JPH09326580A - Heating element cooling structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively release the heat generated by a highly heat generating element to a heat releasing section by attaching a heat releasing section comprising a fan to an external wall of an electronic apparatus mounting a highly heat generating element and thermally coupling the highly heat generating element and heat releasing section with a heat transfer section. SOLUTION: A heat releasing section 4 comprising a fan 3 is mounted to an external wall of an electronic apparatus mounting a highly heat generating element 1 to thermally couple the highly heat generating element 1 and heat releasing section 4 with a heat transfer section 5. Heat generated by the highly heat generating element 1 is transferred to the heat releasing section 4 mounted on the external wall of the electronic apparatus via the heat transfer section 5. The heat releasing section 4 comprises a fan 3 and temperature rise at the heat releasing section 4 is forcibly lowered by air with the fan 3. The heat transfer section 5 is formed of a material having good heat conductivity. It is preferable to use a heat pipe 50 having very good heat conductivity. In this case, a contact member 50b having good conductivity is loaded to the contact area with the heat releasing section 4 or highly heat generating element 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating element cooling structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the amount of heat generated by mounted elements has been gradually increasing with the increase in the processing capacity of portable information processing devices such as laptop computers. In order to satisfy the demand, it is not possible to adopt a method of cooling a heat generating element by disposing a large fan device or the like in the device like a medium or large size information processing device.

As one of the methods for solving such a problem, as shown in FIG. 10, there has been proposed one in which a heat dissipation portion 4 is provided outside the device to increase a heat dissipation area.

In FIG. 10, 2 is a notebook computer,
Reference numeral 20 is a device body having a keyboard matrix arranged on its surface, 1 is a heating element such as a CPU mounted on a mounting substrate 20a housed in the device body 20, and 21 is the device body 20.
A display unit such as an LCD that is rotatably connected to the display unit.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a heat radiating section arranged on the back surface of the display section 21. The high heat generating element 1 and the heat radiating section 4 are thermally connected by a heat transfer section 5, so that the high heat generating element 1 does not generate heat. The heat is transferred to the heat dissipation section 4 via the heat transfer section 5,
Heat is radiated from the high heat generating element 1 to cool it.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the heat dissipation in the heat dissipation part 4 is carried out by natural heat dissipation, the temperature rise in the heat dissipation part 4 due to the heat transfer from the high heat generating element 1. As a result, the display section 7 is warmed up as a result, and the temperature of the display element such as LCD rises.

Further, even in the desktop type information processing apparatus, there is a problem that the output of the built-in cooling fan is forced to increase due to the increase in the amount of heat generated by the high heat generating element 1 on the mounting board, and the noise increases. There is.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. After the heat generated from the high heat generating element 1 is guided to the heat radiating section 4 which is once installed at a predetermined position, the heat radiating section 4 efficiently operates. An object of the present invention is to provide a cooling structure for a high heat generating element that improves the cooling efficiency of the high heat generating element 1 by radiating heat.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the above object is to attach a heat radiating portion 4 incorporating a fan device 3 to the outer wall of an electronic device 2 having a high heat generating element 1 mounted thereon. This is achieved by providing a cooling structure for the high heat-generating element 1 in which the heat-dissipating portion 4 and the heat-dissipating portion 4 are thermally connected.

In the present invention, the heat generated from the high heat generating element 1 is transferred to the heat radiating section 4 attached to the outer wall of the electronic device 2 via the heat transfer section 5. The fan unit 3 is incorporated in the heat dissipation unit 4, and the temperature rise in the heat dissipation unit 4 is forcedly cooled by the fan unit 3.

The heat transfer section 5 is made of a material having a good heat conductivity such as aluminum, and preferably a heat pipe having a very good heat conductivity is used. When the heat pipe 50 is used for the heat transfer section 5, the heat pipe 50
In general, since a pipe body having an equal cross section can be processed only by crushing at the end portion, the heat dissipation portion 4 or the contact portion with the high heat generating element 1 is formed of a material having good heat conductivity such as aluminum. It is desirable to mount the contact members 50a and 50b (see FIG. 2).

