Gregory D Allen

US Patent:

20180095481, Apr 5, 2018

Filed:

Jan 26, 2017

Appl. No.:

15/416498

Inventors:

- Cambridge MA, US
Gregory D. Allen - Somerville MA, US
Todd A. Thorsen - Carlisle MA, US
Boris G. Kharas - Needham MA, US
Donna-Ruth Webb Yost - Acton MA, US

International Classification:

G05D 23/01
H05K 7/20
F28D 15/00
F28D 21/00
F28F 13/00

Abstract:

Electrical and electromechanical devices often require maintaining a specific temperature, or a narrow range or temperatures, during operation. An assembly regulates the temperature of a device by providing a variable thermal resistance between the device and a heatsink. The device can be mounted to a base having a high thermal resistance, the base thermally isolating the device from the heatsink. At low environmental temperatures, the base enables the device to rise to its operating temperature as a result of the device's waste heat, and with no or minimal use of a heater. As the environmental temperature increases, a working fluid, having a low thermal resistance, undergoes thermal expansion to fill a portion of a volume in the base between the device and the heat sink, lowering the thermal resistance between the device and the heatsink to maintain the device at the required operating temperature.