High-performance heat sink for printed circuit boards

• US 6,778,390 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2001
• Issued: 08/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Michael, Mihalis
• Primary Examiner(s): Datskovsky, Michael
• Application Number:
  US09/858,823
• Publication Number:
  US 20020172008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,190 Days
• Field of Search: 361/683, 361/692, 361/697, 361/685, 361/688, 361/689, 361/703-705, 361/709-711, 361/717-719, 361/722-724, 361/756, 361/775, 257/706-727, 165/80.3, 165/121-126, 165/104.3, 165/104.34, 165/185, 454/184, 307/112, 307/116, 307/125, 307/117, 307/139, 312/107, 312/111, 312/223.1, 312/223.2, 312/257.1, 312/236, 415/177, 415/178, 174/16.03, 174/520
• US Class Current: 361/695
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/467 by flowing gases, e.g. air H01L23/473 takes precedence
• 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

An apparatus and method are described for cooling electronic components on a plug-in or other computer board placed within an enclosure. The inventive apparatus and system is capable of cooling a high power dissipating device, such as a Graphics Processing Unit and cooling individual ones of a plurality of other devices, such as memory chips, to within a specified temperature range. In one embodiment, cooling air is drawn from the edge of a plug-in card, over the GPU and is directed along and over arrays of memory chips. By directing the flow on and along the memory chips, a flow is established that maintains the chip-to-chip temperature difference to within a desired, uniform range. The invention allows for the incorporation of higher performance processors onto boards while maintaining memory chips within a temperature range that allows for predictable performance.

Claims

1. An apparatus for cooling electronic components, said apparatus comprising:

a heat sink bottom adapted for attachment to a primary electronic component;

a fan mounted on a first portion of said heat sink bottom;

a first plurality of heat sink fins disposed in a second portion of said heat sink bottom, said first plurality of heat sink fins shaped and positioned to form a first plurality of passages for ducting air from said fan to a first outlet region proximate a first edge of said heat sink bottom; and

a second plurality of heat sink fins arranged in a third portion of said heat sink bottom, said second plurality of heat sink fins shaped and positioned to form a second plurality of passages for ducting air from said fan to a second outlet region proximate a second edge of said heat sink bottom;

wherein said fan, said first plurality of heat sink fins, and said second plurality of heat sink fins are operative to cool said primary electronic component and said first plurality of passages and said second plurality of passages are sized, shaped, and oriented to match a flow of air to each of a first plurality of secondary electronic components disposed adjacent said first edge and a second plurality of secondary electronic components adjacent said second edge.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of heat sink fins includes a first plurality of curved heat sink fins shaped to redirect air towards said first edge and said second plurality of heat sink fins includes a second plurality of curved heat sink fins shaped to redirect air towards said second edge.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein first plurality of heat sink fins includes a first plurality of curved heat sink fins.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said second plurality of heat sink fins includes a second plurality of curved heat sink fins.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a top member, where said top member extends over at least a portion of said first plurality of passages and said second plurality of passages, wherein said top member includes an overhanging portion extending at least partially over said first plurality of secondary electronic components and said second plurality of electronic components.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first edge and said second edge are disposed along orthogonal edges of said heat sink bottom.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said first plurality of heat sink fins includes a first plurality of curved heat sink fins and said second plurality of heat sink fins includes a second plurality of curved heat sink fins.

8. An apparatus for cooling electronic components, comprising:

a heat sink housing having a heat sink bottom adapted for attachment to a primary electronic component mounted to a card;

a fan mounted within said housing on a first portion of said heat sink bottom;

a first plurality of heat sink fins disposed within said housing on a second portion of said heat sink bottom, each of said first plurality of heat sink fins extending continuously from a first region proximate said fan towards a first edge of said heat sink bottom to form a first plurality of passages for directing air from said fan towards said first edge;

a second plurality of heat sink fins disposed within said housing on a third portion of said heat sink bottom, each of said second plurality of heat sink fins extending continuously from a second region proximate said fan towards a second edge of said heat sink bottom to form a second plurality of passages for directing air from said fan towards said second edge; and

