COOLING DEVICE

Abstract

A cooling device for heat dissipation from an electronic component includes a heating tube having a heating tube surface, a cooling element having a first cooling element side formed with a slot recess which at least partially encloses the heating tube, and a fiber structure made of fibers and arranged on the heating tube surface in a region in which the heating tube is at least partially enclosed by the slot recess. The fibers on the heating tube surface of the heating tube in the region of the slot recess form a mechanical connection with a cooling element surface of the cooling element.

Claims

1.-15. (canceled)

16. A cooling device for heat dissipation from an electronic component, said cooling device comprising: a heating tube having a heating tube surface: a cooling element having a first cooling element side formed with a slot recess which at least partially encloses the heating tube; and a first fiber structure made of fibers and arranged on the heating tube surface in a region in which the heating tube is at least partially enclosed by the slot recess, said fibers on the heating tube surface of the heating tube in the region of the slot recess forming a mechanical connection with a cooling element surface of the cooling element.

17. The cooling device of claim 16, further comprising a second fiber structure made from fibers and arranged on the cooling element surface in the region of the slot recess, said fibers on the heating tube surface of the heating tube forming in the region of the slot recess a mechanical connection with the fibers on the cooling element surface of the cooling element.

18. The cooling device of claim 17, wherein the fibers of the second fiber structure in proximity of slot edges of the slot recess are sized longer than the fibers of the second fiber structure in proximity of a slot base of the slot recess.

19. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the cooling element surface in the region of the slot recess has a roughened surface structure, said fibers on the heating tube surface of the heating tube forming a mechanical connection with the roughened surface structure of the cooling element surface of the cooling element in the region of the slot recess.

20. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the fibers on the heating tube surface of the heating tube penetrate the cooling element surface of the cooling element in the region of the slot recess.

21. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the fibers of the first fiber structure have a nano-scale or micro-scale structure.

22. The cooling device of claim 17, wherein the fibers of the second fiber structure have a nano-scale or micro-scale structure.

23. The cooling device of claim 19, wherein the roughened surface structure has a nano-scale or micro-scale structure.

24. The cooling device of claim 17, wherein the fibers of the first fiber structure have barbed hooks for engagement in eyelets of the fibers of the second fiber structure to establish the mechanical connection.

25. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the fibers of the first fiber structure are formed by a material coating or by material removal.

26. The cooling device of claim 17, wherein the fibers of the second fiber structure are formed by a material coating or by material removal.

27. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the fibers of the first fiber structure are made of copper or of a copper alloy.

28. The cooling device of claim 17, wherein the fibers of the second fiber structure are made of copper or of a copper alloy.

29. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the fibers of the first fiber structure is made of a material which is mechanically harder than a material of the cooling element surface of the cooling element.

30. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the heating tube is a heat pipe.

31. The cooling device of claim 16, wherein the cooling element has a second cooling element side which faces away from the first cooling element side and includes cooling element ribs.

32. A converter for operating an electric' machine on an electric network, said converter comprising; a cooling device comprising a heating tube having a heating tube surface, a cooling element having a first cooling element side formed with a slot recess which at least partially encloses the heating tube, and a first fiber structure made of fibers and arranged on the heating tube surface in a region in which the heating tube is at least partially enclosed by the slot recess, said fibers on the heating tube surface of the heating tube in the region of the slot recess forming a mechanical connection with a cooling element surface of the cooling element; and an electronic component mechanically connected to the cooling element of the cooling device in the region of the heating tube of the cooling device.

33. The converter of claim 32, wherein the cooling element is embodied as a converter housing or as part of a converter housing.

34. The converter of claim 32, wherein the electronic component is a power semiconductor or a power semiconductor module.

Description

[0042] The above-described characteristics, features and advantages of this invention, as well as the manner in which these are realized, will become dearer and more readily understandable in connection with the following description of the exemplary embodiments, which are explained in more detail in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

[0043] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a metal fiber structure on a surface of a metal element,

[0044] FIG. 2 shows a first schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device with first fibers of a fiber structure and second fibers of a further fiber structure,

[0045] FIG. 3 shows a second schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device with first fibers of a fiber structure and second fibers of a further fiber structure,

[0046] FIG. 4 shows a third schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device with a roughened surface structure of a cooling element surface of a cooling element.

