Microsoft patents cooling frame for solid state drives
Microsoft has filed a patent for a specific frame design used to cool solid state drives (SSDs) in computers. The system uses a metal plate with parallel fins that create slots for the drives, helping to move heat away from the storage components.
In the filing’s own words
A cooling system for a set of solid state drive (SSD) modules includes a thermal mounting frame. The thermal mounting frame includes a thermal transfer plate, and a plurality of parallel fins that project outward from a first side of the thermal transfer plate along a length dimension. The first side of the thermal transfer plate in combination with each neighboring pair of fins of the plurality of parallel fins defines a slot that accommodates a corresponding SSD module of the set of SSD modules. The thermal transfer plate includes a plurality of parallel spines in which each spine projects into a core region of a corresponding fin of the plurality of parallel fins along a base portion of the length dimension of the fin. For each slot, each fin of the neighboring pair of fins that defines the slot includes an exterior thermal transfer layer.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A cooling system for a set of solid state drive (SSD) modules, the cooling system comprising: a thermal mounting frame that includes: a thermal transfer plate, and a plurality of parallel fins that project outward from a first side of the thermal transfer plate along a length dimension; and a heat exchanger located on a second side of the thermal transfer plate; wherein the first side of the thermal transfer plate in combination with each neighboring pair of fins of the plurality of parallel fins defines a slot that accommodates a corresponding SSD module of the set of SSD modules; wherein the thermal transfer plate includes a plurality of parallel spines in which each spine projects into a core region of a corresponding fin of the plurality of parallel fins along a base portion of the length dimension of the fin; wherein for each slot, each fin of the neighboring pair of fins that defines the slot includes an exterior thermal transfer layer located between the core region of the fin and the slot.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- COOLING SYSTEM FOR SOLID STATE DRIVES
- Publication number
- US20260319554A1
- Application number
- 19301704
- Filed
- Aug 15, 2025
- Published
- Oct 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 1/182 Physics & computingG06F 1/20 Physics & computingG06F 3/0601 Physics & computingG06F 2200/201 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.