JP2013026434A - Cooling system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling system which conducts not only the positioning of cooled members but also the flow rate adjustment in cooling passages.SOLUTION: A cooling system according to one embodiment of this invention includes: a cooler 1 having cooling passages 11 where a cooling medium flows; cooled member 2 respectively disposed between the cooling passages 11; and a flow rate adjustment mechanism 3 having magnets 33 provided at the cooled members 2 and valve members 31 provided in the cooling passages 11 and magnetically attracted by the magnets 11. The flow rate adjustment mechanism 3 conducts the flow rate adjustment in the cooling passages 11 by operating the valve members 31 with the temperature changes of the cooled members 2.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling system.

  A cooling system having a surface cooling structure in which a plurality of cooling paths through which a cooling medium flows and a cooling target member is disposed between the cooling paths so that the cooling path and the cooling target member are alternately stacked is, for example, a semiconductor power module Has been adopted.

  In a general cooling system, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the member 2 to be cooled is fixed by sandwiching the member 2 to be cooled via an insulating member 4 between the cooling paths 11 having a planar structure.

  In such a cooling system, it is necessary to use the jig L so that the member 2 to be cooled can be arranged at a predetermined position with respect to the cooling path 11, but when manufacturing the cooling system, FIG. First, the cooling path 11 is arranged on the jig L with a space therebetween. Then, on the jig L, the member to be cooled 2 in which the insulating member 4 is joined to the surface in surface contact with the cooling path 11 is disposed between the cooling paths 11. Further, the cooling path 11 arranged on one side of the cooling system is fixed with the fixing jig M, the cooling path 11 arranged on the other side is pushed in, and the cooling path 11 and the member 2 to be cooled are slid on the jig L. Then, as shown in FIG. 8B, the cooling path 11 and the member to be cooled 2 are brought into a laminated state. At this time, the cooling path 11 and the end face of the insulating member 4 may be damaged by coming into contact with the jig L.

  Here, in Patent Document 1, in a surface cooling structure in which a semiconductor module is disposed between cooling paths, for example, a semiconductor module is mounted by fitting a protrusion formed on the semiconductor module into a recess formed on the cooling path. A technique for positioning and fixing to a cooling path is disclosed.

JP 2005-45960 A

  The technology of Patent Document 1 is not configured to adjust the flow rate in the cooling path.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and is to provide a cooling system capable of adjusting not only the positioning and fixing of a member to be cooled but also the flow rate in a cooling path. .

  A cooling system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a cooler having a cooling path through which a cooling medium flows, a member to be cooled disposed between the cooling paths, a magnet provided in the member to be cooled, and the cooling path. And a valve member that is magnetically attracted to the magnet, and the flow rate adjusting mechanism operates the valve member in accordance with a temperature change of the member to be cooled to cool the cooling member. Adjust the flow rate in the road.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cooling system capable of adjusting not only the positioning and fixing of the member to be cooled but also the flow rate in the cooling path.

It is sectional drawing which shows roughly the cooling system of Embodiment 1 which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows roughly the cooling system of Embodiment 1 which concerns on this invention. It is an enlarged view of R1 part of FIG. 3A is an enlarged view schematically showing the R2 portion of FIG. 3 when the amount of heat generated by the member to be cooled is small, and B is an enlarged view schematically showing the portion R2 of FIG. 3 when the amount of heat generated by the member to be cooled is large. FIG. A shows the operation of the valve member when the amount of heat generated by the member to be cooled is small in the cooling system of the second embodiment according to the present invention, and B shows the member to be cooled in the cooling system of the second embodiment according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of the valve member when there are many calorific values. It is a top view which shows a general cooling system roughly. It is sectional drawing which shows a general cooling system roughly. A is a figure which shows the manufacturing process of a general cooling system schematically, and B is a figure which shows the state after the manufacturing process of A is complete | finished.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment. In addition, for clarity of explanation, the following description and drawings are simplified as appropriate. The cooling system is preferably used as a cooling system for a semiconductor module, for example.

