JP7294126B2 - Cooler - Google Patents

Description

The technology disclosed in this specification relates to coolers.

The cooler disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a contact plate, a liquid flow path is formed on the inner surface of the contact plate, and a heating element is brought into contact with the outer surface of the contact plate. The heat of the heating element is transferred to the liquid passing through the liquid channel to cool the heating element.

In order to improve the heat transfer efficiency to the liquid, the cooler of Patent Document 1 uses fins. The fins are arranged on the inner surface side of the contact plate and divide the liquid channel into a plurality of divided channels. Each split channel extends along the contact plate.

In order to increase the contact area between the fins and the fluid, the fins of Patent Document 1 extend in a zigzag shape. That is, each fin extends in a zigzag pattern when viewed in a direction orthogonal to the contact plate, forming a zigzag-like split channel between adjacent fins.

JP 2013-009011 A

In the cooler of Patent Literature 1, each fin extends in a zigzag shape, so that the contact area between the liquid and the fins is increased, and the cooling efficiency is improved. On the other hand, since the liquid meanders along the zigzag-shaped split flow path, the flow of the liquid is likely to be unnecessarily turbulent, resulting in an unnecessarily high pressure loss.

Disclosed herein is a cooler that has a large contact area between the liquid and the fins, resulting in high cooling efficiency, and low pressure loss to prevent unnecessary turbulence in the liquid flow.

The cooler disclosed herein includes a contact plate and forms liquid flow paths on the inner surface side of the contact plate. When the heat generating element is brought into contact with the outer surface of the contact plate, the heat of the heat generating element is transferred to the liquid passing through the liquid flow path to cool the heat generating element. Corrugated fins are arranged on the inner surface of the contact plate. The corrugated fins divide the liquid flow path into a plurality of divided flow paths. Each split channel extends along the contact plate and meanders in a plane parallel to the contact plate. In the cooler disclosed herein, the radius of curvature of the corrugated fins defining the outer curvature of each serpentine subchannel is greater than the radius of curvature of the corrugated fins defining the inner curvature.

According to the cooler described above, the liquid meanders between the inner curved portion and the outer curved portion while continuously changing the flow direction. Further, since the radius of curvature of the corrugated fins defining the outer curved portion is larger than the radius of curvature of the corrugated fins defining the inner curved portion, the liquid flows smoothly between the inner curved portion and the outer curved portion. It flows and suppresses the occurrence of unnecessary turbulence. That is, an unnecessary increase in pressure loss can be suppressed. According to the above cooler, both high cooling performance and low pressure loss can be achieved.

Details and further improvements of the technique disclosed in this specification are described in the following "Mode for Carrying Out the Invention".

1 is a perspective view of a stacked unit utilizing example coolers. FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a laminated unit; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the interior of the cooler of the embodiment taken along the III plane (Fig. 1); FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the interior of the cooler of the embodiment taken along plane IV (FIG. 1). FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the interior of a modified cooler taken along the III plane (FIG. 1);

A cooler 10 of an embodiment will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cooler 10 is used, for example, to alternately stack the semiconductor modules 2 and coolers 10 to form a stacked unit 100 . In FIG. 1 only some coolers are labeled with reference number 10, but there is no difference between coolers with reference number 10 and coolers without reference number 10. . Similarly, only some semiconductor modules are labeled with reference number 2, but there is no difference between semiconductor modules with reference number 2 and semiconductor modules without reference number 2. FIG. The lamination unit 100 constitutes, for example, a power converter mounted on an electric vehicle. In addition, the cooler 10 of the present embodiment is not limited to the laminated unit 100 constituting the power conversion device described above, and can be used as a cooler for various purposes.

The semiconductor module 2 incorporates semiconductor elements that play a role of power conversion, and when current flows through these semiconductor elements, the semiconductor elements generate heat. That is, the semiconductor module 2 generates heat.

The cooler 10 is of a flat plate type and has two wide faces 12 having the largest areas among the plurality of sides. The cooler 10 is made of a material with excellent thermal conductivity, such as copper or aluminum. Inside the cooler 10, a coolant channel 16 is formed through which a liquid coolant flows. The stack unit 100 also includes a coolant introduction pipe 4a into which coolant is introduced and a coolant discharge pipe 4b from which the coolant is discharged. The coolant flows in the Y-axis direction from the coolant introduction pipe 4a toward the coolant discharge pipe 4b in the coolant channel 16 as indicated by the thick arrow. The coolant is typically water or LLC (Long Life Coolant). Although details will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, fins 14 are arranged inside the cooler 10 . The fin 14 has a corrugated cross-sectional shape when viewed in the X-axis direction. The fins 14 divide the coolant channel 16 into a plurality of divided channels 16a (see FIG. 4) extending along the inner surface 12b of the wide surface 12 (see FIG. 2). The wave-shaped fins 14 meander each divided flow path 16a.

