Electrical isolation of an ion wind fan in enclosure
AssigneeVentiva, Inc.
InventorsChristopher A. Hizer, Rolan Sumook, Wei-min Jeff Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Ion wind fans can charge up or spark to the walls of an enclosure. In one embodiment, a heat source can be thermally managed using an ion wind fan by coupling the heat source to a heat spreader that also functions as a wall of an enclosure that contains the ion wind fan. A portion of the heat spreader is then electrically isolated from the ion wind fan, the portion being less than a minimum predetermined distance from the one or more emitter electrodes of the ion wind fan, to avid sparking between the emitters and the enclosure.
Claims16
An apparatus comprising:
- a heat source;
- a heat spreader thermally coupled to the heat source, wherein the heat spreader comprises one or more walls of an enclosure;
- and
- an ion wind fan located inside the enclosure, the ion wind fan comprising a collector electrode and one or more emitter electrodes;
- wherein a first portion of a surface of the heat spreader is electrically isolated from the ion wind fan, the first portion being less than a minimum predetermined distance from the one or more emitter electrodes.
An apparatus comprising:
- a heat source;
- a heat spreader having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the heat source is thermally coupled to the first surface, and wherein a plurality of fins are thermally coupled to the second surface;
- and
- an ion wind fan oriented to generate an airflow over the fins;
- wherein a first portion of the second surface of the heat spreader is electrically isolated from the ion wind fan, wherein the plurality of fins do not contact the heat spreader at the first portion of the second surface.
A heat sink comprising:
- a heat spreader to thermally couple to a heat source;
- a first set of fins extending from the heat spreader;
- a second set of fins extending from the heat spreader, wherein the first and second set of fins define a fan area between where no fins extend from the heat spreader;
- and
- an ion wind fan located in the fan area, wherein the fan area of the heat spreader is electrically isolated from the ion wind fan.
A solid-state light bulb having a substantially round cross-section, the solid-state light bulb comprising:
- a bulb body having one or more air intake openings and one or more air exhaust openings, the bulb body defining an air passage channel between the air intake and the air exhaust openings,
- an ion wind fan located inside the air passage channel and configured to generate an airflow from the air intake towards the air exhaust openings, the ion wind fan having a longitudinal axis, a first end, and a second end longitudinally opposite the first end;
- a first end cap coupled to the first end of the ion wind fan, the first end cap comprising a dielectric, wherein the first end cap electrically isolates the first end of the ion wind fan from a first wall of the air passage channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.