Granted Patent B2

US 12,607,413 · App. 17/592,490 · Granted Apr 21, 2026

Inventors: Ryan John Lewis (Boulder, CO); Yung-Cheng Lee (Boulder, CO); Li-Anne Liew (Westminster, CO); Yunda Wang (Denver, CO)

Assignee: KELVIN THERMAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

F28D15/046B81B1/00B81C1/00476F28F21/06H05K7/20336B81C2201/0107B81C2201/013F28F2245/02F28F2245/04F28F2255/08F28F2260/00

Abstract

Claims (32)

1 . A thermal ground plane comprising: a bottom layer, having edges;

a top layer, having edges, wherein the top layer and the bottom layer are sealed together along the edges of the top layer and the edges of the bottom layer;

a mesh layer disposed on the bottom layer, the mesh layer comprising a plurality of wires and having a plurality of elongated arteries cut within the mesh layer that extend along a portion of a length of the mesh layer and each of the elongated arteries are arranged in parallel; and

a plurality of top pillars disposed on the top layer and do not extend through the plurality of arteries.

2 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of arteries are cut within the mesh layer.

3 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of return pillars disposed on the bottom layer, the plurality of return pillars disposed within and extending through the plurality of arteries.

4 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of top pillars comprises at least one dimension greater than a corresponding dimension of the return pillars.

5 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 3 , wherein a subset of the plurality of top pillars are in contact with one or more of a subset of the plurality of return pillars.

6 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , further comprising a micro wick layer disposed between the bottom layer and the mesh layer.

7 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 6 , wherein the mico wick layer comprises a plurality of top pillars comprising at least one dimension that is smaller than a corresponding dimension of the return pillars.

8 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of wires have a diameter less than about 50 microns thick.

9 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer has a thickness of about 40 microns.

10 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a steel mesh encapsulated with copper.

11 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein either or both the bottom layer and the top layer comprise either or both copper and polyimide.

12 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , further comprising an evaporator region, wherein the plurality of arteries do not extend into the evaporator region.

13 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein a subset of the top pillars are in contact with one or more of a subset of the return pillars.

14 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein either or both the top layer or the bottom layer comprise wavy structures.

15 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer comprises wavy structures.

16 . A thermal ground plane comprising: a bottom layer having edges;

a top layer having edges, wherein the top layer and the bottom layer are sealed together along the edges of the top layer and the edges of the bottom layer;

a mesh layer disposed on the bottom layer, the mesh layer comprising a plurality of arteries cut through the mesh layer, the plurality of arteries extend along a portion of a length of the mesh layer;

a plurality of top pillars disposed on the top layer, the plurality of top pillars extend from the top layer substantially to the mesh layer, and

a plurality of return pillars disposed on the bottom layer, the plurality of return pillars disposed within and extending through the plurality of arteries.

17 . The thermal ground plan according to claim 16 , wherein

the bottom layer comprises a polymer; the top layer comprises a polymer; and/or the mesh layer comprises a polymer.

18 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 16 , wherein each of the plurality of top pillars comprises at least one dimension greater than a corresponding dimension of the return pillars.

19 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 16 , wherein a subset of the plurality of top pillars are in contact with one or more of a subset of the plurality of return pillars.

20 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 16 , further comprising an evaporator region, wherein the plurality of arteries do not extend into the evaporator region.

21 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a woven mesh.

22 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a polymer mesh.

23 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 16 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a woven mesh.

24 . The thermal ground plane according to claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a metallic mesh.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (7)

References Cited (400)