Morningstar Corporation

William Mellema

Stephen Dubovsky

A spring spacer assembly maintains thermal contact between a thermal transfer surface of a heat sink and a heat-generating electrical component mounted on a printed circuit board between the printed circuit board and the thermal transfer surface. The spring spacer assembly comprises a face defining a fixation segment and a deflectible finger extending from the fixation segment, and a fixation element for securing the face to the heat sink. A spacer extends from the fixation segment for passage through the printed circuit board into abutment with the thermal transfer surface. A protrusion extends from the finger for passage through the printed circuit board into contact with the heat-generating electrical component. The finger is biased toward the thermal transfer surface and urges the heat-generating electrical component into thermal contact with the thermal transfer surface. The fixation element secures the face to the heat sink with the spacer secured in abutment with the thermal transfer surface. The spring spacer assembly is assembled with a printed circuit board and a heat sink to form a thermally protected electrical component system.

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Timonium, MD, United States of America

William Mellema