JP2022157408A - Heat conduction member - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a heat conduction member which can tightly contact with a heating element and is attached thereto in the state.SOLUTION: A heat conduction member 1 includes: a housing 10 having an internal space 10a; and a wick structure and a working medium housed in the internal space 10a. The housing 10 has a first metal plate 11 and a second metal plate which are arranged facing each other in a vertical direction. The first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate are jointed through a joint part 14 disposed at a peripheral edge enclosing the internal space 10a. At least one of the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate has a bending part and an attachment part. The bending part bends from the outer side of the joint part 14 to one side in the vertical direction. The attachment part is disposed at a tip part of the bending part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to heat conducting members.

A conventional heat-conducting member has a housing with an interior space, and a wick structure and a working medium housed in the interior space. The housing is arranged in contact with the heating element (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2019-82264 A

However, when a gap is generated between the heat conductive member and the heat generating element, the heat transfer efficiency may be lowered.

An object of the present invention is to provide a heat conducting member that can be attached in close contact with a heating element.

An exemplary heat transfer member of the present invention comprises a housing having an interior space, and a wick structure and a working medium housed in the interior space. The housing has a first metal plate and a second metal plate that face each other in the vertical direction. The first metal plate and the second metal plate are joined via a joint portion arranged on the periphery surrounding the internal space. One of the first metal plate and the second metal plate has a bent portion and a mounting portion. The bent portion bends in one of the vertical directions from the outside of the joint portion. The attachment portion is arranged at the distal end portion of the bent portion.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a heat conducting member that can be attached in close contact with a heating element.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heat conducting member according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged top view showing the periphery of the mounting portion of the heat-conducting member according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of a heat-conducting member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, an XYZ coordinate system is shown as a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system as appropriate. In the XYZ coordinate system, the Z-axis direction indicates the vertical direction (that is, the vertical direction), the +Z direction is the upper side (the side opposite to the direction of gravity), and the −Z direction is the lower side (the direction of gravity). The Z-axis direction is also the facing direction between a first metal plate 11 and a second metal plate 12, which will be described later. The X-axis direction refers to a direction orthogonal to the Z-axis direction, and one direction and the opposite direction thereof are defined as +X direction and -X direction, respectively. The Y-axis direction refers to a direction orthogonal to both the Z-axis direction and the X-axis direction, and the one direction and the opposite direction thereof are defined as the +Y direction and the −Y direction, respectively. However, this definition of the direction is for the convenience of explanation only, and does not limit the direction during manufacture and use of the heat conducting member 1 according to the present invention. Further, in the present application, the term “parallel direction” includes substantially parallel directions.

In this specification, the term “sintering” refers to a technique of heating metal powder or a paste containing metal powder to a temperature lower than the melting point of the metal to sinter the metal particles. A "sintered body" refers to an object obtained by sintering.

<1. Configuration of heat-conducting member>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heat conducting member 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged top view showing the periphery of a mounting portion 112a, showing a state before bending a bent portion 111a. Indicates status. FIG. 3 is a schematic side sectional view of the heat conducting member 1. As shown in FIG.

The heat-conducting member 1 is also called a vapor chamber, and transports the heat of the heating element H. As the heating element H, for example, an electronic component that generates heat or a substrate on which the electronic component is mounted can be considered. The heating element H is cooled by heat transport by the heat conducting member 1 . Such a thermally conductive member 1 is mounted in an electronic device having a heating element H, such as a smart phone, a notebook personal computer, or the like.

The heat conducting member 1 includes a heated portion 101 and a heat radiating portion 102 (see FIG. 3). The heated portion 101 is arranged in contact with, for example, the heating element H, and is heated by the heat generated by the heating element H. As shown in FIG. The heat radiating section 102 radiates heat of the working medium 20 (described later) heated by the heated section 101 to the outside. Further, in order to improve the heat radiation property, heat exchanging means (not shown) such as radiation fins or a heat sink may be thermally connected to the heat radiation portion 102 .

The heat-conducting member 1 comprises a housing 10 , a working medium 20 and a wick structure 30 . The heated portion 101 is formed by part of the housing 10 . The heat dissipation part 102 is formed by another part of the housing 10 .

<1-1. Configuration of housing>
The housing 10 is rectangular in top view and has an internal space 10a. The working medium 20 and the wick structure 30 are accommodated in the internal space 10a (see FIG. 2). The housing 10 has a first metal plate 11 and a second metal plate 12 arranged facing each other in the vertical direction, and ribs 15 .

