Metalized plastic housing enclosure heat sink
AssigneeAptiv Technologies AG
InventorsKesav Kumar Sridharan, Navneet Gupta, Scott Brandenburg, David Zimmerman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Thermal management and shielding techniques for a radar device of a vehicle, the radar device having a radar transceiver circuit and a radar-transmissive radome, include a housing formed of a thermally-conductive plastic material and configured to receive and provide shield grounding to the radar transceiver circuit, and a metal layer applied to an inner surface of the housing to provide for thermal spreading of heat energy generated by the radar transceiver circuit.
Claims20
A thermal management and shielding system for a radar device of a vehicle, the radar device having a radar transceiver circuit and a radar-transmissive radome, the thermal management and shielding system comprising:
- a housing formed of a thermally-conductive plastic material and configured to receive and provide shield grounding to the radar transceiver circuit;
- and
- a metal layer applied to an inner surface of the housing to provide for thermal spreading of heat energy generated by the radar transceiver circuit.
A thermal management and shielding method for a radar device of a vehicle, the radar device having a radar transceiver circuit and a radar-transmissive radome, the thermal management and shielding method comprising:
- providing a housing formed of a thermally-conductive plastic material and configured to receive and provide shield grounding to the radar transceiver circuit;
- and
- applying a metal layer to an inner surface of the housing to provide for thermal spreading of heat energy generated by the radar transceiver circuit.
A method of manufacturing and assembling a radar device for a vehicle, the method comprising:
- providing a radar transceiver circuit defining a surface topography and a perimeter;
- providing a radar-transmissive radome configured to protect the radar-transceiver circuit;
- injection molding a thermally-conductive plastic material in a mold to form a housing configured to receive the radar transceiver circuit and to provide shield grounding thereto, wherein the mold is defined:
- (i) based on the surface topography of the radar transceiver circuit,
- (ii) to create a set of features for a mechanical bond of at least a perimeter of the radar transceiver circuit to the thermally-conductive housing, and
- (iii) to create at least one of (a) one or more pressure points in the housing to increase flexibility and improve electrical contact with the radar transceiver circuit and (b) one or more dimples spaced apart from each other for shielding around the radar transceiver circuit;
- applying a metal layer to an inner surface of the housing to provide for thermal spreading of heat energy generated by the radar transceiver circuit, wherein the metal layer is formed by (i) plating copper, followed by (ii) plating nickel, followed by (iii) vapor deposition of silver or aluminum;
- and
- assembling/packaging the radar transceiver circuit within the housing and then covering with the radome to form the radar device,
- wherein the assembling/packaging includes applying a force to sealing the radar transceiver circuit therein and is performed by a human assembler, a robotic assembler, or a combination thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.