According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, there is provided a cooling structure which is effective for the portable information processing 2 including the display unit 21 which is rotatable such as a notebook computer. That is, in the invention described in claim 2, the heat radiating portion 4 is attached to the side wall portion of the apparatus body 20, and the heat radiating portion 4 and the high heat generating element 1 are heated by the heat transfer portion 5 as in the invention described in claim 1. Are linked together.

The fan unit 3 incorporated in the heat dissipation section 4 is
As shown by the arrow in FIG. 1A, the apparatus main body 20 is arranged so as to inhale from the front side and exhaust to the rear side, and it is possible to prevent the operator from being made uncomfortable by blowing cooling air.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3, the heat radiating portion 4 is attached to the rear wall of the display portion 21, and the cooling air is rotated by the display portion 21 as shown by an arrow in FIG. 7 (a). Blows from the base end side to the opposite edge, that is, the upper end side.

In claim 4, a cooling structure suitable for a desktop type information processing apparatus is proposed. That is, in the invention according to claim 4, the heat dissipation portion 4 is the electronic device housing 2
3 is attached to the option slot 24 arranged in 3.
The heat dissipation part 4 is connected to the mother board like other option boards mounted in the option slots 24, and is thermally connected to the high heat generating element 1 by the heat transfer part 5 in the connected state.

By disposing the heat radiating section 4 in the option slot 24, the temperature rise of the case 23 due to the warm air from the heat radiating section 4 flowing into the case 23 is prevented, and the outside air is directly used as cooling air. Since it can be used, cooling efficiency can be improved.

The heat dissipating section 4 may be fixed in advance to the apparatus main body 20, the display section 21 or the like, but as proposed in claim 5, it is detachable via the heat transfer coupler 6. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the volume during transportation and storage, and also improve the mounting efficiency.

The heat transfer coupler 6 can be obtained by mechanically connecting materials having good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, so that the amount of heat transfer in the connecting portion does not decrease.

The power source of the fan device 3 according to each of the above claims can be taken from its own input section, but it is desirable to take it from the electronic device 2 side to which the heat dissipation section 4 is connected. As suggested in Section 6,
By incorporating the power supply terminal 60 in the heat transfer coupler 6,
Power is also supplied at the same time when the heat radiating unit 4 is connected, which improves operability.

As the fan device 3 according to each of the above-mentioned claims, a so-called axial flow fan that sends cooling air along the rotation axis of the rotary blade 30 can be used, but as described in claim 7. It is also possible to use one having the intake direction and the exhaust direction on the tangent to a circle centering on the rotation axis of the rotary blades 30, 30 ...

The fan device 3 is different from the axial fan in that the air volume in the rotation direction is larger than the air volume in the direction parallel to the rotation axis. Generally, the shape of the rotor blade 30 is changed. It is possible to obtain, and the specific rotor blade 30 shape can be experimentally determined.

Further, in the invention described in claims 8 and 9, a modification that is particularly effective when the electronic device 2 is battery-operated is provided. That is, in the invention according to claim 8, the heat dissipation portion 4 is provided with the display portion 7 for displaying the temperature of the high heat generating element 1 and the switch portion 8 for controlling the operation of the fan device 3.

The operator can know the temperature rise of the high heat generating element 1 on the display section 7, and when the display on the display section 7 is below the operable temperature of the high heat generating element 1, the switch section 8 It is possible to eliminate the operation noise of the fan device 3 by operating the to stop the operation of the fan device 3.

As the temperature detecting means of the high heat generating element 1, for example, as shown in FIG.
This can be achieved by mounting 0, and the display on the display unit 7 only needs to display whether or not the temperature of the high heat generating element 1 is within the allowable temperature by using an LED or the like.

The switch unit 8 may be a switch unit that controls the rotation speed of the fan unit 3 by using a variable resistor in addition to the ON / OFF switch. further,
In addition to manual operation, the switch section 8 can be configured to be turned off or adjusted according to the operating state of the device side, and as the operation determination information in the switch section 8, the high heat generating element 1 is used. In addition to the temperature information from, whether the device is operated by an external power source,
Alternatively, the battery remaining amount information or the like can be used.

When the CPU mounted in the apparatus has a plurality of modes, it is possible to make an automatic determination according to the operation mode of the CPU section as described in claim 9, and in this case, for example, the CPU section. It is possible to stop the operation of the fan device 3 when is in the sleep mode.

