Sandwiched thermal solution
View Patent ↗A thermal solution for an electronic device, which is positioned between a heat source and an external surface of the electronic device and/or another component of the electronic device, where the thermal solution facilitates heat dissipation from the heat source while shielding the external surface and/or second component from the heat generated by the heat source.
1. A thermal dissipation and shielding system for an electronic device, comprising:
an electronic device comprising an external surface and device components including a first component which comprises a heat source;
a thermal solution comprising two major surfaces, the thermal solution positioned such that one of its major surfaces is in operative contact with the first component such that it is interposed between the first component and an external surface of the electronic device,
wherein the thermal solution comprises at least one sheet of compressed particles of exfoliated graphite sandwiched between two outer layers, where the thermal function of the thermal solution, referred to as Fx, for each of the outer layers in combination with the at least one graphite sheet, is between about −10 and about +7, determined by the following formula:
Fx
=
log
[
(
Y
1
×
Thick
1
×
T
c1
Y
2
×
Thick
2
×
T
c2
)
×
1
/
(
100
x
ⅆ
1
ⅆ
2
)
]
where Y 1 is the Young's modulus for one of the outer layers and Y 2 is the Young's modulus for the graphitic core; Thick 1 is the thickness in millimeters (mm) of the outer layer and Thick 2 is the thickness of the graphitic core; Tc 1 is the thermal conductivity of the outer layer and Tc 2 is the thermal conductivity of the at least one graphite sheet; and d 1 is the density of the outer layer and d 2 is the density of the at least one graphite sheet, and
further wherein the graphitic core comprised of at least one sheet of compressed particles of exfoliated graphite and the two outer layers are molded or formed into a complex, non-planar shape such that they follow the contours of device components thereby reducing space consumed by the thermal solution in the electronic device.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the outer layers comprise materials selected from the group consisting of plastics, metals, and composites or combinations thereof.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the outer layers comprises aluminum.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device further comprises a heat dissipation device positioned in a location not directly adjacent to the first component and further wherein one of the major surfaces of the thermal solution is in operative contact with the heat dissipation device.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the heat dissipation device comprises a heat sink, a heat pipe, a heat plate or any combination thereof.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal solution has an in-plane thermal conductivity of at least about 140 W/m-K.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the thermal solution has a through-plane thermal conductivity of no greater than about 12 W/m-K.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal solution further comprises a protective coating thereon.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the protective coating has a thermal conductivity less than the through-plane thermal conductivity of the at least one sheet of flexible graphite.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein a thermal transfer material is positioned between the thermal solution and the first component.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is a laptop computer and the external surface comprises a portion of the laptop computer case.