Heat sink with an integrated vapor chamber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9436235-B2
Application number	US-201313778053-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2013
Priority date	Feb 26, 2013
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

A cooling subsystem is provided for dissipating heat from processor. The cooling subsystem includes a heat sink comprising an upper portion having a plurality of fins formed therein and a base portion fixed to the upper portion to form a vapor chamber in an enclosed volume between the upper portion and the base portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heat sink comprising:
an upper portion having a plurality of fins formed therein; and
a base portion fixed to the upper portion to form a vapor chamber in an enclosed volume between the upper portion and the base portion,
wherein the vapor chamber comprises an interior volume of at least one of the fins in the plurality of fins,
wherein a bottom surface of the base portion contacts a processor such that heat generated by the processor is transferred through the base portion to a pool of liquid contained within the vapor chamber.

2. The heat sink of claim 1 , wherein the pool of liquid comprises a liquid selected from the group of water, ethanol, methanol, and ammonia.

3. The heat sink of claim 1 , wherein the upper portion and the base portion are formed from copper or a copper alloy.

4. The heat sink of claim 1 , wherein the upper portion and the base portion are formed from aluminum or an aluminum alloy.

5. The heat sink of claim 1 , further comprising a wick structure.

6. The heat sink of claim 5 , wherein the wick structure comprises a wire mesh.

7. The heat sink of claim 5 , wherein the wick structure comprises a sintered metal powder.

8. The heat sink of claim 5 , wherein the wick structure comprises a plurality of grooves formed on an interior surface of the fins.

9. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a heat sink comprising:
an upper portion having a plurality of fins formed therein, and
a base portion fixed to the upper portion to form a vapor chamber in an enclosed volume between the upper portion and the base portion,
wherein the vapor chamber comprises an interior volume of at least one of the fins in the plurality of fins,
wherein a bottom surface of the base portion contacts the processor such that heat generated by the processor is transferred through the base portion to a pool of liquid contained within the vapor chamber.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the pool of liquid comprises a liquid selected from the group of water, ethanol, methanol, and ammonia.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a fan configured to force air across the plurality of fins.

12. The system of claim 9 , the heat sink further comprising a wick structure.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the wick structure comprises a sintered metal powder.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is a graphics processing unit.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the heat sink and the processor are included on an add-in card configured to interface with a slot of a motherboard.

16. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a graphics processor; and
a second heat sink comprising:
an upper portion having a plurality of fins formed therein, and
a base portion fixed to the upper portion to form a vapor chamber in an enclosed volume between the upper portion and the base portion,

wherein the heat sink is thermally coupled to the processor and the second heat sink is thermally coupled to the graphics processor, and
wherein the vapor chamber in the second heat sink comprises an interior volume of at least one of the fins in the plurality of fins formed in the upper portion of the second heat sink.

Assignees

• Nvidia Corp

Inventors

• Damaraju Srinivasa Rao
• Walters Joseph
• O'Connor Dalton Seth

Classifications

• H10W90/724

  between a chip and a stacked insulating package substrate, interposer or RDL · CPC title

• H10W40/73

  for cooling by change of state · CPC title

• G06F2200/201

  Cooling arrangements using cooling fluid · CPC title

• G06F1/20 Primary

  Cooling means · CPC title

• H01L2224/16225

  Electricity · mapped topic