[0027]

1 and 2 show a notebook type personal computer to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 20 is the apparatus main body,
Reference numeral 21 denotes a display unit that is rotatably connected to the apparatus body 20, and 4 denotes a heat radiation unit that is mounted on a side wall of the apparatus body 20.

Reference numeral 20a denotes a mounting board housed in the apparatus main body 20, and the high heat generating element 1 and the heat radiating section 4 mounted on the mounting board 20a are thermally connected by the heat transfer section 5. The heat transfer section 5 has good thermal conductivity such that heat generated by the high heat generating element 1 can be quickly transferred to the heat dissipation section 4, and as shown in FIG. It is formed by fixing contact members 50a and 50b made of a material having good thermal conductivity such as aluminum on both ends.

Contact member 50b on the high heat generating element 1 side
Is a rectangular block body having substantially the same area as the heat sink surface of the high heat generating element 1, and is bonded to the heat sink surface with a heat transfer adhesive or the like.

The contact member 50a on the side of the heat radiating section 4 which is connected to the heat transfer coupler 6 will be described later.
Has a recess 51 into which the heat transfer pins 52, 52, ... And a power supply pin (not shown) project from the bottom wall of the recess 51.

The contact member 5 on the heat dissipating portion 4 side
0a is arranged so as not to be exposed on the surface of the housing by being arranged at a position slightly recessed from the outer wall 20b of the housing of the apparatus main body 20, and the contact member 50 heated by the user.
Care should be taken not to accidentally touch a.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the heat radiating section 4 has a heat radiating block 40 having a heat transfer coupler 6 protruding from the side thereof.
And a heat dissipation block 40 through a bearing portion (not shown)
Fan unit 3 whose shaft is pivotally supported by the heat dissipation block 40
And a cover body 41 that covers the.

The heat radiating block 40 is made of a material having excellent heat conductivity such as aluminum, a fan housing area 40a is formed on almost half of the surface, and a plurality of pin-shaped heat radiating fins 40b are formed in the remaining area. , 40b ... are erected.

The fan device 3 mounted in the fan storage area 40a includes a plurality of rotary blades 30 bent in the same direction.
By rotating 30 ... In the direction of the arrow shown by the solid line in FIG. 4 (a), the cooling air is blown substantially radially.

The two fan devices 3 are mounted in line symmetry with respect to the center line of the heat dissipation block 40, and the rotating blades 30 of each fan device 3 have the same blowing direction at the portions where the rotation loci approach. It is driven to rotate in the direction of.

Further, in FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 42 denotes a semicircular arc-shaped wall surface 42 provided so as to cover a substantially half-circumferential portion of the fan device 3 arranged to face each other, and the end portion of the rotor blade 30 and a circle. It is arranged close to the rotation locus of the rotary blade 30 so that the gap with the arc-shaped wall surface 42 becomes as narrow as possible.

In this embodiment, a heat pipe 50 having a flat cross section is inserted in the heat dissipation block 40 and the heat transfer coupler 6 so that the heat conductivity of the whole is improved. Heat pipe 50 to heat dissipation block 4
For example, the heat radiation block 40 or the like may be divided into upper and lower parts, and the heat pipe 50 may be sandwiched and fixed.

The heat transfer coupler 6 is configured to be connected to the contact member 50a of the heat transfer section 5 arranged in the apparatus body 20 when inserted into the insertion slot 22 on the apparatus body 20 side. In order to increase the contact area at the connecting portion between the heat transfer section 5 and the heat transfer coupler 6 to reduce the thermal resistance, the end surface of the heat transfer coupler 6 is provided with the heat transfer section 5 side at the time of mounting on the device body 20. .. into which the heat transfer pins 52, 52 ..

Further, the heat transfer coupler 6 is provided with contacts (power supply terminals 60) connected to the fan device 3 so as to be insulated from the surroundings, and the heat transfer coupler 6 is attached to the contact member 50a. When connected, power can be supplied from the device body 20 side to the fan device 3.

On the other hand, the cover body 41 is a member having a U-shaped cross section in which ventilation openings 41a for cooling air are formed in the front wall and the back wall, and is preferably made of synthetic resin or the like in order to prevent the temperature rise on the surface. The ceiling surface is fixed to the heat dissipation block 40 by screws.

