Grumman Aerospace Corporation

Kevin J Koubek

John A Quadrini

Robert L Kosson

Vincent Cirrito

A serpentine continuous vapor passage is formed in a metal card which mounts electronic components. Elongated channels of the passage evaporate the contained liquid in response to conducted heat from mounted electronic components. By mounting the side edges of the card to heat conductive retaining means, the evaporated fluid becomes condensed at end sections of the passage thereby transferring the heat from the card and converting the evaporated liquid in a gaseous state back to a liquid state. The resultant card is gravity-insensitive and a thermal-resistance path is minimized so that the cooling capability of the card becomes maximized.

Vapor chamber cooled electronic circuit card

Two metal plates have U-shaped grooves formed therein so that the plates may form congruent halves wherein matching grooves complete independent heat pipes. The bight section of each heat pipe serves as an evaporator section while the parallel arms of each heat pipe form condenser sections. A wick is positioned within each heat pipe to improve liquid transport when a module is in a non-upright position. The condenser sections are located coincident with the normally upright edges of each module so that, when the module is upright, the vertically disposed condenser sections of the heat pipe gravity-assist liquid transport to the evaporator section. This arrangement of heat pipe sections along with the wick render the heat pipe gravity-insensitive.

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South Setauket, NY, United States of America

Kevin J Koubek