JP3254756B2 - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to an electronic device having a housing cooled by an air cooling system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic device such as a computer, in order to effectively discharge a large amount of heat in a housing, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-82693, external air is introduced into the housing. In addition to the inflow means for inflowing the air and an exhaust fan for discharging the air flowing out of the housing, a plurality of flow paths are formed by providing a partition for branching the air flow. Also, in order to prevent a local temperature rise that occurs when the housing has a double structure for the purpose of dust prevention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
As described in JP-A-3-108800, a suction fan is provided. Further, an example in which a cooling fan unit type box having a slit hole is provided on the upstream side of the heat generating substrate to perform cooling is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-10495, Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No.
No. 492. In these conventional examples,
The board and the fan are integrally formed by a guide or the like.

[0003]

In the prior art described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-82693, since the position of the cooling fan is located at the upper part of the housing, the exhaust noise of the fan is generated as noise near the operator's ear. There was a problem of reaching near. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-108800 discloses that although dust resistance is taken into consideration, low-heat and high-heat components that are mixed in the housing are equally cooled with high performance. Was not enough. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. 62-10495 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 1-157492 disclose that the area of blowing cold air is changed in accordance with the degree of heat generation of the heating element of the printed circuit board. No consideration was given to the rise in wind temperature of the entire apparatus, nor was there taken into account the lack of cooling air when a cooling fan failed or the complexity of the flow path due to the high-density mounting of the housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the cooling performance of an electronic device having a heating element such as an IC chip or an LSI package, or an electronic device including this electronic device, a storage means, and a power supply to improve reliability. Another object of the present invention is to provide a low noise electronic device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above object is achieved by providing a suction surface.
CPU board and I / O inside a housing provided with holes and exhaust holes
A board is mounted, and an information storage unit is provided downstream of the CPU board.
A power supply unit, and an auxiliary power supply downstream of the I / O board.
In the electronic device equipped with a part, the intake hole and the exhaust hole
Formed by a shelf-like plate in the housing and a side plate of the housing
Before communicating the first flow path with the intake hole and the exhaust hole.
And a second flow path formed inside the shelf-like plate.
An axial flow for cooling the CPU substrate upstream of the first flow path;
A fan; and the information storage unit downstream of the CPU board.
A first once-through fan for cooling a power supply unit;
The I / O board is located upstream of the flow path, and the
A second cross-flow fan for cooling the auxiliary power supply is provided on the flow side.
The first and second through-flow fans are formed by the shelf-like plates.
Achieved by being housed in the boosted part of the bent part
Is done.

[0006]

[0007]

