Plasma cooling heat sink

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention uses plasma-driven gas flow to cool down electronic devices. The cooling device comprises heat sink fin assembly, plasma actuator assembly, and magnetic circuit assembly. The plasma actuator assembly comprises electrodes and dielectric pieces. Voltages are applied to electrodes to drive the plasma gas flow. The magnetic circuit assembly provides magnetic field to interact with electrical field and plasma flow, and therefore an induced gas flow is pumped into, or pumped out from, heat sink fin assembly, to cool down heat sink fins.

1 . A method and apparatus for cooling electronic devices, comprising:
 a plurality of heat sink fins forming a heat sink fin assembly;   a magnetic circuit assembly;   a plasma actuator assembly;   
   
   
       2 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the magnetic circuit assembly and plasma actuator are coupled to heat sink fin assembly, and the magnetic circuit assembly and plasma actuator assembly may be at the inlet, outlet, or any locations of the heat sink fin assembly; 
   
   
       3 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma actuator assembly comprising a plurality of plasma actuators, and plasma actuators comprising electrodes and dielectric pieces; 
   
   
       4 . The cooling device of  claim 3 , appropriate voltages can be applied to the electrodes on the plasma actuators to induce a gas to flow into or to flow out of heat sink fin assembly, and therefore remove the heat from heat sink fins surface; 
   
   
       5 . The cooling device of  claim 4 , wherein the applied voltages to electrodes can be DC or AC, steady or transient, fixed or varied amplitude, fixed or varied frequency, with or without phase shift difference, and may have different waveforms; 
   
   
       6 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma actuator assembly may be powered and controlled by power suppliers and controllers, and all plasma actuators on the plasma actuator assembly may be powered all together, or each plasma actuator on the plasma actuator assembly may be powered and controlled individually, to cool down the heat sink fin assembly; 
   
   
       7 . The cooling device of  claim 3 , wherein the electrodes may have varied patterns, and the patterns may have varied geometry, and the relative relocations among electrodes and patterns may be varied; 
   
   
       8 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the heat sink fin assembly and plasma actuator assembly may have varied configurations; and the configurations may be used, to push the gas into heat sink fin assembly; 
   
   
       9 . The cooling device of  claim 5 , wherein the applied voltages on the electrodes may be arranged to induce a traveling plasma wave, and the traveling plasma wave may be used to push the gas into heat sink fin assembly, and to push the gas out from heat sink fin assembly; 
   
   
       10 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the magnetic circuit assembly comprising yokes and magnets, and the yokes and magnets may have varied configurations; 
   
   
       11 . The cooling device of  claim 10 , wherein the yokes and magnets may have varied geometry, varied grade, varied materials compositions, varied magnetization orientation, and varied relative locations; 
   
   
       12 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the cooling apparatus may couple to heat source directly, or couple to heat source through heat transferring pipes and attachment components; 
   
   
       13 . The cooling device of  claim 12 , wherein the transferring pipe may be heat pipe, liquid cooling pipe, refrigeration cooling pipe, or other heat transferring pipe; 
   
   
       14 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , further may comprises thermal sensors coupled to heat sink fin assembly, wherein the thermal sensors are operable to measure the temperatures on heat sink fin assembly, and based on the measured temperatures, the power supplier and controller can command plasma actuators to adjust the cooling rate accordingly; 
   
   
       15 . The cooling device of  claim 1 , wherein the magnetic circuit assembly is to provide a magnetic field, and wherein the magnetic circuit can be made of permanent magnets or electromagnets; 
   
   
       16 . The apparatus for cooling an electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma actuator assembly may comprise a plurality of electrode traces populated on a dielectric layer and couple to a heat sink base. 
   
   
       17 . The apparatus for cooling an electronic device of  claim 16 , wherein the electrode traces may have sharp electrodes populated on them. 
   
   
       18 . The apparatus for cooling an electronic device of  claim 16 , the voltages applied to the electrode traces may be varied to induce the ions flow to flow in-plane and out-of-plane directions, and therefore cooling down the heat source. 
   
   
       19 . The apparatus for cooling an electronic device of  claim 16 , wherein the electrode traces may be located at the entrance, at the exit, or at any location inside the heat sink assembly. 
   
   
       20 . The apparatus for cooling an electronic device of  claim 16 , the heat sink fins may have varied configurations, and the electrode traces may have varied layout populated on the dielectric layer.