Patent ID: 8289710

Claim:
A thermal interface system between an electronic component and an electronic component chassis, the system comprising: a first heat exchanger associated with the electronic component, wherein the electronic component is a microprocessor, an integrated circuit, an electronic server, a rack server, or a blade server having one or more heat generating objects; a second heat exchanger associated with the chassis and aligned to interface with the first heat exchanger when the electronic component is housed in the chassis; and a thermal contact mechanism that selectively applies pressure between the first and second heat exchangers to engage the first and second heat exchangers in thermal communication, and wherein the mechanism isolates the pressure applied between the first and second heat exchangers from the electronic component; wherein the electronic component is configured to be inserted into the chassis along an insertion vector, and wherein the interface between the first and second heat exchangers is substantially parallel to the insertion vector; and wherein the pressure applied between the first and second heat exchangers is applied substantially perpendicular to the insertion vector.