[Function] Two or more channels of cooling air are formed in the housing,
In addition, a cooling fan is provided between the heating elements in the middle of the flow path for each of the divided flow paths. Then, the outlet side of this flow path is provided below the housing in any flow path. This can reduce the noise generated by the cooling fan from reaching the ear of the operator. In addition, since a plurality of flow paths are formed, the cooling capacity of the cooling fan of each flow path can be determined according to the amount of heat generated by the heating elements included in each flow path, and the temperature of the heating element inside the housing can be determined. The rise can be made uniform. Further, since the size of each cooling fan can be reduced, a free space generated inside the housing can be reduced, and the size of the housing can be reduced. In addition, by providing a flow path changing plate in each flow path, when a cooling fan fails, cooling air from another flow path can be supplied, and the reliability of each electronic device that is a heating element such as an IC chip or an LSI package can be improved. Performance can be improved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the electronic device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment in a perspective view. Here, a CPU board 1, which is the heart of the electronic device, a memory board 2, which is a storage section, a bus adapter board 3 for exchanging information between the memory section and the CPU section, and an I / O, which is an expansion board, are provided in the housing 15. O board 7, floppy disk drive 4 for storing information, hard disk drive 5 and digital audio tape recorder 6, power supply 8 and auxiliary power supply 9 as a power supply unit, DC / DC module 10 as an electric converter, and AC / DC A module 11, a battery 12 as power storage means are mounted, and a box-shaped slit jet unit 13, which constitutes a cooling unit, and flow-through fans 14a and 14b are provided. The CPU substrate 1 has an IC chip 16 and an LS
An I package 17 is mounted, and a heat radiation fin 18 is attached to the LSI package 17. Further, the slit jet unit 13 has an axial fan 2 for supplying cooling air.
0 and a jet port 19 which is a cooling air jet port are provided.
In addition, a caster 21 is attached to the bottom of the housing 15 to make the housing movable. Similarly, a skirt 22 is provided at the lower part of the housing, and the cooling air is radiated from the skirt to the outside of the housing.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the embodiment of FIG.
The interior of the housing is divided into three sections from the front side to the back side by a partition plate 42 provided on the rear side of the housing and a partition wall 40 provided in the middle of the housing. On the front side, a digital audio tape recorder 6 and a hard disk drive 5 as storage means are provided at the upper part, and a power supply and AC / DC module 11 are provided at the lower part.
Are arranged. These are held by using a shelf-like plate material provided horizontally on the housing as a guide. An arithmetic unit and an auxiliary power supply are provided in a central portion of the housing. Then, the cross-flow fans 14a and 14b are attached to the upper and lower two places using the partition wall 40 on the front side. Nothing is mounted on the portion 41 on the rear side of the housing. A cutout or a small hole is formed in the partition plate 42 for partitioning this portion and the intake plate 23 constituting a part of the housing for introducing external air. As a result, the rear portion has a double wall structure, and a sound insulation effect can be obtained. The intake plate 23 is a perforated plate having a large number of small holes, and has a good magnetic shield. By the way, an axial fan 20 for blowing cool air to the CPU board 16 and the memory board 2 constituting the arithmetic unit is mounted on the upper part of the partition plate 42 on the back side. A jet hole 19 is formed to cool the CPU board 1 more effectively.

Next, a description will be given of the air flow 24 in the housing formed as described above. The external air sucked from the slit-shaped gap formed from the center to the upper part of the intake plate 23 is jetted from the jet holes 19 formed at the outlet of the axial fan 20 to form the CPU board 1 and the memory board 2.
And flows into the upper cross-flow fan 14a. Here, the CPU substrate 1 and the memory substrate 2 are also held by a shelf-shaped plate member, and the shelf-shaped plate member forms a flow path that regulates the flow of the axial fan 20 together with the side plate of the housing. The external air pressurized by the once-through fan 14a is
After exiting 4a, the flow direction is changed by 90 to 180 °, the air flows down in the housing as cooling air 24 for cooling the hard disk or the AC / DC module, which is a high heat generating portion, and passes through an exhaust hole 44 provided on the bottom surface of the housing. Released outside the housing. On the other hand, the lower part of the shelf-like plate material holding the CPU
The O substrate 7 is similarly held on a shelf-shaped plate. Then, in order to cool them, external air is taken in from a slit provided in the partition plate 42. This external air is sucked in by the cross-flow fan 14b provided below the partition wall 40, and after cooling the I / O board 7, the flow to the partition wall 40 is blocked and flows into the cross-flow fan 14b, and the auxiliary power supply 9, D
The C / DC module 10 is cooled and discharged to the outside of the housing from an exhaust hole 44 provided on the bottom surface of the housing. Then, the second flow path is defined by the shelf-side support plate 43 on which the auxiliary power supply and the DC / DC module are mounted and the housing side plate. As described above, in this embodiment, the flow path of the cooling air 24 is 2
One is formed.

Further, a partition 40,
A flow path changing plate 26 is provided on the bottom plate 25. For example, when one of the cross-flow fans 14a and 14b stops, the flow path changing plate 26 changes the two flow paths to one flow path to prevent an excessive temperature rise of the electronic device inside the housing. To prevent. This is achieved by providing a drive mechanism for opening and closing the flow path changing plate 26 in the housing using an output signal of a rotation speed sensor that detects the motor rotation speed of the cooling fan provided in each cooling fan. . As this driving mechanism, there is a mechanism in which an end portion of the flow path changing plate 26 is fixed to a partition wall or a partition plate by a hinge, and an actuator that can be opened and closed by a control signal, for example, a solenoid is attached to the other end. Further, a temperature sensor is also incorporated in the cooling fan, so that an abnormality in the amount of heat generated in the housing can be detected.

