HEAT TRANSFER DEVICE WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL

• US 20130186596A1
• Filed: 01/23/2012
• Published: 07/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rubenstein, Brandon A., Stellman, Jeffrey Taylor
• Granted Patent: US 8,934,235 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 165/104.17
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 15/0275 Arrangements for coupling heat-pipes together or with other structures, e.g. with base blocks; Heat pipe cores
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/02 using latent heat
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/203 for portable computers, e.g. for laptops
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/14 Thermal energy storage

Abstract

A heat transfer device is described. In one or more implementations, a heat transfer device includes a heat sink and a thermal storage enclosure disposed proximal to at least a portion of the heat sink. The thermal storage enclosure configured to be disposed proximal to a heat-generating component of a device. The thermal storage enclosure includes a phase change material configured to have a melting temperature that is below a temperature at which a cooling fan of the device is set to operate to cool the heat-generating device.

Claims

1. A heat transfer device comprising:

a heat sink; and

a thermal storage enclosure disposed proximal to at least a portion of the heat sink and configured to be disposed proximal to a heat-generating component of a device, the thermal storage enclosure including a phase change material configured to have a melting temperature that is below a temperature at which a cooling fan of the device is set to operate to cool the heat-generating device.

2. A heat transfer device as described in claim 1, wherein the heat sink is configured as a heat pipe configured to transfer heat using thermal conductivity and phase transition.

3. A heat transfer device as described in claim 2, wherein the thermal storage enclosure is disposed proximal to the portion of the heat pipe that is configured to perform evaporation.

4. A heat transfer device as described in claim 1, wherein the heat sink is configured as a folded-fin heat sink.

5. A heat transfer device as described in claim 1, wherein the thermal storage enclosure includes an amount of the phase change material that is sufficient to resist a rise in temperature for a particular amount of time.

6. A heat transfer device as described in claim 5, wherein the thermal storage enclosure includes a sufficient amount of the phase change material so that the amount of time at which the phase change material resists a rise in temperature is greater than an amount of time during which the heat-generating component is observed to cycle from a low power state to a high power state that causes the temperature of the heat-generating component to rise above the temperature.

7. A heat transfer device as described in claim 6, wherein the amount of the phase change material is sufficient such that an entirety of the phase change material does not melt during the particular amount of time during which the heat-generating component operates at the high power state.

8. A heat transfer device as described in claim 6, wherein phase change material is configured not to melt during operation of the heat-generating component at the low power state.

9. A heat transfer device as described in claim 1, wherein the thermal storage enclosure includes a plurality of fins disposed within the enclosure that contact the phase change material.

10. A heat transfer device as described in claim 9, wherein the plurality of fins disposed within the enclosure is configured to contact the phase change material during repositioning of the heat transfer device in a plurality of orientations.

11. A heat transfer device as described in claim 1, wherein the phase change material is paraffin wax.

12. A heat transfer device as described in claim 1, wherein the heat-generating device is a processing system and the device is a computing device.

13. A device comprising:

a housing;

a processing system disposed within the housing and configured to operating at a low power state and a high power state; and

a heat transfer device disposed within the housing proximal to the processing system to conduct heat away from the processing system, the heat transfer device including a heat sink and a thermal storage enclosure disposed proximal to at least a portion of the heat sink, the thermal storage enclosure including a phase change material configured to have a melting temperature that corresponds to a temperature at which the processing system operates when in the high power state.

14. A device as described in claim 13, wherein the phase change material is configured to remain in a solid state during operation of the processing system at the low power state and is configured to at least partially melt during operation of the processing system in the high power state.

15. A device as described in claim 13, wherein the heat sink is configured as a heat pipe configured to transfer heat from the thermal storage enclosure using thermal conductivity and phase transition.

16. A device as described in claim 15, wherein the heat pipe includes a phase change material having a different temperate at which a phase change occurs than the melting temperature of the phase change material of the thermal storage enclosure.

17. A device as described in claim 15, wherein the thermal storage enclosure includes an amount of the phase change material that is sufficient to resist a rise in temperature for a particular amount of time that corresponds to an observed cycle time between the lower and high power states of the processing system.

18. A method comprising:

operating a heat-generating component at a low power state to perform one or more operations, the low power state causing the temperature to remain below a defined temperature;

operating the heat-generating component at a high power state to perform one or more additional operations, the high power state causing generation of heat sufficient to initiate melting of a phase change material of a thermal storage enclosure of a heat transfer device such that a temperature of the heat-generating component remains below the defined threshold;

responsive to the operating of the heat-generating component at the high power state over an amount of time sufficient to melt the phase change material of the thermal storage enclosure of the heat transfer device, transferring heat from the thermal storage enclosure to a heat pipe of the heat transfer device and increasing speed of a fan configured to cool the heat pipe.

19. A method as described in claim 18, further comprising responsive to the operating of the heat-generating component at the high power state for an amount of time sufficient to cause a temperature of the heat-generating component to rise above the defined temperature, causing the heat-generating component to switch from the high power state to the low power state.

20. A method as described in claim 18, further comprising responsive to a switch made by the heat-generating component from operating at the high power state back to the low power state, solidifying the melted phase change material of the thermal storage enclosure through cooling of the thermal storage enclosure.