Heat sinks for integrated circuit modules

• US 4,552,206 A
• Filed: 01/17/1983
• Issued: 11/12/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aavid Thermal Products Incorporated (Ansys Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Aavid Thermal Products Incorporated (Ansys Incorporated)
• Inventors: McCarthy, Alfred F., Johnson, Philip A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cline, William R.
• Application Number:
  US06/458,322
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• Field of Search: 165/80 B, 165/80 D, 165/185, 357/81, 357/79, 357/82, 361/381, 361/383, 361/386, 361/388
• US Class Current: 165/80.3
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/4093 Snap-on arrangements, e.g. clips
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

In dissipating heat from miniature electronic devices, circuit modules, or the like, and particularly from dual-in-line package (DIP) type units having leads depending from opposite sides of a thin molded rectangular-parallelepiped body, an elongated sheet-metal strip of heat-radiating elements disposed above and in spaced relation to the top of the package has its opposite ends integrally connected with separate spaced heat-conducting clip members which are cantilevered from it in different directions to fit respectively about the top and bottom surfaces of the package and to flex so as to accommodate insertion of the package between them and yet adjust themselves into desirable broad-area abutments with those surfaces. Heat conducted away from the package by each of the cantilevered members first reaches a different end of the strip of heat-radiating elements, without coursing through the other member and without interfering with the heat-exchange taking place along the opposite surfaces of the package clipped between the members.

Claims

1. One-piece heat-sink apparatus for a dual-in-line pin (DIP) electronics package the body of which has the general form of a thin elongated rectangular parallepiped with pin terminals depending from opposite sides thereof, comprising a first elongated thin and flat sheet-metal heat-transfer clasp element proportioned to abut closely and substantially coextensively directly under and against the lower surface of the package, said first clasp element being no wider than the body of the electronics package and thereby allowing dual-in-line pin terminals of the body to project downwardly therefrom without interference from said first clasp element, a second elongated heat-transfer clasp element of the same thin sheet metal disposed in substantially parallel spaced alignment with said first clasp element for direct engagement with the upper surface of the package, a third elongated heat-radiating element of the same sheet metal disposed in spaced substantially parallel and coextensive alignment with said first and second clasp elements and having heat-radiating projections exposed to the ambient atmosphere for release of heat thereto, first connection means integral with one end of each of said first clasp element and third heat-radiating element and holding said first clasp elements in spaced substantially parallel alignment with one side of said third heat-radiating element at a first distance therefrom, and second connection means integral with one end of said second clasp element and the end of said third heat-radiating element opposite the said one end thereof and holding said second clasp element and third heat-radiating element in a spaced substantially parallel alignment with said one side of said third heat-radiating element at a second distance therefrom which is less than said first distance, said first and second clasp elements having their free ends extending in opposite directions from their integral cantilevered connections with said third heat-radiating element by way of said first and second connection means, whereby the body of such a package may be admitted into the space between the free end of said first clasp element and the nearby second clasp element and slid into a nested position therebetween, with the downwardly-projecting pin terminals of the body straddling said first clasp element, for conduction of its internally-generated heat independently and directly through said end connection means to said third heat-radiating element for convective dissipation therefrom.