According to this embodiment, two channels are provided in the housing 15 so that the size of each fan can be reduced and waste in the housing can be reduced as compared with the case of one system. Space can be reduced, and space saving of the entire housing 15 can be achieved. In addition, since a plurality of flow paths are provided, the flow paths can be divided according to the amount of heat generated by the heating element, and the rise in wind temperature can be substantially constant in any flow path. In addition, local temperature rise in the heating elements can be prevented, and the temperature distribution between the heating elements can be made uniform.
Here, if a cross-flow fan is used as the cooling fan, the axial length of the cross-flow fan can be changed according to the width of the housing, and can be adapted to the shape of the flow path, thereby realizing space saving. Further, since the cooling fan is provided on the upstream side of the high heat generating element, the cooling air 24 having a high flow rate can be supplied to the high heat generating element, so that the heat transfer coefficient increases and the temperature of the high heat generating element can be reduced. At this time, since the cooling fan is installed inside the housing 15, it is possible to prevent noise generated by rotation of the fan from directly flowing out of the housing 15, which is effective in reducing noise. Further, since the skirt 22 is provided at the bottom of the housing 15, the radiation of the sound generated when the cooling air 24 collides with the floor to the outside of the housing can be extremely reduced. Furthermore, since the exhaust portion is provided at the lower portion of the housing, the amount of noise emitted with the exhaust reaching the operator's ear can be reduced. In addition, since a temperature sensor is provided on the heating element and the number of rotations of the cooling fan is controlled using an output signal of the temperature sensor, cooling can be performed in accordance with the amount of heat generated, the power consumption of the computer can be reduced, and power consumption can be reduced. It is effective for energy conversion. In this embodiment, the cooling air intake portion is provided on the rear side of the housing. However, if the exhaust air discharged from the housing is hardly sucked, the front, rear, left and right side surfaces and the upper surface of the housing are provided. Any of