The ribs 15 are arranged in the internal space 10 a and support the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 . The ribs 15 are arranged two-dimensionally and regularly in the XY directions. The thickness of the housing 10 in the Z-axis direction is kept constant by the ribs 15 coming into contact with the wick structure 30 in the Z-axis direction. In addition, the first metal plate 11 and the ribs 15 may be integrated or separated.

The first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 are rectangular plates extending horizontally when viewed from above. In this embodiment, the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 are copper. The first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 may be formed by plating the surface of a metal other than copper with copper. Stainless steel, for example, can be considered as a metal other than copper.

A heating element H contacts the lower surface of the second metal plate 12 . A wick structure 30 is in contact with the upper surface of the second metal plate 12 . The first metal plate 11 covers the upper surface of the second metal plate 12, and mounting portions 112a are provided on opposing long sides. In addition, the first metal plate 11 is provided with mounting portions 112b on opposite short sides. The heat-conducting member 1 is screwed to the electronic device via the mounting portions 112a and 112b. The structure around the mounting portions 112a and 112b will be described later in detail. In addition, the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 of the present embodiment are quadrangular in top view, but are not limited to this. For example, it may be polygonal or circular with multiple corners when viewed from above.

The second metal plate 12 has a side wall portion 12a extending upward from the peripheral edge. The lower surface of the first metal plate 11 and the upper surface of the side wall portion 12a are joined at the joint portion 14 . That is, the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 are joined via the joining portion 14 . A side wall portion extending downward from the peripheral edge of the first metal plate 11 may be formed, and the lower surface of the side wall portion may be joined to the upper surface of the side wall portion 12a. Alternatively, the side wall portion 12 a may be omitted and the lower surface of the side wall portion extending downward from the peripheral edge of the first metal plate 11 may be joined to the upper surface of the second metal plate 12 .

The internal space 10 a is formed in a space surrounded by the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 . The internal space 10a is a closed space, and is maintained in a reduced pressure state, for example, a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure. Since the internal space 10a is in a decompressed state, the working medium 20 contained in the internal space 10a is easily evaporated. The working medium 20 is, for example, water, but may also be other liquids such as alcohol.

The joint portion 14 is arranged on the periphery of the first metal plate 11 and the second metal plate 12 surrounding the internal space 10a, and positioned around the wick structure 30 when viewed from above. A method for joining the side wall portion 12a and the first metal plate 11 is not particularly limited. For example, any bonding method such as hot pressing, diffusion bonding, or bonding using a brazing material may be used.

Note that the joint portion 14 may include a sealing portion. The sealed portion is, for example, a portion where an inlet for injecting the working medium 20 into the housing 10 is sealed by welding during the manufacturing process of the heat conducting member 1 .

The wick structure 30 is a porous sintered body and has voids (not shown) that form flow paths for the working medium 20 .

<1-2. Configuration around the mounting part>
The first metal plate 11 has bent portions 111a and 111b and mounting portions 112a and 112b. The bent portions 111a and 111b are formed in rectangular plate shapes, for example. The bent portion 111a is arranged at the center in the longitudinal direction (X direction) of the long side of the first metal plate 11, and protrudes in the lateral direction (Y direction) from the outside of the joint portion 14 via the first folding line 114a. (See Figure 2). The first folding line 114a extends along the periphery of the first metal plate 11 in the longitudinal direction (X direction).

The bent portion 111b is arranged at the center of the short side of the first metal plate 11 in the short direction (Y direction), and protrudes in the longitudinal direction (X direction) from the outside of the joint portion 14 via the first folding line 114b. . The first folding line 114b extends in the lateral direction (Y direction) along the peripheral edge of the first metal plate 11 .

The mounting portions 112a and 112b are formed, for example, in a semicircular plate shape, and have screw holes (through holes) 113a and 113b that penetrate vertically. The attachment portion 112a is arranged at the distal end portion of the bent portion 111a via the second folding line 115a. The first folding line 114a and the second folding line 115a are arranged in parallel. The attachment portion 112b is arranged at the distal end portion of the bent portion 111b via the second folding line 115b. The first folding line 114b and the second folding line 115b are arranged in parallel.

The bent portion 111a is bent upward from the outer side of the joint portion 14 by valley-folding along the first folding line 114a. The bent portion 111b is bent upward from the outer side of the joint portion 14 by making a valley fold along the first folding line 114b. In the valley fold, the first metal plate 11 is bent convexly downward. At this time, the first folding lines 114a and 114b are arranged at a predetermined distance from the joint portion 14 (see FIG. 2). As a result, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the sealing performance of the internal space 10a due to bending a part of the joint portion 14 when bending the bent portions 111a and 111b.