[0047] FIG. 5 shows a fourth schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device with first fibers penetrating a cooling element surface of a cooling element,

[0048] FIG. 6 shows a fifth schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device with a connection of an electronic component to the cooling device,

[0049] FIG. 7 shows a schematic representation of the top view onto the inventive cooling device according to FIG. 6, and

[0050] FIG. 8 shows a schematic representation of a converter with the inventive cooling device according to FIGS. 2 to 7.

[0051] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a metal fiber structure 26 on a surface 24 of a metal element 23. The metal fiber structure 26 has metal fibers 25, which project substantially at right angles from the surface 24 of the metal element 23. The schematic representation in FIG. 1 is enlarged here since here the metal fibers 25 of the metal fiber structure 26 are embodied in the nano-scale or micro-scale range.

[0052] All FIGS. 2 to 7 described below are significantly enlarged in their schematic representation and show a cooling device 1 in a in particular nano-scale or micro-scale range with a mechanical/thermal connection of a heating tube 2 to a cooling element 4.

[0053] FIG. 2 shows a first schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device 1 with first fibers 9 of a fiber structure 8 and second fibers 12 of a further fiber structure 11.

[0054] A heating tube 3 of the cooling device 1 is mechanically connected to a cooling element 4 of the cooling device 1 by way of the first fibers 9 of the fiber structure 8 on the heating tube surface 7 of the heating tube and the second fibers 12 of the further fibers structure 11 on the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4. The heating tube 3 is partially enclosed here by a slot recess 6, which is arranged on a first cooling element side 5 of the cooling element 4, wherein the first and the second fibers 9, 12 are arranged in the region of the enclosure. The mechanical connection is substantially a material-bonded connection (shown significantly enlarged here). The heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4 form a planar surface on the first cooling element side 5 of the cooling element 4.

[0055] The first fibers 9 further have barbed hooks 14 and the second fibers 12 have eyelets 15, wherein the barbed hooks 14 of the first fibers 9 connect mechanically with the eyelet 15 of the second fibers 12 (only visualized in outlines in FIG. 2). This connection is mechanically very stable and can be referred to as a hook-and-loop fastener connection.

[0056] FIG. 3 shows a second schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device 1 with first fibers 9 of a fiber structure 8 and second fibers 12 of a further fiber structure 11.

[0057] A heating tube 3 of the cooling device 1 is mechanically connected to a cooling element 4 of the cooling device 1 by way of the first fibers 9 of the fiber structure 8 on the healing tube surface 7 of the heating tube 3 and the second fibers 12 of the further fiber structure 11 on the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4. The heating tube 3 is partially enclosed here by a slot recess 6, which is arranged on a first cooling element side 5 of the cooling element 4, wherein the first and the second fibers 9, 12 are arranged in the region of the enclosure. The mechanical connection is substantially a material-bonded connection (shown significantly enlarged here). The heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4 form a planar surface on the first cooling element side 5.

[0058] The mechanical connection between the heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4 was carried out by means of injecting the heating tube 3 into the cooling element 4 on its first cooling element side 5, wherein upon injection its force effect is mainly exerted in the direction of the slot base 22 of the slot recess 6.

[0059] FIG. 3 shows the result of injection in the form of an efficient mechanical/thermal connection between the heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4, wherein the connection of the longer second fibers 12 to the slot edges 21 of the slot recess with the first fibers 9 arranged there is at least equivalent with respect to the mechanical stability and the thermal resistance value, as the connection between the shorter second fibers 12 to the slot base 22 of the slot recess 6 with the first fibers 9 arranged there.

[0060] FIG. 4 shows a third schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device 1 with a roughened surface structure 13 of a cooling element surface 10 of a cooling element 4.

