JPH10261884A - Cooling structure for information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce noise of a fan by cooling the inner heating parts of an information processor, e.g. a personal computer, through natural air cooling as much as possible. SOLUTION: An information processor 1 comprises a forced air cooling fan 3, a sensor 4 for sensing vertical setting, and a control circuit 5 for stopping the fan 3 when vertical setting is sensed by the sensor 4. In case of lateral setting, the fan 3 is actuated to perform forced air cooling of inner heating parts. In case of vertical setting, it is sensed by the sensor 4 and the fan 3 is stopped. Since the housing 2 has a limited bottom area and a high height, an updraft is generated remarkably in the housing 2 when the air is heated by the inner heating parts. Consequently, natural convection takes place easily to circulate the air through suction vents 7 at the lower part of the housing 2 and exhaust vents 8 thus air cooling the inner heating parts sufficiently through natural convection.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for cooling an internal heat generating portion in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a word processor, and more particularly to a method for cooling a desktop type information processing apparatus which can be horizontally or vertically installed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer,
A forced air cooling method using a fan is used as a cooling method for the internal heat-generating unit. Instead, a forced air cooling system using fans was adopted.

[0003]

In the conventional cooling method described above, since the fan operates regardless of whether it is placed horizontally or vertically, there is a problem that fan noise is always generated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to employ a natural air cooling system as much as possible to reduce the noise problem as much as possible.

[0005]

A cooling structure for an information processing apparatus according to the present invention, which solves the above-mentioned problems, has a housing and an internal structure which can be installed horizontally and vertically, and is provided inside the housing. A fan for forced air cooling, and a sensor for sensing when the information processing device is placed vertically,
A control circuit for stopping the fan by the detection of the sensor, and an intake ventilation hole and an exhaust ventilation hole provided at a position to be a lower side surface and a position to be an upper surface when the housing is placed vertically, respectively.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the outer shape of the housing in the first aspect has an asymmetric shape in which the distinction between the upper and lower sides is inevitably determined in both horizontal and vertical installations. Features.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the case of the substantially rectangular parallelepiped case according to the second aspect, a large radius is provided on a ridge portion on the upper surface side in both vertical and vertical installations to form an installation surface defining portion. It is characterized by the following.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given with reference to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of an information processing apparatus 1 such as a personal computer having a cooling structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a case where the information processing apparatus 1 is placed horizontally, and FIG. 2 shows a case where the information processing apparatus 1 is placed vertically.
This information processing device 1 is, as is apparent from FIGS.
It has a housing 2 and an internal structure that can be used both horizontally and vertically. In the illustrated example, A is the back surface of the information processing apparatus 1, B is the front surface, C is the bottom surface in the horizontal installation, D is the bottom surface in the vertical installation, E is the upper surface in the horizontal installation, and F is the upper surface in the vertical installation. It is. The outer shape of the substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 2 is such that a significantly large radius is applied to the ridge portion on the upper surface side in both the vertical and vertical installations, and the curved surface of the large radius is defined as an installation surface. Section 6 That is,
Since it is apparent at first glance that the installation surface defining portion 6 of this remarkably large radius is on the lower surface is inappropriate, such an erroneous installation is not considered. The information processing apparatus 1 includes a forced air cooling fan 3 and a sensor 4 that senses the information processing apparatus 1 when the information processing apparatus 1 is placed vertically, as shown in a fanter stop circuit 10 in FIG. The fan (fan motor) 3 is detected by the sensor 4.
And a control circuit 5 for stopping the operation. Further, the casing 2 is provided with an intake vent hole 7 at a position which is lower than the upper surface E in the horizontal installation and a vertical installation, and an exhaust ventilation hole 8 in the upper surface F in the vertical installation. A portion of the housing 2 facing the fan 3 is provided with an air inlet 9 for forced air cooling. The arrangement of the intake ventilation hole 7 and the exhaust ventilation hole 8 is such that when the air is heated by the internal heat generating portion and the upward flow is generated during vertical installation, the air enters through the intake ventilation hole 7 and exits through the upper exhaust ventilation hole 8. It is arranged to promote natural convection. The sensor 4
Is to detect this in the vertical posture shown in FIG. 2, but the operation principle is arbitrary and various types can be considered. A switch having a plunger-type actuator that protrudes and retracts on the lower surface D in the vertical installation may be used.

