Cooling assemblies and methods
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorsShailesh N. Joshi, Danny J. Lohan
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Abstract
In various embodiments, a cooling assembly includes a heat-generating device, a metal inverse opal (MIO) layer, a shared coolant reservoir, a passive heat exchange circuit, and an active heat exchange circuit. The MIO layer is bonded to the heat-generating device. The shared coolant reservoir contains a coolant fluid. The passive heat exchange circuit directs coolant fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through the MIO layer and back to the shared coolant reservoir. The active heat exchange circuit includes a pump and a heat exchanger, wherein the active heat exchange circuit draws the coolant fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through the heat exchanger and returns the coolant fluid to the shared coolant reservoir.
Claims20
A cooling assembly comprising:
- a heat-generating device;
- a metal inverse opal (MIO) layer bonded to the heat-generating device;
- a shared coolant reservoir containing coolant fluid;
- a passive heat exchange circuit directing the coolant fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through the MIO layer and back to the shared coolant reservoir;
- and
- an active heat exchange circuit comprising a pump and a heat exchanger, wherein the active heat exchange circuit draws the coolant fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through the heat exchanger and returns the coolant fluid to the shared coolant reservoir.
A cooling assembly comprising:
- a heat-generating device;
- a metal inverse opal (MIO) layer bonded to the heat-generating device;
- a shared coolant reservoir containing coolant fluid;
- a temperature sensor configured to output a signal indicative of a temperature of the coolant fluid within the shared coolant reservoir;
- a passive heat exchange circuit directing the coolant fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through the MIO layer and back to the shared coolant reservoir;
- an active heat exchange circuit comprising a pump and a heat exchanger fluidically coupled to the pump, wherein the active heat exchange circuit draws the coolant fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through the heat exchanger and returns the coolant fluid to the shared coolant reservoir;
- and
- an electronic control unit configured to:
- detect the temperature of the coolant fluid within the shared coolant reservoir based on the signal from the temperature sensor;
- and
- direct the coolant fluid from the active heat exchange circuit to the shared coolant reservoir in response to the temperature of the coolant fluid within the shared coolant reservoir.
A method of cooling a heat-generating device comprises:
- actively directing fluid through an active heat exchange circuit with a pump from a shared coolant reservoir, through a heat exchanger, and into the shared coolant reservoir;
- and
- passively directing the fluid from the shared coolant reservoir through a passive heat exchange circuit such that coolant fluid is directed from the shared coolant reservoir through an MIO layer bonded to the heat-generating device and back to the shared coolant reservoir.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.