Application of vapor chamber in data storage devices

    The growing demand for data storage and computing continues to push the limits of record density on storage devices. This leads to more equipment power consumption, resulting in more heat generation. The increase in heat may make the device prone to higher failure rates, therefore, one of the key issues for high-density storage devices is heat dissipation.

    Recently, Seagate Technology has released a patent application involving data storage devices and their passive cooling systems. The data storage device described in this patent includes a Vapor Chamber coupled to a printed circuit board and one or more heat pipes communicating with the working fluid of the soaking plate, which dissipates heat from the data storage device through the evaporation and condensation of two-phase liquids in the vapor chamber.

   The vapor chamber cooling system will cover at least 90% of the surface area of the printed circuit board, the vapor chamber and one or more connected heat pipes can cover at least 70% of the surface area of the data storage device casing. Seagate described the design principle of the cooling system in the patent: the vapor chamber serves as a thermal diffuser, which can evenly diffuse heat from hotspots in data storage devices (such as printed circuit boards), while one or more heat pipes connected to the vapor chamber can serve as heat sinks, transferring heat from the soaking plate to the cooler areas of the device casing.

  In addition, in the vapor chamber  cooling system, one or more heat pipes are connected to the evaporation chamber of the vapor chamber , with a thickness of less than 0.7mm. The vapor chamber and the extended thin heat pipe form an integrated two-phase cooling system, and its heat transfer efficiency is significantly higher than the cooling module formed by welding and assembling individual heat pipes with the vapor chamber .