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EP-4434471-B1 - HEAT-DISSIPATING ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEDICAL DEVICES AND ASSOCIATED DEVICES, AND SYSTEMS

EP4434471B1EP 4434471 B1EP4434471 B1EP 4434471B1EP-4434471-B1

Inventors

  • EDAVANA, ROOPESH
  • VAN GILS, ROB WILHELMUS

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20210323

Claims (15)

  1. A device for medical imaging, comprising: a printed circuit board (435) associated with obtaining intraluminal medical images of a patient; and an enclosure (310) comprising a patient interface module housing configured to be connected to an intraluminal imaging device, wherein the printed circuit board is disposed within the enclosure, wherein the enclosure is configured to disperse heat generated by the printed circuit board, wherein the enclosure comprises: a first heat spreader (820) coupled to and in thermal contact with the printed circuit board; a second heat spreader (610) in thermal contact with the first heat spreader at an interface such that the heat is distributed between the first heat spreader and the second heat spreader across the interface; a first cover portion (320) coupled to and in thermal contact with the first heat spreader; a second cover portion (330) coupled to and in thermal contact with the second heat spreader, and wherein the first cover portion is coupled to the second cover portion to form the enclosure.
  2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device for medical imaging is a patient interface module (104) for an intraluminal imaging system.
  3. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first heat spreader is thermally coupled to the printed circuit board by at least one of conductive protrusions, conductive fasteners, or conductive thermal gap pads.
  4. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one of the first heat spreader or the second heat spreader comprises a thermally conductive material.
  5. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first heat spreader comprises a heat pipe or a vapor chamber.
  6. The device of claim 5, wherein the second heat spreader comprises a heat sink.
  7. The device of claim 6, further comprising a ventilated enclosure separably coupled to the enclosure, wherein the heat sink is enclosed within the ventilated enclosure.
  8. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first cover portion or the second cover portion comprises a material with a higher emissivity and a lower thermal conductivity than the first and second heat spreaders.
  9. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one heat spreader is coupled to at least one cover portion by a thermally conductive adhesive, and wherein a shape of the at least one heat spreader matches a shape of the at least one cover portion to maximize a thermal contact area.
  10. The device of claim 1, further comprising a gasket between the first cover portion and the second cover portion, wherein the first cover portion is coupled to the second cover portion by a plurality of fasteners.
  11. The device of claim 1, wherein the printed circuit board comprises: at least one connector; and a plurality of electronic components; wherein the first heat spreader is coupled to the printed circuit board by thermal gap pads on at least some of the electronic components, wherein the thermal gap pads are in contact with conductive protrusions formed into a surface of the first heat spreader.
  12. The device of claim 11, wherein the enclosure comprises openings for the at least one connector.
  13. The device of claim 11, wherein the first heat spreader, the second heat spreader, the first cover portion, and the second cover portion are configured such that during operation of the printed circuit board, a surface temperature of the enclosure is below a threshold value.
  14. The device of claim 1, wherein the first heat spreader is coupled to the second heat spreader by a lip and a groove.
  15. A medical imaging system, comprising: a device for medical imaging according to any of the preceding claims; and the intraluminal imaging device.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The subject matter described herein relates to dissipating heat from electronic medical devices that may be positioned near a patient. The disclosed system provides devices, systems, and methods that dissipate heat from a patient interface module (PIM) in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging. BACKGROUND Ultrasound imaging involves the use of multiple electronic components that, during operation, may come into direct contact with a patient, clinician, or other user. Some devices are handheld and/or intended to be positioned on or near a patient bed. Increasing demands for speed and reliability, along with miniaturization of components and the use of increasingly powerful processors, means that modern handheld devices and other devices are becoming energy intensive, while simultaneously being packaged into smaller and smaller volumes. A larger enclosure generally sheds heat more effectively, as it has a larger surface area, whereas smaller devices may shed heat less effectively, thereby retaining more heat and thus, in general, may operate at higher temperatures. The demand or requirement to seal these devices to prevent fluid and particle ingress means that traditional passive or active ventilation systems may not be available for device cooling. At the same time, it may still be desirable to maintain the temperature of the device below a threshold to ensure safety, comfort, and/or device longevity, and where requirements exist as to the maximum surface temperatures such devices are permitted to achieve. This creates substantial challenges for thermal management of handheld or patient-proximate medical devices, and other devices. One way this problem has been addressed is through use of an external fan. However, this approach may be unsuitable for medical devices used in a sterile environment, as the fans and ventilation ports collect dust and particles which can harbor bacteria and other infection-causing organisms. The heat transfer efficiency also depends on the orientation of the device, which can limit the utility of devices in a clinical environment. Another way heat management has been addressed in the past is through splitting the device. Many current generation and older generation device incorporate a split design approach to solve the thermal issues, providing one low-power device and one high-power device installed and kept far from sterile area, so that high speed fans can be used for thermal management. Unfortunately, splitting the functionality of the device in this way increases the cost of the device, decreases portability, and also takes away much-needed space in medical environments such as catheter labs, while also increasing overall service costs, as device operators may have to keep spares on hand for multiple modules. Lack of effective thermal management for medical devices has resulted in devices having limited service life. Devices with poor thermal management suffer faster degradation and shorter mean time between failures (MTBF), and are thus replaced more often. Ineffective heat dissipation from a device often means the device can fail before the usual or expected service life for similar devices, whereupon device manufacturers simply replace the failed device with a new or refurbished device (e.g., product warranty replacements). This adds substantial costs for the manufacturer, as well as down time for the user if a replacement device is not available immediately. Document US 2014/058270 A1 describes the thermal management of matrix array transducer probes with passive heat dissipation. Document US 2012/265077 A1 describes a patient interface module configured to be connected to an intraluminal ultrasound imaging device. The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded as subject matter by which the scope of the disclosure is to be bound. SUMMARY Disclosed is a system to manage and dissipate heat from a sealed, ingress-protected, thermoplastic portable medical device, or other portable electronic device, passively without the use of any external cooling. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a system may be referred to as a PIM thermal management system. Operating principles of the PIM thermal management system may include passive heat dissipation, passive cooling, natural convection cooling, radiative cooling, and/or heat spreading, and may provide heat dissipation through a plastic enclosure of a hand held medical device, or other electronic device. The present disclosure provides devices, systems, and methods for dissipating heat from hand held and portable devices that are sealed for ingress protection. This may involve either or both of (1) dissipating heat through a thermoplastic enclosure surface, or (2) heat transfer through a conduit to a protected passive heat si