Graphite thermal conduit spring

• US 10,579,112 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2018
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: North, Travis C., Schwager, Mark A., Shelnutt, Austin M., Morrison, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Courtney L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Morrison, Rashen E
• Application Number:
  US15/952,538
• Publication Number:
  US 20190317571A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: E05D 11/082 with substantially radial friction, e.g. cylindrical friction surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: E05D 3/122 Gear hinges
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/606 for electronic devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1681 Details related solely to hinges hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/203 for portable computers, e.g. for laptops
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/201 Cooling arrangements using cooling fluid
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/203 Heat conductive hinge
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20272 Accessories for moving fluid, for expanding fluid, for connecting fluid conduits, for distributing fluid, for removing gas or for preventing leakage, e.g. pumps, tanks or manifolds
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/2039 characterised by the heat transfer by conduction from the heat generating element to a dissipating body arrangements for increasing/decreasing heat-transfer, e.g. fins details, F28F13/00

Abstract

A portable information handling system transfers thermal energy associated with operation of processing components between rotationally coupled housing portions through a thermal spreader disposed between the housing portions, such as a sheet having one or more layers of graphite. A tensioning assembly engages the thermal sheet to manage excess material associated with varying rotational orientations of the housing portions.

Claims

1. An information handling system comprising:

first and second housing portions;

first and second hinges rotationally coupling the first and second housing portions, each hinge having a first and second axles;

plural processing components disposed in the housing portions and operable to process information;

a display disposed in at least one of the housing portions and interfaced with the processing components to present the information as visual images;

first and second tensioning assemblies, the first tensioning assembly coupled to the first and second hinges at the first axis, the second tensioning assembly coupled to the first and second hinges at the second axis, each tensioning assembly defining a slot; and

a thermal spreader disposed as a contiguous sheet of material across the first and second housing portions and through the first and second tensioning assembly slots, the thermal spreader transferring thermal energy across the first and second housing portions, each tensioning assembly interacting with the hinge axles to maintain a predetermined tension on the thermal spreader with tension applied at the slot;

wherein each of the first and second tensioning assemblies further comprises;

first and second parallel bars that define the slot; and

a connector at each end of the first and second parallel bars, the connector coupling to the parallel bars and a hinge axle, the connector rotating the parallel bars in response to rotation of the axle.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the connector rotates a predetermined amount relative to the axle, the connector including tensioner that applies a tensioning force against the thermal spreader and towards a location between the housing portions.

3. The information handling system of claim 2 wherein the tensioner comprises:

a ramped disc having a surface that varies distance between the connector and the axle; and

a wave spring biasing the ramped disc towards the connector.

4. The information handling system of claim 2 wherein the tensioner comprises a spring oriented to bias the tensioning assembly to pull towards the location between the housing portions.

5. A method for transferring thermal energy between rotationally coupled information handling system housing portions, the method comprising:

disposing a thermal spreader across both information handling system housing portions, the thermal spreader disposed across both information handling system housing portions as a contiguous sheet of material;

coupling the thermal spreader to at least one of the housing portions, the thermal spreader accepting thermal energy from the at least one of the housing portions and transferring the thermal energy to the other of the housing portions;

applying tension at the thermal spreader to bias the thermal spreader towards a location between the housing portions;

adjusting the tension to adapt to rotation of the housing portions relative to each other;

layering plural sheets of graphite to form a composite thermal spreader of stacked graphite layers; and

coupling at least one sheet of graphite to a heat sink coupled to a processing component in the at least one housing portion;

wherein applying tension further comprises;

coupling a tensioning assembly to a hinge, the hinge rotationally coupling the housing portions to each other; and

applying rotation of the hinge to the tensioning assembly to maintain excess heat spreader material between the housing portions; and

wherein the housing portions rotate 360 degrees relative to each other.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the tensioning assembly further comprises:

first and second parallel bars that define a slot, the thermal spreader inserted through the slot; and

first and second connectors coupled to opposing ends of the parallel bars, each connector coupled to an axis of a hinge.

7. A method for transferring thermal energy between rotationally coupled information handling system housing portions, the method comprising:

disposing a thermal spreader across both information handling system housing portions, the thermal spreader disposed across both information handling system housing portions as a contiguous sheet of material;

coupling the thermal spreader to at least one of the housing portions, the thermal spreader accepting thermal energy from the at least one of the housing portions and transferring the thermal energy to the other of the housing portions;

applying tension at the thermal spreader to bias the thermal spreader towards a location between the housing portions;

adjusting the tension to adapt to rotation of the housing portions relative to each other;

layering plural sheets of graphite to form a composite thermal spreader of stacked graphite layers;

coupling at least one sheet of graphite to a heat sink coupled to a processing component in the at least one housing portion;

providing a predetermined amount of rotational movement between the connector and hinge; and

biasing the connector to rotate relative to the hinge to apply tension to the thermal spreader.