Further, in order to prevent the heat transfer to the cover body 41 by reducing the contact area between the cover body 41 and the heat radiation block 40 as much as possible, the front wall of the cover body 41, the rear wall and the heat radiation block. A gap d is formed between the side wall of 40 (see FIG. 4A).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the heat radiation portion 4 is provided with a lock member 9. Lock member 9
Is provided so that the heat dissipating section 4 does not inadvertently detach from the apparatus main body 20, and the hook section 91 at the tip is mounted by operating the operation section 90 exposed from the side wall of the heat dissipating section 4. It is configured to engage with and disengage from the locking portion 92 fixed to 20a.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the rotary blades 30 of the fan units 3 and 3 are rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4A, the cooling air is as shown by the broken arrow in FIG. 4A. After being forcibly introduced into the heat radiating portion 4 from the ventilation opening 41a on the front side of the apparatus body 20, the heat radiating fins 40b,
The air is discharged from the ventilation openings 41a on the back side through the spaces 40b, and the heat dissipation block 40 is cooled on the way.

The operation of the fan unit 3 in the heat dissipation unit 4 can be automatically started by being supplied with power from the apparatus body 20 when connected to the apparatus body 20. It is also possible to operate the fan device 3 only when necessary.

FIG. 6 shows an example of such a configuration, in which the temperature sensor 10 is mounted on the contact member 50b on the high heat generating element 1 side, and the heat radiation section 4 has two LEDs 7a. , 7b and a variable resistor (switch unit 8) are arranged.

The permissible temperature information of the high heat generating element 1 is stored in a control circuit (not shown). The output from the temperature sensor 10 is compared with the permissible temperature information. For example, the green LED 7a is turned on, and when the allowable value is exceeded, the other (red) LE is emitted.
Turn on D7b.

The user operates the variable resistor 8 to drive the fan device 3 when the red LED 7b is lit, and stops the fan device 3 when the green LED 7a is lit. Then, the power consumption of the device body 20 can be suppressed to the minimum.

In the above description, two LEs are used.
Although the case where the D7a and 7b are used as the display unit 7 is shown, it is possible to display the temperature state by blinking one LED. When a variable resistor is used as the switch unit 8, the fan unit 3 is adjusted by adjusting the air volume.
It is also possible to adjust the driving sound of the above, but it is also possible to change to an ON / OFF switch that only cuts off the driving, and furthermore, without the user operating the switch section 8, CPU mode, etc. It can also be configured to automatically operate according to the operating state of the device.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the heat dissipating unit 4 is the display unit 21.
The high heat generating element 1 and the heat dissipating section 4 on the apparatus main body 20 side are thermally connected by the heat transfer section 5 by being mounted on the back wall of the device.

In the heat transfer section 5 according to this embodiment drawn out from the apparatus main body 20 to the display section 21, the apparatus main body side heat transfer section 5a and the display side heat transfer section 5b are formed of a material having good thermal conductivity. The hinge members 5c are connected so as to be capable of relative rotation.

On the other hand, the heat dissipating section 4 is detachably attached to the display section 21 via the heat transfer coupler 6 as in the above-described embodiment, but the heat dissipating section 4 in this embodiment operates the apparatus main body 20. 21 that does not hinder the display
Since it is attached to the back surface of the, it can be integrally formed in advance.

Further, as the fan device 3 incorporated in the heat radiating section 4, as in the above-described embodiment, a fan device that blows cooling air radially in the rotation direction of the rotary blades 30 is used. As shown by the arrow in FIG.
If the air is sucked from below and blown out upward, it is possible to prevent the exhaust air from the heat radiating unit 4 from being blown to the operator side after colliding with a desk or the like.

In this embodiment (not shown), it is of course possible to provide the heat radiating section 4 with the switch section 8 or the display section 7. 8 and 9 show still another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment shows a cooling structure effective for a desktop type information processing apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 23 is a housing, 24 is an option board mounting slot provided in the housing, and the option slot 24 The heat dissipation part 4 is mounted therein.

The heat dissipating section 4 includes a plurality of heat dissipating fins 40b, 4b.
0b and so on, a heat dissipation block 40, a cover body 41 that covers the upper surface of the heat dissipation block 40, and a cooling fan 3. The heat dissipation block 40 is formed on the motherboard 20a, A heat transfer coupler 6 that is connected to a contact member 50a formed at the end of the heat transfer section 5 for transferring the heat generated by the above to the vicinity of the option slot 24,
A power supply connector 43 for supplying power to the cooling fan 3 from the motherboard 20a is provided.