said heat sink housing including a top member extending over at least a portion of a first plurality of secondary electronic components disposed adjacent said first edge and said top member also extending over at least a portion of a second plurality of secondary electronic components disposed adjacent said second edge, said top member restricting air to flow parallel to a plane of said card over said first plurality of secondary electronic components and said second plurality of secondary electronic components;

wherein said fan, said first plurality of heat sink fins, said second plurality of heat sink fins, and said housing are operative to remove heat from said primary electronic component and preferentially direct air towards said first edge and said second edge of said heat sink bottom to cool said first plurality of secondary electronic components and said second plurality of secondary electronic components.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a secondary heat sink is mounted onto each secondary electronic component, each said secondary heat sink extending to a height above said card such that air from said fan strikes at least a portion of said secondary heat sink.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said second plurality of heat sink fins includes a second plurality of curved heat sink fins.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said first plurality of heat sink fins includes a first plurality of curved heat sink fins and said second plurality of heat sink fins includes a second plurality of curved heat sink fins.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said primary electronic component is a graphics processor and wherein a graphics memory comprises said first plurality of secondary electronic components and said second plurality of secondary electronic components.

13. An apparatus for cooling electronic components, comprising:

a heat sink base surface adapted for attachment to a primary electronic component mounted to a card;

a plurality of heat sink fins positioned on a first portion of said heat sink base surface, said plurality of heat sink fins forming passages that terminate at two separate edges associated with said heat sink base surface;

a fan mounted on a second portion of said heat sink base surface to drive air through said plurality of heat sink fins; and

a heat sink top covering at least a portion of said plurality of heat sink fins and thereby forming a cover for said passages, said heat sink top extending beyond the perimeter of said plurality of heat sink fins to cover at least a portion of a plurality of secondary electronic components positioned adjacent to said primary electronic component along said two edges to restrict air to flow parallel to a plane of said card over said plurality of secondary electronic components, said plurality of heat sink fins, said fan, and said heat sink top operating to remove heat from said primary electronic component and said first plurality of passages and said second plurality of passages are sized, shaped, and oriented to match a flow of air to cool said plurality of secondary electronic components.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein a secondary heat sink is mounted onto each secondary electronic component, each said secondary heat sink extending to a height above said card such that air from said fan strikes at least a portion of said secondary heat sink.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said plurality of heat sink fins includes heat sink fins with curved surfaces.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said primary electronic component is a graphics processor.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said secondary electronic components are memory chips.

18. A graphics apparatus, comprising:

a primary graphics component requiring cooling, said primary graphics component mounted on a graphics card;

at least two secondary graphics components requiring cooling, said secondary graphics components mounted on said graphics card and spaced apart from said primary graphics component along two edges of said primary graphics component;

a heat sink base surface attached to a surface of said primary graphics component;

a fan mounted on a first portion of said heat sink base surface;

a plurality of heat sink fins positioned on a second portion of said heat sink base surface about at least a portion of the periphery of said fan, said plurality of heat sink fins forming a plurality of passages having inlets proximate said fan and at least one outlet proximate each of said at least two secondary graphics components;

a heat sink top covering at least a portion of said plurality of heat sink fins and thereby forming a cover for said passages, said heat sink top extending over at least a portion of said at least two secondary graphics components to restrict air to flow in a plane parallel to said graphics card over said at least two secondary graphics components;

wherein said heat sink base surface, said plurality of heat sink fins, said fan, and said heat sink top are operative to remove heat from said primary graphics component and to preferentially direct air from said fan towards each of said secondary graphics components, said plurality of passages being sized, shaped, and oriented to match a flow of air to cool said at least two secondary graphics components.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein secondary heat sink is mounted onto each secondary electronic component, each said secondary heat sink extending to a height above said card such that air from said fan strikes at least a portion of said secondary heat sink.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein there are at least two secondary components disposed along at least two different directions with respect to said heat sink surface, and said passages redirect the flow of air towards the at least two secondary components.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said primary graphics component comprises:

a graphics processor.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said at least one secondary graphics component comprises:

memory chips.

21. The apparatus of claim wherein 18 wherein said plurality of heat sink fins includes heat sink fins with curved surfaces.