Thermal device with safe discharging
AssigneeHutchinson
InventorsFabrice Chopard, Clément Blanchard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thermal device comprising thermal means for dissipating thermal energy, means for thermally managing the thermal means, comprising an enclosure having a volume in which a heat absorbing substance is disposed for exchanging heat with said thermal means. A channeling is provided with which the volume of the enclosure communicates in order, in an abnormal overheating situation of the thermal means to discharge at least part of said substance to the outside that is further away from the thermal means than said volume is.
Claims15
A thermal device comprising:
- at least one thermal means dissipating thermal energy, in operation,
- means for thermally managing the thermal means, comprising an enclosure having a volume in which a heat-absorbing substance is disposed for exchanging heat with said thermal means, in a nominal operating situation, and
- a channeling between the volume of the enclosure and the outside environment,
- characterized in that said channeling defines a discharge allowing, in an abnormal overheating situation of the thermal means, that at least a part of said substance is evacuated towards said outside environment further away from the thermal means than said volume is located with respect to said thermal means.
A method for thermally managing at least one thermal means dissipating thermal energy during operation, in which method the following elements are located near each other:
- at least one thermal means.
- means for thermally managing the thermal means, comprising at least one volume where a latent heat storage substance by phase change is disposed for exchanging heat with said thermal means while in operation, the latent heat storage substance having a boiling temperature at atmospheric pressure beyond which it passes into a gaseous phase, and
- a channeling between the volume of the enclosure and the outside environment,
- the method comprising possibly conducting said operation in an abnormal overheating situation of the thermal means, at a temperature higher than the boiling temperature at atmospheric pressure of said latent heat storage substance, and
- the method further comprising exhausting the gas in which said latent heat storage substance has changed, during one said abnormal overheating situation, through said channeling and at said temperature above said boiling temperature at atmospheric pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.