<Embodiment 1>
A cooling system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cooling system includes a cooler 1, a member to be cooled 2, and a flow rate adjusting mechanism 3.

  The cooler 1 includes a cooling path 11, an outward path 12 connected to the cooling path 11, and a return path 13 connected to the cooling path 11. The cooling path 11 has a planar structure, and is formed in a box shape, for example. The cooling path 11 is arranged in parallel with a width dimension substantially equal to the cooled member 2 so that the cooled member 2 can be sandwiched between the adjacent cooling paths 11. A surface 11 a in contact with the member 2 to be cooled in the cooling path 11 has a larger area than the main surface 2 a of the member 2 to be cooled. That is, the main surface 2 a of the member 2 to be cooled is covered with the surface 11 a of the cooling path 11.

  The forward path 12 of the cooling medium is connected to one side portion across the surface 11a of the cooling path 11 by means such as welding. A cooling medium return path 13 is joined to the other side of the cooling path 11 by means such as welding. The forward path 12 and the return path 13 are joined to a circulation mechanism such as a pump (not shown). Therefore, a cooling medium such as cooling water sent out from the circulation mechanism (but may be gas) is returned to the circulation mechanism again via the forward path 12 → the cooling path 11 → the return path 13.

  The member 2 to be cooled is a member such as a semiconductor device, for example. The member 2 to be cooled is formed in a box shape. The member 2 to be cooled is disposed between adjacent cooling paths 11. At this time, a ceramic sheet 4 or the like is bonded as an insulator to the main surface 2a of the member 2 to be cooled, and the main surface 2a of the member 2 to be cooled does not directly contact the surface 11a of the cooling path 11.

  The flow rate adjusting mechanism 3 includes a leaf spring 31, a fulcrum 32, and a magnet 33, as shown in FIGS. The leaf spring 31 is a valve member made of metal or the like that is magnetically attracted. The leaf spring 31 is a substantially flat plate-like member, and one end thereof is joined to the inner surface of the cooling path 11 by means such as welding, and the upward slope is formed from the forward path 12 side toward the backward path 13 side. In other words, they are arranged so as to incline toward the inside of the cooling path 11.

  Such a leaf spring 31 is magnetically bonded to a magnet 33 provided on the member to be cooled 2 as will be described later, so that the member to be cooled 2 can be fixed at a predetermined position. A plurality of parts are joined to each other. The leaf springs 31 according to the present embodiment are arranged at four locations with intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions.

  The leaf spring 31 contacts the fulcrum 32 between one end and the other end. A recess 31 a is formed between the position of the leaf spring 31 that contacts the fulcrum 32 and one end. Therefore, as will be described in detail later, when the recess 31a is magnetically attracted to the magnet 33 provided on the member 2 to be cooled, the leaf spring 31 is in contact with the fulcrum 32 and the other end as shown in FIG. Is bent inward of the cooling path 11.

  At this time, the depth of the hollow portion 31a is set so that the bottom surface 31a1 of the hollow portion 31a is substantially in contact with the inner surface of the cooling path 11 in a state where the member 2 to be cooled is not operated, for example. And the bottom face 31a1 of the hollow part 31a is formed so that the to-be-cooled member 2 is not operated, for example, and the substantially inner surface of the cooling path 11 may be contacted.

  The fulcrum 32 is a block member and is provided on the inner surface of the cooling path 11. As described above, the fulcrum 32 is set to an arrangement and height that can satisfactorily bring the bottom surface 31a1 of the recess 31a into good contact with the inner surface of the cooling path 11. However, the fulcrum 32 only needs to function as a fulcrum when the leaf spring 31 operates, and may not be a block member.

  The magnet 33 is provided on the cooled member 2 so as to correspond to the arrangement of the leaf spring 31. Specifically, the magnet 33 is embedded in the main surface 2 a of the member to be cooled 2 in order to fix the member to be cooled 2 at a predetermined position in the cooling path 11. The magnets 33 according to the present embodiment are arranged at four locations at intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions so as to correspond to the arrangement of the leaf springs 31.