[0061] A heating tube 3 of the cooling device 1 is mechanically connected to a cooling element 4 of the cooling device 1 by way of the first fibers 9 of the fiber structure 8 on the heating tube surface 7 of the heating tube 3 and the roughened surface structure 13 of the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4. The heating tube 3 is enclosed here partially by a slot recess 6, which is arranged on a first cooling element side 5 of the cooling element 4, wherein the first fibers 9 and the roughened surface structure 13 are arranged in the region of the enclosure. The mechanical connection is substantially a material-bonded connection (shown significantly enlarged here). The heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4 form a planar surface on the first cooling element side 5.

[0062] The first fibers 9 of the heating tube surface 7 of the heating tube 3 have barbed hooks 14, which further improve the enclosure or wedging of the roughened surface structure 13 of the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4.

[0063] A fourth schematic sectional representation in FIG. 5 visualizes an inventive cooling device 1 with first fibers 9 penetrating a cooling element surface 10 of a cooling element 4.

[0064] A heating tube 3 of the cooling device 1 is mechanically connected to a cooling element 4 of the cooling device 1 by way of the first fibers 9 of the fiber structure 8 on the heating tube surface 7 of the heating tube 3, which penetrate the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4. The heating tube 3 is enclosed here partially by a slot recess 6, which is arranged on a first cooling element side 5 of the cooling element 4, wherein the first fibers 9 are arranged in the region of the enclosure. The mechanical connection is substantially a material-bonded connection (shown significantly enlarged here). The heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4 form a planar surface on the first cooling element side 5.

[0065] The first fibers 9 of the heating tube surface 7 of the heating tube 3 have barbed hooks 14, which are hooked at least in the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4. FIG. 5 shows furthermore that the first fibers 9 penetrate more deeply into the base structure of the cooling element 4 and are hooked there.

[0066] FIG. 6 shows a fifth schematic sectional representation of an inventive cooling device 1 with a connection of an electronic component 2 to the cooling device 1.

[0067] A heating tube 3 of the cooling device 1 is mechanically connected to a cooling element 4 of the cooling device 1 by way of the first fibers 9 of the fiber structure 8 on the heating tube surface 7 of the heating tube 3 and the second fibers 12 of the further fiber structure 11 on the cooling element surface 10 of the cooling element 4. The heating tube 3 is enclosed here partially by a slot recess 6, which is arranged on a first cooling element side 5 of the cooling element 4, wherein the first and the second fibers 9, 12 are arranged in the region of the enclosure. The mechanical connection is substantially a material-bonded connection (shown significantly enlarged here). The heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4 form a flat surface on the first cooling element side 5.

[0068] The electronic component 2 is arranged on the planar surface of the first cooling element side 5 by way of the heating tube 3 so that during operation it can be cooled by means of the heating tube 3 and the cooling element 4.

[0069] The cooling element 4 has cooling element ribs 20 on a second cooling element side 19 facing away from the first cooling element side 5. During operation these cooling element ribs 20 of the cooling element 4 support the heat dissipation from the electronic component 2, combined with the heating tube 3, by them advantageously outputting the heat losses of the electronic component 2 into the environment.

[0070] FIG. 7 shows a schematic representation of a top view onto the inventive cooling device 1 according to FIG. 6.

[0071] The cooling element ribs shown in FIG. 6 are however to be inferred from FIG. 7, since for reasons of clarity the second cooling element side facing away from the first cooling element side 5 with the cooling element ribs arranged there are not shown.

[0072] FIG. 8 shows a schematic representation of a converter 16 with the inventive cooling device 1 according to FIGS. 2 to 7.

[0073] The converter 16 is connected here by way of example to an electric network 18 and an electric machine 17 by way of an electric three phase line in each case, wherein during operation the converter 16 generally supplies the electric machine 17 with electric energy from the electric network 18 in a torque- and speed-dependent manner.

[0074] The electronic component 2 is arranged on a cooling element 4 and a heating tube 3 of the cooling device 1 which is integrated into the cooling element 4. The heat losses generated during operation of the electronic component 2 can then be conducted to cooler areas of the cooling element 4 by means of the heating tube 3 and mainly output via the cooling element 4 to the environment inside or outside of the converter 16.