the main portion and the extendable portion to slide along the heat pipe.

8. The information handling system of claim 5 wherein:
the main portion heat dissipation portion and the extendable portion heat dissipation portion comprise respective fin arrays.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Tunks Eric M
• Berke Stuart Allen

Classifications

• G06F1/20 Primary

  Cooling means · CPC title