  With such a configuration, the member 2 to be cooled is disposed between the adjacent cooling paths 11, and the member 2 to be cooled is positioned and fixed with respect to the cooling path 11 simply by magnetically bonding the magnet 33 to the leaf spring 31. Can do.

  In addition, when the member to be cooled 2 generates heat and the temperature of the magnet 33 rises, the magnetic attractive force of the magnet 33 decreases, so that the bending of the leaf spring 31 is eliminated as shown in FIG. 4B. Thus, the leaf spring 31 operates.

  At this time, the other end of the leaf spring 31 operates so as to tilt toward the inner surface side of the cooling path 11, so that the flow path in the cooling path 11 can be expanded. That is, as the temperature of the magnet 33 rises, the leaf spring 31 operates to widen the flow path in the cooling path 11. Therefore, the flow rate adjusting mechanism 3 can not only position and fix the cooled member 2 but also adjust the flow rate in the cooling path 11. Here, the material, size and thickness of the leaf spring 31 and the depth of the recess 31a and the flow rate of the cooling medium corresponding to the heat generation amount of the member 2 to be cooled are cooled satisfactorily. The height and arrangement of the fulcrum 32 are set as appropriate.

<Embodiment 2>
A cooling system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. In addition, the description which overlaps with Embodiment 1 is abbreviate | omitted.

  The cooling system of the present embodiment has a configuration substantially similar to that of the cooling system of the first embodiment, but uses a valve member 34 made of bimetal instead of the leaf spring 31 as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. ing.

  That is, the valve member 34 includes a metal body 34a having a low coefficient of thermal expansion and a metal body 34b having a high coefficient of thermal expansion. Such a valve member 34 is a substantially flat plate-like member, one end of which is joined to the inner surface of the cooling path 11 by means of welding or the like, and an upward slope from the forward path 12 side toward the return path 13 side. It is arranged to be.

  Here, the influence of the heat from the member 2 to be cooled is larger in the valve member 34 than the influence of the heat from the cooling medium. Therefore, in the valve member 34 of the present embodiment, the metal body 34 a is disposed on the inner surface side of the cooling path 11, and the metal body 34 b is disposed on the inner side of the cooling path 11.

As a result, when the amount of heat generated by the member to be cooled 2 is small, the valve member 34 squeezes the flow path of the cooling path 11 without substantially deforming as shown in FIG. 5A. On the other hand, when the heat generation amount of the member 2 to be cooled is large, the valve member 34 has a larger expansion amount of the metal body 34b than the expansion amount of the metal body 34a. The other end is deformed to the inner surface side, and the flow path of the cooling path 11 is widened. Thus, even if the valve member 34 is used instead of the leaf spring 31 of the first embodiment, the flow path adjustment mechanism not only positions and fixes the cooled member 2 but also adjusts the flow rate in the cooling path 11. Can do. Here, the material, size, thickness, and the like of the valve member 34 are appropriately set so that the cooling medium flow rate corresponds to the heat generation amount of the cooled member 2 and the cooled member 2 is cooled satisfactorily.
In the illustrated example, the fulcrum 32 is provided, but may be omitted.

  The embodiment of the cooling system according to the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above configuration, and can be changed without departing from the technical idea of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooler 2 To-be-cooled member, 2a Main surface of to-be-cooled member 3 Flow rate adjusting mechanism 11 Cooling path 12 Outward path 13 Return path 31 Leaf spring 31a Indented part 31a1 Indented part bottom face 32 Support point 33 Magnet 34 Valve member 34a Low thermal expansion coefficient Metal body 34b Metal body with high coefficient of thermal expansion

Claims (1)

A cooler having a cooling path through which a cooling medium flows;
A member to be cooled disposed between the cooling paths;
A flow rate adjusting mechanism having a magnet provided in the member to be cooled and a valve member provided in the cooling path and magnetically attracted to the magnet;
With
The flow rate adjusting mechanism is a cooling system that adjusts a flow rate in the cooling path by operating the valve member in accordance with a temperature change of the cooled member.

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