1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling assembly which may be embodied as a two-phase evaporator-type cooling plate having a sealed chamber containing a fluid in both liquid and gaseous phases, as a single-phase cooling plate having a chamber through which a fluid in the liquid phase is circulated, or as a pumped cooling plate having an inlet which receives liquid and an outlet for vapor. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing cooling plates of these types.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cooling plate, as that term is used herein, refers to a component whose length and width are significantly larger than its thickness, and which is used to cool a heat source applied to one of its major surfaces. Cooling plates having a chamber containing a working fluid which assists in heat transfer are well known. The fluid may be present in both liquid and gaseous phases, or only in a liquid phase. It is important that the chamber be sealed so that neither liquid nor vapor are transferred to the surrounding environment, and so that ambient atmosphere is not admitted into the chamber, which could result in the loss of heat transfer properties.
Cooling plates of the prior art typically have a top and a bottom which are fixed together to form a chamber which contains the liquid and/or gas. Typically, one of the top and the bottom is a deep drawn stamping to which a flat plate is brazed or otherwise sealingly fixed to form the chamber. However the cost of tooling for a drawn part can be high, and is not justified for short runs or prototypes. Alternatively, the top and/or the bottom may be machined with a cavity to which the other part is fixed to form the chamber. This is labor intensive and results in large amounts of scrap, and can only be justified for prototypes.