Electric heating for motor vehicles

• US 6,919,535 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2003
• Issued: 07/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Catem GmbH & Co., KG
• Original Assignee: Catem GmbH & Co., KG
• Inventors: Niederer, Michael, Bohlender, Franz, Uhl, Günter, Bernhardt, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Walberg, Teresa J.
• Application Number:
  US10/647,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20040084431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 219/202, 219/209, 219/530, 219/540, 165/80.3, 237/12.3 R, 65/803
• US Class Current: 219/202
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/2225 arrangements of electric heaters for heating air
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/3677 Wire-like or pin-like cooling fins or heat sinks
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0204 using means for thermal conduction connection in the thickness direction of the substrate H05K1/0207 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10166 Transistor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10393 Clamping a component by an element or a set of elements
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10416 Metallic blocks or heatsinks completely inserted in a PCB metallic supports H05K3/0061
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10446 Mounted on an edge soldering edge mounted components H05K3/3405; edge terminals H05K2201/1034

Abstract

An electric heating device as supplemental heating for motor vehicles includes as the heating elements power transistors directly mounted on the printed circuit board. For efficient removal of the dissipation heat from the power transistors the latter are in direct contact on their underside with a cooling element via openings in the printed circuit board. In order to simplify manufacture, the cooling elements are formed in two pieces: the heat conducting disk with a small thermal mass insertable into the opening of the printed circuit board, and the cooling body which can be connected to that heat-conducting element.

Claims

1. An electric heating device, usable as a supplemental heater for a motor vehicles, comprising:

a heater block including a plurality of heating elements, and

a control unit for controlling the heating elements, wherein the control unit forms one structural unit with the heater block and has power transistors arranged on a printed circuit board and cooling elements allocated to these power transistors, wherein each cooling element is connected through an opening in the printed circuit board to the respective power transistor,

wherein each cooling element is formed from a cooling body and a heat-conducting element insertable into the opening of the printed circuit board, and

wherein each heat-conducting element of each cooling element is mechanically fixed in the opening.

2. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each heat-conducting element is glued to the cooling body.

3. The electric heating device according to claim 2, wherein the glue used to glue each heat-conducting element and the associated cooling body produces an electric insulation between the heat-conducting element and the cooling body.

4. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each heat-conducting element is made of copper.

5. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each cooling body is made of aluminum.

6. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein the mass each heat-conducting element is very much smaller than that of the associated cooling body.

7. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each opening in the printed circuit board and each heat-conducting element are at least essentially cylindrical.

8. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each cooling body has at least an essentially flat section with an opening, each heat-conducting element has an end that protrudes through the opening in the flat section of the associated cooling body, and

each heat-conducting element has at least one lateral projection on the end protruding through the associated cooling body for mechanically fastening the mating element to the cooling body.

9. The electric heating device according to claim 8, wherein the lateral projection on each heat-conducting element is a bulb laterally fitting around the protruding end of the heat-conducting element.

10. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each cooling body is arranged in the heating device such that the air to be heated can be blown around the cooling body via a window openings in a housing of the heating device.

11. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein the surface of each of the cooling bodies is provided on the outside with an electrically insulating coating.

12. The electric heating device according to claim 11, wherein the surface of each of the cooling bodies is provided with an electrically insulating coating essentially only in the region opposite the window openings.

13. The electric heating device according to claim 2, wherein the glue is an epoxy resin glue, a silicon glue or an acrylic glue.

14. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each heat-conducting element, as the distance from the associated power transistor increases, has a larger cross-section area.

15. The electric heating device according to claim 14, wherein each heat-conducting element is at least essentially cylindrical in shape.

16. Electric heating device according to claim 15, wherein the section of each heat-conducting element arranged in the opening of the printed circuit board has an at least essentially conical shape growing smaller in the direction of the end in contact with the associated power transistor.

17. The electric heating device according to claim 1, wherein each cooling body comprises an essentially rectangular cross-section with a first section arranged parallel to the printed circuit board and a second section arranged vertically thereto.

18. The electric heating device according to claim 17, wherein the first section of each cooling body has recesses on the side facing the printed circuit board for accommodating the end of the associated heat-conducting element protruding from the printed circuit board.

19. The electric heating device according to claim 17, wherein the cooling bodies of several adjacent cooling elements are formed in one piece.

20. The electric heating device according to claim 19, wherein the cooling bodies formed in one piece are connected to each other via the first section of each of the cooling bodies.

21. An electric heating device, usable as a supplemental heater for a motor vehicle, each comprising:

a heater block, and

a control unit for controlling the heating elements, wherein the control unit forms one structural unit with the heater block and has power transistors arranged on a printed circuit board and cooling elements allocated to these power transistors, wherein each cooling element is connected through an opening in the printed circuit board to the respective power transistor,

wherein each cooling element is formed from a cooling body and a heat-conducting element insertable into the opening of the printed circuit board,

wherein each heat-conducting element, as the distance from the power transistor increases, has a larger cross-section area,

wherein each heat-conducting element is at least essentially cylindrical,

wherein the section of each heat-conducting element arranged in the opening of the printed circuit board has an at least essentially conical shape growing smaller in the direction of the end in contact with the power transistor, and

wherein the section of each heat-conducting element that is arranged in the opening of the printed circuit board has radial projections for mechanical fastening the heat-conducting element in the opening of the printed circuit board.

22. An electric heating device comprising:

a heater block having a plurality of heating elements, and

a control unit that forms a single structural unit with the heater block and that controls the heating elements, the control unit including a plurality of power transistors arranged on a printed circuit board and a plurality of cooling elements, each of which is allocated to a respective one of the power transistors,

wherein each of the cooling elements is connected through an opening in the printed circuit board to the associated power transistor, and

wherein each of the cooling elements is formed from a cooling body and a heat-conducting element inserted into the opening of the printed circuit board, and

wherein the heat-conducting element is fixed in the opening in the printed circuit board.

23. The electric heating device according to claim 22, wherein the heat-conducting element of each of the cooling elements is glued to the associated cooling body.

24. The electric heating device according to claim 22, wherein the heat-conducting element of each of the cooling elements is made of one of copper and aluminum.

25. The electric heating device according to claim 22, wherein

the cooling body of each of the cooling elements has an essentially flat section with an opening formed therein, wherein

the heat-conducting element of each of the cooling elements protrudes through the opening in the flat section of the associated cooling body, and wherein

the heat-conducting element of each of the cooling elements has at least one lateral projection on the end protruding through the associated cooling body and out of the latter for mechanically fastening of the associated cooling body to the printed circuit board.

26. The electric heating device according to claim 22, further comprising a housing that contains the heating device and that has window openings formed therein, and wherein the cooling bodies are arranged in the heating device such that air to be heated can be blown around them via the window openings in the housing.

27. The electric heating device according to claim 22, wherein an outside surface of each of the cooling bodies is provided with an electrically insulating coating.

28. The electric heating device according to claim 22, wherein a cross-sectional area of each of the cooling bodies increases as the distance from the associated power transistor increases.

29. The electric heating device according to claim 22, wherein each of the cooling bodies is at least essentially rectangular in cross-section with a first section extending at least generally parallel to the associated printed circuit board and a second section extending at least generally perpendicularly therefrom.