Temperature Difference Sensor to Monitor the Temperature Difference in Processor Active Heat Sink Based on Thermopile

Piotr Marek Markowski,Mirosław Gierczak,Andrzej Dziedzic

doi:10.3390/electronics10121410

Piotr Marek Markowski, Mirosław Gierczak + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10121410

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Abstract

The monitoring of processor temperature is crucial to increase its efficiency. One of the novel approaches is use the information not only about the CPU (Central Processing Unit) thermal state, but also about changing environmental conditions. The additional temperature difference sensor to monitor thermal changes in the processor environment is necessary. The sensor dedicated for active heat sink, often used inside laptops, was designed, fabricated and investigated. To fulfill the requirements and to match to the specific shape of the active heat sink, the hybrid sensor was proposed. It was composed of six thermocouples and fabricated using thick-film and LTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic) technology combined with wire thermocouples. Thick-film/LTCC flat substrates with thermoelectric paths ensured good thermal contact between the sensor and the monitored surface. The thermoelectric wires allowed adjusting the sensor to the complicated shape of the active heatsink. Three different versions of the sensor were realized and compared. All of them seem to be suitable for measuring the temperature difference in the given application and they can be used in further works.

Highlights

This paper is a part of the research leading to developing a method to increase the efficiency of High Performance Processors (HPP) without interfering with their internal structure
Active heat sink is composed of two copper blocks
The “hot” junctions were assembled near the CPU (CPU_heat_sink in Figures 3a and 7b) on the copper block of the active heat sink

Summary

Introduction

This paper is a part of the research leading to developing a method to increase the efficiency of High Performance Processors (HPP) without interfering with their internal structure. The cooling fan generates forced convection conditions, which significantly increases the heat dissipation efficiency from the heat sink to the environment. The Peltier module requires a cooling fan on the “hot” side of the module to prevent its overheating. Forced circulation of the cooling liquid supports heat dissipation significantly. This is more effective than air cooling. Second block is placed near the housing edge and its task is to drain the heat outside the laptop. Both blocks are thermally connected by heat pipe channels—a tube filled with liquid. The liquid evaporates (near the CPU) and condenses (near the cooling fan) which is used for heat transfer (Figure 1)

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