Electronic unit having desired heat radiation properties

• US 6,704,197 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2002
• Issued: 03/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Iwamiya, Hironori
• Primary Examiner(s): TOLIN, GERALD P
• Application Number:
  US10/135,576
• Publication Number:
  US 20020172011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 678 Days
• Field of Search: 361/688-690, 361/703-707, 361/717-720, 174/16.3, 174/252, 165/80.3, 165/185, 257/701, 257/697, 257/706, 257/707, 257/713, 257/781
• US Class Current: 361/690
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20427 having radiation enhancing surface treatment, e.g. black coating

Abstract

An electronic unit includes a housing and a plurality of heat-generating electronic devices. The devices are stored in the housing. The heat generated by the devices is transferred to the housing and further transferred to ambient air from the housing to cool the electronic unit. A sheet of paper, which is made of art paper having a thermal emissivity higher than the housing, is adhered to an outer surface of the housing to improve the heat radiation from the housing to the ambient air.

Claims

1. An electronic unit comprising:

a metal housing;

a plurality of electronic devices stored in the housing, one of which is a heat-generating device, the plurality of electronic devices being separated from each other by a predetermined distance to balance thermal interference therebetween; and

a sheet of paper having a thermal emissivity higher than the housing and which is adhered to an outer surface of the metal housing over a predetermined area of the metal housing to improve radiation of heat generated by the heat-generating device from the metal housing.

2. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the sheet of paper includes an adhering material, and the sheet of paper, including the adhering material, has a thickness no greater than 0.3 mm.

3. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the sheet of paper is adhered to the outer surface of the metal housing such that a hot spot of the outer surface of the metal housing is covered by the sheet of paper.

4. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the sheet of paper is adhered to the outer surface of the metal housing such that a half of the surface that is heated to a temperature higher than that of another half during operation of the heat-generating device is covered by the sheet of paper.

5. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the sheet of paper is made of art paper.

6. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the metal housing has a relative length between about 170 mm and 193 mm, and a relative height of about 30 mm.

7. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the metal housing has an area of about 330 cm².

8. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the metal housing is made from aluminum.

9. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic devices are separated from each other by a predetermined distance such that an edge of each of the plurality of electronic devices is at a position where a temperature gradient per watt of an adjacent device is 0.1°

C./mmW.

10. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of electronic devices has a low maximum allowable temperature relative to the at least one heat-generating device.

11. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the thermal emissivity of the metal housing is about 0.35, the thermal emissivity of the sheet of paper is about 0.8.

12. The electronic unit as in claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic devices are mounted on a ceramic substrate using a thermally conductive material.

13. The electronic unit as in claim 12, wherein:

the ceramic substrate is attached to a heat-transfer fin that includes a plurality of recesses formed on corners thereof,

the metal housing includes a plurality of projections formed on an inner surface thereof, and

at least two pairs of the plurality of recesses and projections interconnect to thereby form interconnection surfaces for transferring heat generated by the at least one heat-generating device from the heat transfer fin to the housing for radiation by the sheet of paper.

14. The electronic unit as in claim 13, wherein each of the interconnection surfaces has an area of about 60 mm².

15. An electronic unit comprising:

a metal housing;

a heat-generating electronic device stored in the housing; and

a sheet of paper having a thermal emissivity higher than the housing and which is adhered to an outer surface of the metal housing over a predetermined area of the metal housing corresponding to a location of the heat-generating device to improve radiation of heat generated by the heat-generating device from the metal housing.

16. The electronic unit as in claim 15, wherein the heat-generating device is mounted on ceramic substrate using an electrically conductive material.

17. The electronic unit as in claim 16, wherein:

the ceramic substrate is attached to a heat-transfer fin that includes a recess formed on a corner thereof,

the metal housing includes a projection formed on an inner surface of the metal housing, and

the recess and the projection interconnect to thereby form an interconnection surface for transferring heat generated by the heat-generating device from the heat transfer fin to the housing for radiation by the sheet of paper.

18. The electronic unit as in claim 17, wherein the interconnection surface has an area of about 60 mm².