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the heat generation of the CPU substrate 1 is low. This is a case where the slit jet unit 13 for cooling the CPU substrate 1 is omitted in FIG. By removing the axial fan 20,
The heating element in the housing can be freely arranged, and the capacity of the power supply can be reduced.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which a wind direction adjusting plate 27 is provided immediately after the cross-flow fan 14b. This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 only in that a wind direction adjusting plate 27 is provided. By providing the wind direction adjusting plate 27, the temperature distribution of the DC / DC module 10 disposed immediately after the cross-flow fan 14b can be made more uniform. Here, a plurality of air volume adjustment holes 28 are formed in the air direction adjustment plate 27, and the position, the direction, and the hole area of the air volume adjustment holes 28 are changed so that the temperature distribution of the heating element becomes uniform. The amount of air flowing out of the adjustment hole is adjusted.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one embodiment when the apparatus is larger than the embodiment shown in FIG. Although the configuration is the same as that of FIG. 1, a once-through fan 14c is newly mounted because the size of the apparatus is increased. FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view of this embodiment configured as described above. Also in this embodiment, two paths through which the cooling air 24 flows are formed as in the embodiment shown in FIG. The first path is the cooling air 24
Flows from the suction plate 23 on the back, passes through the I / O board 7,
After being sucked in by the once-through fan 14 and flowing out of the once-through fan 14a, it flows through the CD-ROM 29, the digital audio tape recorder 6, the hard disk drive 5, the AC / DC module 11, the bottom plate 25, and the bottom of the skirt 22 to the housing. 15 is a route to be released to the outside. The second path of the cooling air 24 is the same as that of the first path with respect to the intake of the cooling air to the housing.
It passes through the CPU board 1 and is sucked by the once-through fan 14c. After flowing out of the once-through fan 14c, it flows through the DC / DC module, the battery 12, and the auxiliary power supply, flows out from the bottom plate to the floor similarly to the first path, flows under the skirt 22, and flows out of the housing 15. It is a route. In particular, the axial fan 20 is located upstream of the CPU substrate 1 having a high heat generation density.
And a slit jet unit 13 having jet holes 19. Further, a partition wall 4 is provided in the two channels.
A channel changing plate 26 is provided on the bottom plate 25.
Further, a temperature sensor and a rotation speed detection sensor are incorporated in the cooling fan. As described above, since a plurality of channels are provided in the housing 15, the size of each fan can be reduced to reduce wasteful space in the housing as compared with a single system, and the entire space of the housing 15 can be saved. Can be achieved. In addition, since a plurality of flow paths are provided, the flow paths can be divided according to the amount of heat generated by the heating element, and the rise in wind temperature can be substantially constant in any flow path. And it can prevent local temperature rise in the heating element,
The temperature distribution between the heating elements can be made uniform. Further, since the cooling fan is provided on the upstream side of the high heat generating element, the cooling air 24 having a high flow rate can be supplied to the high heat generating element, so that the heat transfer coefficient increases and the temperature of the high heat generating element can be reduced. At this time, since the cooling fan is installed inside the housing 15, it is possible to prevent noise generated by rotation of the fan from directly flowing out of the housing 15, which is effective in reducing noise. Further, since the exhaust portion is provided at the lower portion of the housing, the magnitude of noise emitted along with the exhaust at the ear of the operator can be reduced. Further, since the skirt 22 is provided at the bottom of the housing 15, the radiation of the sound generated when the cooling air 24 collides with the floor to the outside of the housing can be extremely reduced. In addition, since a temperature sensor is provided on the heating element and the number of rotations of the cooling fan is controlled using an output signal of the temperature sensor, cooling can be performed in accordance with the amount of heat generated, the power consumption of the computer can be reduced, and power consumption can be reduced. It is effective for energy conversion. Further, in the present embodiment, as the size of the apparatus increases, the once-through fan 1 utilizes an empty area formed in the housing.
Another redundant 4a is provided to constitute a redundant system. That is, even if one of the cross-flow fans 14a, 14a fails, the other one operates to prevent an abnormal rise in temperature of the heating element in the housing. In addition, since the cross-flow fan 14c is arranged in the vertical direction in the middle of the second flow path, cooling air is blown to the entire laminated substrate, and the temperature distribution of the substrate can be made uniform. In this embodiment, only two channels are provided.
Needless to say, the number of channels may be increased to three or four in accordance with the amount of heat generated by the heat-generating components in the housing.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a device smaller than the embodiment of FIG. Inside the housing 15 is the heart C
A PU board 1, a floppy disk drive 4 for storing information, a hard disk drive 5, a digital audio tape recorder 6, and a power supply 8 as a power supply unit are provided. The CPU substrate 1 has an IC chip 16, L
The LSI package 17 is mounted.
The radiating fins 18 are attached to the. Further, a cross-flow fan 14a and an axial flow fan 20 are provided in the housing as cooling fans. On the intake side of the housing 15, the intake plate 2
A partition plate 42 is provided inside the casing 3 to form a double wall structure.

FIG. 8 is a top sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. Also in this embodiment, two paths through which the cooling air 24 flows are formed. In the first path, the cooling air 24 flows from the intake plate 23 on the rear surface and then from the slit provided in the partition plate 42, passes through the power supply 8, is drawn into the once-through fan 14a, and flows from the once-through fan 14a to the CPU substrate 1 and the front surface. This is a path that is discharged to the outside of the housing 15 through the exhaust plate 30. The second path of the cooling air 24 is the same as the first path on the intake side, flows from the intake plate 23 to the partition plate 42, passes through the floppy disk 4, is sucked by the axial fan 20, and is accelerated. Then, it passes through the hard disk 5 and is finally discharged from the exhaust plate 30 to the outside of the housing 15 similarly to the first path. Also in this embodiment, the flow path changing plate 26 is provided on the partition wall 40 and the bottom plate 25 in the flow path. The cooling fan includes a temperature sensor and a rotation speed sensor.

