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US 7,621,319 B2Granted
Ferrofluid-cooled heat sink
AssigneeSun Microsystems, Inc.
InventorChien Ouyang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heat sink uses thermally conductive ferrofluid to cool an integrated circuit. A direction of flow of the ferrofluid in the heat sink is controlled by a motorized pump assembly. The motorized pump assembly uses a motor to rotate a metal plate to which at least one magnet is connected. The direction of flow of the ferrofluid is dependent on a magnetic field induced between the at least one magnet and at least one magnetic particle in the ferrofluid passing through the motorized pump assembly.
Claims20
A computer system, comprising:
- an integrated circuit;
- and
- a heat sink operatively connected to the integrated circuit, the heat sink comprising:
- a pipe;
- and
- a motorized pump assembly through which the pipe is arranged to carry ferrofluid, the motorized pump assembly arranged to induce a magnetic field with at least one magnetic particle in the ferrofluid,
- wherein a direction of flow of the ferrofluid in the pipe lies on a plane of rotation of the magnetic field.
4 more elements
A method of cooling an integrated circuit with a heat sink, comprising:
- rotating a motor operatively connected to at least one magnet;
- and
- directing thermally conductive ferrofluid to propagate over a region of the heat sink attached to the integrated circuit in a direction in the plane of rotation of a magnetic field induced between the at least one magnet and at least one magnetic particle in the ferrofluid.
A heat sink, comprising:
- a body portion formed of a plurality of fins arranged to dissipate heat;
- a motorized pump assembly disposed on a top surface of the body portion;
- a copper pipe arranged to propagate thermally conductive ferrofluid from the body portion through the motorized pump assembly back to the body portion, wherein a direction of propagation of the ferrofluid in the copper pipe lies on a plane of rotation of a magnetic field induced between the motorized pump assembly and at least one magnetic particle in the ferrofluid;
- and
- a base portion adapted to attach to an integrated circuit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.