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US 5,701,742 AGranted
Configured indium gasket for thermal joint in cryocooler
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsPhillip William Eckels, Daniel C. Woods
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsPhillip William Eckels, Daniel C. Woods
Estimating the term…
An indium gasket having a configuration which allows the indium to reach its yield point at a relatively low contact pressure. The indium gasket is provided with a multiplicity of openings which are filled by the deforming indium during compression between the cryocooler and the cryocooler interface sleeve of a superconducting magnet system. The creation of openings in the gasket has the effect of decreasing the mechanical interface pressure at which the indium yields. The indium flows at a mechanical interface pressure that does not exceed the structural strength requirements of the cryocooler. The indium flows into the empty spaces formed by the openings, thereby providing the necessary thermal conductance between the cryocooler and the interface sleeve. The result is a relatively small temperature difference between the interface sleeve and the cryocooler during cooling of the superconducting magnets.
A thermal interface gasket comprising a generally planar substrate made of an integral mass of mechanically deformable, heat conducting material having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein said substrate is penetrated by a plurality of openings, each opening extending from said top surface to said bottom surface.
A method for forming a thermal joint between opposing surfaces of first and second components of a superconducting magnet system, comprising the steps of:
A thermal interface gasket comprising a generally planar grid structure made of a mechanically deformable, heat conducting material, said grid structure of said gasket comprising a plurality of beams.
A thermal interface gasket comprising a generally planar grid structure made of mechanically deformable, heat conducting material, said grid structure comprising a plurality of mutually parallel beams, wherein said generally planar grid structure of said gasket further comprises a circular ring, an end of each of said beams being joined to said circular ring.
A thermal interface gasket made of mechanically deformable, heat conducting material and having a configuration such that in an undeformed state said gasket is penetrated in a thickness direction by a plurality of openings and in a deformed state said openings are closed, said gasket undergoing a change of state from said undeformed state to said deformed state in response to application of a force, in a direction perpendicular to a plane of said gasket, sufficient to cause said material to yield and flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.