As described above, since a plurality of flow paths are provided in the housing 15, an appropriate flow path according to the amount of heat generated can be formed as compared with the case of one system. At that time, appropriate flow distribution to each heating element can be performed, and the rise in wind temperature is reduced. Further, an excessive rise in temperature of each heating element can be prevented, and the temperature distribution between the heating elements can be made uniform. Further, since a cooling fan is provided on the upstream side of the high heat generating element, the cooling air having a high flow rate is applied to the high heat generating element.
4 can be supplied to increase the heat transfer coefficient and reduce the temperature of the high heating element. In addition, since the cooling fan is provided inside the housing 15, noise generated by rotation of the fan is prevented from flowing directly to the outside of the housing 15, which is effective in reducing noise.
Further, since the flow path changing plate 26 is provided on the partition wall 40 and the bottom plate 25, when a cooling fan provided in each flow path fails, a signal of a rotation speed sensor incorporated in a motor of the cooling fan is used. The two flow paths are made one by opening and closing the flow path changing plate 26. Then, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the heating element from rising until the recording in the storage means such as the floppy disk drive 4 and the hard disk drive 5 is completed. Since the number of rotations of the cooling fan is controlled using a temperature signal detected by a temperature sensor provided on the heating element, the amount of power used can be adjusted according to the amount of heat generated, reducing the overall amount of power used and saving energy. It is effective for conversion.

FIG. 9 shows an embodiment in which the intake section and the exhaust section in the embodiment of FIG. 8 are each constituted by one wall surface. In this case, there is an effect that the apparatus can be downsized as compared with the embodiment of FIG.

[0020]

According to the present invention, a once-through fan in a booster chamber is provided.
Blows horizontally elongated cooling air to electronic components
Power supply and other electronic components.
Can be cooled at once.

[0021]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the electronic device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of an electronic device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of an electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an electronic device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a top sectional view of an electronic device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a top sectional view of an electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... CPU board, 2 ... memory board, 3 ... bus adapter board, 4 ... floppy disk, 5 ... hard disk, 6
... Digital audio tape recorder, 7 ... I / O board, 8 ... Power supply, 9 ... Auxiliary power supply, 10 ... DC / DC module, 11 ... AC / DC module, 12 ... Battery, 13 ... Slit jet flow unit, 14a, 14b, 1
4c: once-through fan, 15: housing, 16: IC chip, 1
7 LSI package, 18 radiation fin, 19 jet hole, 20 axial fan, 21 caster, 22 skirt, 23 intake plate, 24 cooling air, 25 bottom plate, 26 ...
Flow path changing plate, 27: wind direction adjusting plate, 28: air volume adjusting hole, 2
9: CD-ROM, 30: exhaust plate, 40: partition, 42 ...
Partition plate.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Toshihiro Komatsu 502, Kandate-cho, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Pref. Machinery Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Toshi Iino 502 Kandate-cho, Tsuchiura-city, Ibaraki Pref. Machinery Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. Inventor Tetsuro Homma 1 General Computer Division, Hitachi, Ltd., Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture (72) Inventor Hiroshi Yamada 1 General Computer Division, Horiyamashita, Hatano City, Kanagawa Prefecture (72) Invention Person Takao Oba 1 Horiyamashita, Hadano-shi, Kanagawa Shares (72) Inventor Akira Yamagiwa 1st Horiyamashita, Hadano-shi, Kanagawa Hitachi Computer, Inc. General-purpose Computer Division (56) References JP-A-60-106198 (JP, A) Hei 2-58900 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 2-73792 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 1-100488 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 60-192497 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 64-64,391 (JP) , U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H05K 7/20

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A CPU board and an I / O board are mounted inside a housing having an intake port and an exhaust port provided on a surface thereof, and an information storage section and a power supply section are mounted downstream of the CPU board. The I / O
In an electronic device equipped with an auxiliary power supply unit on the downstream side of the substrate, a first flow path formed by a shelf-like plate in the housing and a side plate of the housing that communicates with the intake hole and the exhaust hole, An axial fan configured to communicate with the intake hole and the exhaust hole and to form a second flow path formed inside the shelf-shaped plate, and to cool the CPU board upstream of the first flow path; A first cross-flow fan for cooling the information storage unit and the power supply unit is provided downstream of the CPU board, and the I / O board is provided upstream of the second flow path, and a downstream side of the I / O board is provided. A second through-flow fan for cooling the auxiliary power supply unit, wherein the first and second through-flow fans are housed in a booster of a bent portion formed by the shelf-shaped plate. apparatus.