Self clamping heat sink assembly
AssigneeDelco Electronics Corporation
InventorEric A. Brauer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat sink assembly for clamping stand-up power components to a heat sink wherein the components are mounted on a circuit board and enclosed within a housing. A spring clamp lightly clamps an electrical component to a heat sink during a soldering process. Thereafter, the housing assembly sandwiches the electrical component between the spring clamp and a heat sink; thus ensuring optimum heat dissipation from and stability of the electrical component.
Claims3
A heat sink for dissipating thermal energy from a heat generating electrical component mounted on a circuit board, said assembly comprising:
- a heat sink means for dissipating heat from said electrical component, said heat sink means placed adjacent to said electrical component on a first side thereof;
- a resilient means placed adjacent to said electrical component on a second side thereof opposite to said first side;
- and
- biasing means including an angled surface affixed to a housing member, the angled surface engaging said resilient means for applying a biasing force to said resilient means when said housing member is positioned about said heat sink and component, thereby to resiliently press said electrical component against said heat sink means.
A method for clamping a heat generating electrical component to a heat sink comprising the steps of:
- mounting said electrical component to a circuit board adjacent said heat sink;
- mounting a resilient clip to said circuit board adjacent said electrical component so as to lightly clamp said electrical component against said heat sink during soldering of said electrical component to said circuit board;
- and
- affixing a housing member to said circuit board after the soldering of said electrical component to said circuit board, wherein said housing member engages said resilient clip and firmly biases said electrical component toward said heat sink.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.