The coolers 10 and the semiconductor modules 2 are alternately stacked such that the outer surface 12a (see FIG. 2) of one wide surface 12 of the cooler 10 faces the wide surface (reference numerals omitted) of the semiconductor modules 2. As shown in FIG. A detailed description of the semiconductor module 2 is omitted. When the coolant passes through the coolant channel 16 inside the cooler 10 , it can absorb the heat generated in the facing semiconductor modules 2 and cool the semiconductor modules 2 .

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the flow of coolant in the fins 14 and the coolant passages 16 will be described. 3 is a cross-sectional view of cooler 10 in plane III of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of cooler 10 in plane IV of FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the cooler 10 on the XZ plane, and FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the cooler 10 on the YZ plane. Arrows in FIG. 4 indicate the flow of the coolant.

The cooler 10 has fins 14 inside it. The fin 14 has a substantially rectangular cross-sectional view on the XZ plane as shown in FIG. 3, and a wave-shaped cross-sectional view on the YZ plane as shown in FIG. A fin having a wavy cross-sectional view on the YZ plane is hereinafter sometimes referred to as a “wavy fin”. The fins 14 increase the contact area between the coolant and the fins 14 , improving the cooling performance of the semiconductor module 2 . The fins 14 are fixed to the cooler 10 by, for example, brazing.

The fins 14 divide the coolant channel 16 into a plurality of divided channels 16a. Each divided channel 16a extends in the Y-axis direction. In addition, since the cross-sectional view of the fins 14 on the YZ plane has a corrugated shape, each divided flow path 16a meanders. That is, the coolant flowing through each divided flow path 16a meanders. As a result, the contact area between the coolant and the fins 14 is increased compared to the comparative example in which the divided flow paths do not meander, so the cooling performance of the semiconductor module 2 is improved.

On the other hand, in a cooler having such corrugated fins, the refrigerant flows meanderingly along the meandering divided flow paths. There was a possibility that the loss would be high.

Therefore, in the fins 14 of this specification, the radius of curvature of the fins 14 defining the outer curved portion 14a of each meandering divided channel 16a is larger than the radius of curvature of the fins 14 defining the inner curved portion 14b. . That is, the outer curved portion 14a is designed to have a gentler curve than the inner curved portion 14b.

According to the above configuration, the coolant flowing through the cooler 10 meanders while continuously changing its flow direction between the outer curved portion 14a and the inner curved portion 14b. Since the radius of curvature of the fins 14 defining the outer curved portion 14a is larger than the radius of curvature of the fins 14 defining the inner curved portion 14b, the coolant flows between the outer curved portion 14a and the inner curved portion 14b. It flows smoothly and suppresses the occurrence of unnecessary turbulence in the flow of the refrigerant. That is, an unnecessary increase in pressure loss can be suppressed. Therefore, the cooler 10 of this embodiment can achieve both high cooling performance and low pressure loss.

In addition, with the above configuration, it is possible to suppress unevenness in the flow velocity distribution of the refrigerant. That is, heat can be efficiently transferred at any point on the contact surface between the coolant and the fins 14, and a cooler with high cooling performance can be realized.

(Modification) The cross-sectional view of the fin 14 on the YZ plane is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the cross-sectional view of the fin 14 in the YZ plane is zigzag as a whole, smoothly curved in the vicinity of the cusps, and defines the outer curved portion 14a of the fin 14. The shape may be such that the radius of curvature of the portion is greater than the radius of curvature of the portion defining the inner curved portion 14b of the fin 14 . In other words, the radius of curvature of the portion defining the outer curved portion 14a of the fin 14 should be larger than the radius of curvature of the portion defining the inner curved portion 14b of the fin 14 .

Points to note regarding the technology described in this embodiment will be described. The semiconductor module 2 corresponds to an example of a "heat generating element". The wide surface 12 of the cooler 10 corresponds to an example of a "contact plate". The outer surface 12a of the wide surface 12 corresponds to an example of "the outer surface of the contact plate". The inner surface 12b of the wide surface 12 corresponds to an example of "the inner surface of the contact plate". The coolant channel 16 corresponds to an example of a "liquid channel".

Although specific examples of the technology disclosed in this specification have been described above in detail, these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and changes of the specific examples illustrated above. The technical elements described in this specification or in the drawings exhibit technical usefulness alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. In addition, the techniques exemplified in this specification or drawings can simultaneously achieve a plurality of purposes, and achieving one of them has technical utility in itself.

2: Semiconductor module 4a: Coolant introduction pipe 4b: Coolant discharge pipe 10: Cooler 12: Wide surface 12a: Wide surface outer surface 12b: Wide surface inner surface 14: Fins 16: Coolant channel 16a: Split channel 100: Lamination unit

Claims (1)

A contact plate is provided, and a liquid channel is formed on the inner surface side of the contact plate. When a heating element is brought into contact with the outer surface of the contact plate, heat from the heating element is transferred to the liquid through the liquid channel. is a cooler that transfers heat to
A corrugated fin is arranged on the inner surface of the contact plate to divide the liquid flow path into a plurality of divided flow paths extending along the contact plate and meander each divided flow path,
A cooler, wherein the radius of curvature of the corrugated fins defining the outer curvature of each meandering subchannel is greater than the radius of curvature of the corrugated fins defining the inner curvature.

Images