Further, the heat dissipation block 40 is formed with a partition 40c for separating the cooling flow and the exhaust flow. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the cooling fan 3 is driven, as shown by an arrow in FIG.
The outside air is forcibly introduced from the opening portion 44 that is opened toward the outside, passes through the radiating fins 40b, 40b, ..., Cools the radiating portion 4, and passes through another area defined by the partition 40c. The air is exhausted from the opening 44 to the outside of the housing.

[0056]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the heat generated inside the housing is once drawn to a position away from the heat generating portion such as outside the housing, and then forcedly cooled by the heat radiating portion. In addition, since the inside of the housing is not heated by the exhaust air in the heat radiating portion and the outside air can be directly taken in, the heat radiating effect is improved, and the cooling efficiency of the high heat generating element can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are views showing the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a side view and FIG. 1B is a view in the direction B of FIG.

2A and 2B are enlarged views of a main part of FIG. 1, where FIG. 2A is a view showing a connection state of a heat radiating portion, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a heat transfer coupler portion.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a heat dissipation unit.

4A and 4B are diagrams showing a heat radiating portion, FIG. 4A being a plan view and FIG. 4B being a side view.

5A and 5B are views showing a lock portion, FIG. 5A is a plan view, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a lock member.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display unit.

7A and 7B are views showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 7A is a side view and FIG. 7B is a view in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8 is a view showing still another embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is a rear view of an apparatus housing, (b) is a B direction arrow view of (a).

9A and 9B are views showing a heat radiating portion, FIG. 9A is a side view, and FIG. 9B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 9A.

10A and 10B are views showing a conventional example, in which FIG. 10A is a side view and FIG.
FIG. 3A is a view in the direction of arrow B in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 High heat generating element 2 Electronic device 20 Device main body 21 Display unit 3 Fan device 30 Rotor blade 4 Heat dissipation unit 5 Heat transfer unit 6 Heat transfer coupler 60 Power supply terminal 7 Display unit 8 Switch unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A heat-dissipating portion in which a heat-dissipating portion in which a fan device is incorporated is attached to an outer wall of an electronic device on which the high-heat-generating element is mounted, and the high-heat-generating element and the heat-dissipating portion are thermally connected by a heat transfer portion. Cooling structure. 2. A heat dissipating section in which a fan device is incorporated is attached to a side wall of a main body of an apparatus in which a display section is rotatably connected, and the high heat generating element and the heat dissipating section mounted in the main body of the apparatus are heat transfer sections. The heat generating element cooling structure is arranged such that the fan device is thermally connected to the fan device and is sucked from the front side of the device body and exhausted to the back side. 3. A heat dissipating section having a fan unit incorporated therein is attached to a rear wall of a display section rotatably connected to the apparatus main body, and heat is transferred between the high heat generating element and the heat dissipating section mounted in the apparatus main body. And a cooling device for the heating element, wherein the fan device is arranged so as to be thermally connected to each other and to be sucked from the rotation base end side of the display part and exhausted to the opposite edge side. 4. A heat radiating section in which a fan device is incorporated is attached to an option slot arranged in the electronic equipment casing, and the high heat generating element and the heat radiating portion in the electronic equipment casing are thermally connected by a heat transfer portion. Cooling structure for the heating element. 5. The cooling structure for a heating element according to claim 1, wherein the heat dissipation portion is detachably connected to the heat transfer portion via a heat transfer coupler. 6. The cooling structure for a heating element according to claim 5, wherein the heat transfer coupler is provided with a power supply terminal for supplying drive power to the fan device from the side of the device to which the heat dissipation part is connected. 7. The fan device has an intake direction and an exhaust direction on a tangent to a circle centered on a rotation axis of a rotary blade.
7. A cooling structure for a heating element according to any one of 6 to 6. 8. The cooling structure for a heat-generating element according to claim 1, wherein the heat-dissipating section includes a display section for displaying the temperature of the high-heat-generating element and a switch section for controlling the operation of the fan device. . 9. The heating element cooling structure according to claim 8, wherein the switch section is switched according to a mode of a CPU section in the electronic device.