nLIGHT has filed a patent for a heat sink with removable inserts that can remove heat from laser diodes. The inserts have fins made of a composite material with high thermal conductivity. The heat sink body can be filled with a cooling fluid, and the removable insert seals the body to prevent the fluid from escaping. GlobalData’s report on nLIGHT gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on nLIGHT, welding robots was a key innovation area identified from patents. nLIGHT's grant share as of September 2023 was 44%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Heat sink with removable inserts for laser diode cooling
A recently filed patent (Publication Number: US20230304750A1) describes a heat sink designed to remove heat from laser diodes. The heat sink consists of a heat sink body that can be filled with a cooling fluid and includes a cavity. A removable insert is placed within the cavity and includes a mounting plate with a first side that couples with the laser diode and a second side that is coupled with a plurality of fins made of a composite material with a high thermal conductivity of over 200 Watts per meter-Kelvin (W/m-K). When the removable insert is placed within the cavity, the mounting plate seals the heat sink body, preventing the cooling liquid from exiting the cavity.
The composite material used for the fins can include copper and diamond, aluminum and diamond, or aluminum and graphite. The mounting plate can be made of ceramic, diamond, copper, aluminum, graphite, or a material that includes copper and diamond. The fins, when coupled with the heat sink body, form channels through which the cooling fluid can flow. The mounting plate is designed to couple with between 1 and 20 laser diodes, and the laser diode itself can produce between 1 and 100 Watts (W) of power.
Another embodiment of the heat sink includes a heat sink body filled with a cooling fluid and at least one cavity. A removable insert is placed within the cavity and includes a mounting plate with a first side that couples with the laser diode and a second side that is coupled with a plurality of fins made of a composite material. The fins define at least one channel through which the cooling fluid can flow when the removable insert is positioned within the cavity. The composite material used for the fins has a thermal conductivity of at least 200 W/m-K.
An apparatus is also described, which includes the heat sink described above and at least one laser diode coupled with the mounting plate. The removable insert has specific dimensions, with a length between 10 and 150 millimeters (mm), a width between 5 and 25 mm, and a height between 1 and 5 mm. The composite material used for the fins is different from the material of the mounting plate.
Overall, this patent describes a heat sink design that efficiently removes heat from laser diodes using a cooling fluid and a composite material with high thermal conductivity. The design allows for the coupling of multiple laser diodes and provides channels for the cooling fluid to flow, ensuring effective heat dissipation.
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GlobalData Patent Analytics tracks bibliographic data, legal events data, point in time patent ownerships, and backward and forward citations from global patenting offices. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
