FLEXIBLE FINNED HEAT EXCHANGER

摘要

A heat exchanger 36 for cooling an array of electric circuit chips 22 disposed on a common substrate 24 is formed as a flexible sheet 38 of thermally conducting material with upstanding fins 40 for transference of heat from the chips to a coolant flowing through the fins. The sheet may be provided with corrugations 44 set between sites of the chips for improved flexibility to accommodate individual orientations of the chips. The sheet is sufficiently large to cover an array of chips and is secured adheringly, as by use of a thermally conductive grease, to the chips. The sheet hermetically seals the chips from contamination by the coolant. The heat exchanger may be fabricated of copper with a nickel coating, wherein the copper provides the heat conduction and the nickel protects the copper from a corrosive coolant such as water. The finned sheet may be efficiently fabricated by processes analogous to those used to make printed circuits. In one embodiment of the heat exchanger, the fin thickness, the fin spacing and the sheet thickness are all approximately equal, a typical sheet thickness being approximately 0.05 mm.