Ultra thin two phase heat exchangers with structural wick
AssigneeDana Canada Corporation
InventorDoug VANDERWEES
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and system are provided for a heat exchanger. In one example, a system, comprises a mobile electronic device comprising a front cover and a rear cover, a heat exchanger arranged between the front cover and the rear cover, the heat exchanger comprising a fluid chamber arranged between an inner surface of a first plate and an inner surface of a second plate, and a wick material arranged within the fluid chamber, the wick material comprising a sintered material configured to allow a plurality of fluid passages to extend therethrough.
Claims20
A heat exchanger, comprising:
- a fluid chamber arranged between inner surfaces of a first plate and a second plate, an outer face of the first plate which defines a first surface of the heat exchanger, and an outer peripheral sealing surface on the inner face of the first plate, wherein an outer face of the second plate defines a second surface of the heat exchanger, wherein an outer peripheral sealing surface of the second plate is sealingly coupled with the outer peripheral surface of the first plate;
- and
- a wick material arranged inside the fluid chamber between the inner face of the first plate and the inner face of the second plate, a sheet of the wick material having first and second opposed outer surfaces, and wherein the first outer surface of the wick material is in contact with the inner face of the first plate and the second outer surface of the wick material is in contact with the inner face of the second plate.
A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger, the heat exchanger comprising a plurality of liquid flow passages for circulation of a working fluid in a liquid state and a plurality of primary gas flow passages for circulation of a working fluid in a gaseous state, wherein the method comprises:
- providing a mold having a plurality of depressions and a plurality of raised areas, wherein the plurality of depressions defines the plurality of liquid flow passages, and the plurality of raised areas defines an outer periphery of a wick material and the plurality of primary gas flow passages;
- providing a plurality of metal particles;
- filling the plurality of depressions with the plurality of metal particles;
- sintering the plurality of metal particles in the depressions by application of heat or pressure to form a sheet of the wick material;
- placing the sheet of the wick material between the first plate and the second plate, wherein the first and second plates are positioned with their inner faces facing toward one another, and with the peripheral sealing surface of the first plate in direct contact with the peripheral sealing surface of the second plate;
- and
- sealingly joining the peripheral sealing surface of the first plate to the peripheral sealing surface of the second plate.
The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of filling the fluid chamber with the working fluid, wherein the filling step is conducted under a partial vacuum. further comprising a compressing step either during or after the molding operation, wherein the compressing step compresses at least a portion of the wick material and adjusts one or more of its thickness and its porosity.
A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger for a device, the heat exchanger further comprising a plurality of liquid flow passages for circulation of the working fluid in a liquid state and a plurality of primary gas flow passages for circulation of the working fluid in a gaseous state, wherein the method comprises:
- providing a mold having a plurality of depressions and a plurality of raised areas, wherein the plurality of depressions defines the plurality of liquid flow passages, and the plurality of raised areas defines the outer periphery of a wick material and the plurality of primary gas flow passages;
- providing a plurality of metal particles, filling the plurality of depressions with the plurality of metal particles, sintering the plurality of metal particles in the depressions by application of heat and/or pressure to form said a sheet of the wick material;
- arranging the sheet of wick material between the first plate and the second plate, wherein the first and second plates are positioned with their inner faces facing toward one another and with the peripheral sealing surface of the first plate in direct contact with the peripheral sealing surface of the second plate;
- and
- sealingly joining the peripheral sealing surface of the first plate to the peripheral sealing surface of the second plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.