The mounting portion 112a is mountain-folded along the second folding line 115a, and the mounting portion 112b is mountain-folded along the second folding line 115a, thereby being arranged parallel to the mounting surface of the electronic device. can do. As a result, workability of attaching the heat-conducting member 1 is improved. In the mountain fold, the first metal plate 11 is bent upwardly.

At this time, the bent portions 111a and 111b may function as elastic members. In this case, the heat conducting member 1 can be attached to the heat generating body H in close contact with the heat conducting member 1 by pressing the heat conducting member 1 onto the heat generating body H. As shown in FIG. As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a gap between the heating element H and the thermally conductive member 1 due to the vibration of the electronic device or the like, and to prevent the heat transport efficiency of the thermally conductive member 1 from deteriorating.

Further, by arranging the bent portions 111a and 111b on the four sides of the housing 10, the heat conductive member 1 can be brought into close contact with the heating element H stably. The arrangement of the bent portions 111a and 111b is not particularly limited, and one of the bent portions 111a and 111b may be arranged only on two opposite sides of the housing 10. FIG. Also, the bent portions 111 a and 111 b may be arranged at the corners of the housing 10 .

<2. Operation of Thermal Conductive Member>
In FIG. 3 , the flow of vapor generated by vaporizing the working medium 20 is indicated by black arrows inside the heat transfer member 1 , and the flow of the liquid working medium 20 is indicated by white arrows inside the heat transfer member 1 .

In the heat conducting member having the above configuration, the heat generated by the heating element H heats the heated portion 101 . When the temperature of the heated portion 101 rises, the liquid working medium 20 contained in the wick structure 30 is vaporized.

The vaporized working medium 20 moves through the internal space 10a toward the heat radiating section 102 side. At this time, part of the vaporized working medium 20 is cooled and condensed.

A portion of the condensed working medium 20 drips and is absorbed by the wick structure 30 . A portion of the condensed working medium 20 also moves along the outer surface of the ribs 15 and is absorbed by the wick structure 30 .

The vaporized working medium 20 that has moved to the radiator 102 is cooled by the radiator 102 and condensed. The condensed working medium 20 moves through the wick structure 30 toward the heated portion 101 by capillary action.

As the working medium 20 moves while changing its state as described above, heat is continuously transported from the heated portion 101 side to the heat radiating portion 102 side.

<3. Others>
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. It should be noted that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. The present invention can be implemented by adding various modifications to the above-described embodiments without departing from the gist of the invention. In addition, the matters described in the above-described embodiments can be appropriately and arbitrarily combined as long as there is no contradiction.

For example, the bent portions 111a and 111b may be mountain-folded along the first folding lines 114a and 114b to bend downward from the outside of the joint portion 14 .

Further, in the present embodiment, the first metal plate 11 is provided with the bent portions 111a and 111b, but the second metal plate 12 may be provided with the bent portions 111a and 111b.

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the screw holes 113a and 113b are provided in the mounting portions 112a and 112b, but mounting means for the electronic device other than the screw holes 113a and 113b may be provided.

The heat conducting member of the present invention can be used, for example, for cooling various heat generating elements.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 heat conducting member 10 housing 10a internal space 11 first metal plate 12 second metal plate 12a side wall portion 14 joining portion 15 rib 20 working medium 30 wick structure 101 heated portion 102 heat radiating portion 111a, 111b bending portion 112a, 112b Mounting portion 113a, 113b Screw hole (through hole)
114a, 114b first folding lines 115a, 115b second folding lines

Claims (6)

a housing having an internal space;
a wick structure and a working medium housed in the internal space;
The housing has a first metal plate and a second metal plate arranged facing each other in the vertical direction,
The first metal plate and the second metal plate are bonded via a bonding portion arranged on a peripheral edge surrounding the internal space,
one of the first metal plate and the second metal plate,
a bent portion that bends in one of the vertical directions from the outside of the joint;
and a mounting portion disposed at the distal end portion of the bent portion. The bent portion is bent from one peripheral portion of the first metal plate and the second metal plate via a first folding line,
The mounting portion is bent via a second folding line arranged at the tip of the bent portion,
2. The heat conducting member according to claim 1, wherein said first folding line and said second folding line are arranged in parallel. The housing is rectangular in top view,
3. The thermally conductive member according to claim 1, wherein said bent portions are arranged on two opposite sides of said housing. 4. The heat transfer member according to claim 3, wherein said bent portion is arranged on each side of said housing. 3. The heat transfer member according to claim 1, wherein said bent portion is arranged at a corner of said housing. The heat transfer member according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the mounting portion has a through hole penetrating vertically.

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