When the information processing apparatus 1 is placed horizontally as shown in FIG. 1, the fan 3 operates to perform forced air cooling as in the conventional information processing apparatus. In the arrangement of the fan 3, the air intake 9 and the intake vent 7 as in the embodiment, the intake vent 7 functions as an exhaust vent during forced air cooling. That is, the air enters through the air intake 9 by the suction force of the fan 3, air-cools the internal heat generating portion, and flows out through the exhaust ventilation hole 8 and the intake ventilation hole 7. When the information processing apparatus 1 is placed vertically as shown in FIG.
Detects that it is set vertically and stops the fan 3 based on a signal from the sensor 4. In this case, the air heated by the internal heat generating portion rises, so that the air entering from the lower intake ventilation hole 7 (and the air intake 9) rises and natural convection from the upper exhaust ventilation hole 8 easily occurs. Occurs
Due to this natural convection, the internal heat generating portion is air-cooled.

In the case of the horizontal installation, since the bottom area of the housing 2 is large and the height is low, natural convection flowing in the housing 2 in a certain direction hardly occurs even when air is heated by the internal heat generating portion. However, the heated air stagnates, which requires forced air cooling as described above. However, in the case of the vertical installation, since the bottom area of the housing 2 is small and the height is high, the air heated by the internal heat generating portion tends to be a remarkable upward flow.
As described above, the air enters through the lower intake ventilation hole 7 (and the air intake 9), rises in the housing 2, and easily generates natural convection exiting from the upper exhaust ventilation hole 8, and the natural convection generates heat inside. The part is air-cooled sufficiently. Therefore, there is no problem in stopping the fan 3 at the time of the vertical installation, and at least the problem of the noise of the fan 3 at the time of the vertical installation is solved.

The air intake ventilation holes provided in the housing are not limited to the arrangement as in the embodiment, but may be provided at a lower position when the front or rear surface of the housing is placed vertically. In short, it suffices if it is located at the lower part of the side surface when it is placed vertically.

[0012]

According to the present invention, the forced air cooling by the fan is conventionally performed at the time of the horizontal installation where natural convection is hardly generated, and the fan is automatically turned on at the time of the vertical installation where the air enters from the lower part and the natural convection from the upper part easily occurs. Since the operation is stopped, the problem of the noise of the fan is eliminated at least when the apparatus is placed vertically. Therefore, the user can select whether to give priority to the advantage of not generating the noise of the fan, or to give priority to the advantage of some horizontal arrangement such as layout on the noise. The fan is turned on and off automatically by the sensor, rather than manually by the operator.The fan always operates when it is placed horizontally, so the fan stops when it is placed horizontally and forced air cooling is required. The problem does not arise.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cooling structure of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing the information processing apparatus installed horizontally.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the information processing apparatus of FIG. 1 in a vertically placed state.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a fan stop circuit in the information processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 2 Housing 3 Fan 4 Sensor 5 Control circuit 6 Installation surface regulation part 7 Intake ventilation hole 8 Exhaust ventilation hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] The present invention has a housing and an internal structure capable of both horizontal installation and vertical installation, and a fan for forced air cooling provided in the housing, and a fan when the information processing apparatus is vertically installed. , A control circuit for stopping the fan by sensing the sensor, and an intake vent and an exhaust vent provided respectively at a position to be a lower side surface and a position to be an upper surface when the housing is placed vertically. A cooling structure for an information processing device, characterized in that: 2. The housing according to claim 1, wherein an outer shape of the housing is asymmetric such that a distinction between upper and lower sides is inevitably determined in both horizontal and vertical installations. 2. The cooling structure of the information processing device according to 1. 3. A substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing, in which a large radius is provided at a ridge portion on an upper surface side in both a vertical installation and a vertical installation to form an installation surface defining portion. 2. The cooling structure of the information processing apparatus according to 2.