Apparatus for heat removal from a PC card array
AssigneeAT&T Corp.
InventorFrank Vernon Gates
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for cooling an array of PC cards includes a chassis defining a chamber having air holes. A heat sink is mounted to the chassis within the chamber and has a finned surface for transferring heat to the surrounding environment, a finless surface on a side opposite the finned surface, and heat pipes fully enclosed within the heat sink, facilitating conductive heat transfer between the finned and finless surfaces. A backplane mounted to the chassis has at least one connector mechanically and electrically connectable to at least one PC card so that a surface of the at least one PC card is in close proximity to and substantially parallel to the finless surface of the heat sink thus facilitating heat transfer between the at least one PC card and the heat sink.
Claims16
An apparatus for removing heat from at least one PC card comprising:
- a chassis defining a chamber having air holes;
- a heat sink mounted to the chassis within the chamber, the heat sink having a finned surface for transferring heat to an environment surrounding the heat sink, a finless surface on a side opposite the finned surface, and heat pipes fully enclosed within the heat sink, the heat pipes facilitating conductive heat transfer between the finned and finless surfaces;
- and
- a backplane mounted to the chassis having at least one electrical connector mechanically and electrically connectable to at least one PC card so that a surface of the at least one PC card is in close proximity to and substantially parallel to the finless surface of the heat sink facilitating heat transfer between the at least one PC card and the heat sink.
A method of cooling a stack of PC cards, comprising the steps of:
- providing a chassis;
- providing heat sinks, each heat sink having a finned and a finless surface and fully enclosed heat pipes;
- coupling the heat sinks to the chassis with a space between adjacent heat sinks, the space defining slots for insertion of PC cards;
- providing electrical connectors on a backplane coupled to the chassis, each electrical connector being disposed within one of the slots;
- coupling each PC card to one of the electrical connectors, each PC card being situated in close proximity to the finless surface of each heat sink so that heat is transferred from each PC card to each heat sink;
- and
- cooling each heat sink by allowing air to flow over the finned surface of each heat sink.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.