JPH04332196A - Cooling structure of small size electronic device cabinet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a cooling structure of a small size electronic apparatus cabinet for effectively cooling electronic apparatus by providing apertures required for intaking and exhausing the air to the structure which does not take dust into the cabinet. CONSTITUTION:A cabinet 1 comprising an electronic apparatus offers a cooling structure providing an intake port to the intermediate part of at least one of the front and rear or right and left side surfaces, having an extension duct 7 which is extended to the lower side in the outside of cabinet 1 from the intake port and has an opening part at the lower surface, providing an exhaust port at least at the one of the upper most portions provided at the upper side of the intermediate portion of the front or rear side surfaces or right and left side surfaces of the cabinet 1 and having an extension duct which extends to the lower side in the outside of the cabinet 1 from the exhaust port and has an opening part at the lower surface.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a cooling structure for a small electronic device housing that has a simple structure, has a dustproof effect, and can be efficiently cooled in a cabinet structure for electronic devices installed in an office environment. be.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As semiconductor devices become more highly integrated, electronic devices become smaller and generate more heat, and an efficient cooling method is desired. The natural air cooling method does not use power for cooling and does not generate noise, so it is widely used in equipment installed in offices.

FIG. 5 shows a typical example of an electronic equipment cabinet located in a conventional office environment. (a) is an external view, with a portion of the upper part shown in cross section so that the electronic device housed inside can be seen. (b) is an enlarged view of the main part of the unit (shelf) constituting the electronic device. In FIG. 5, 1 is a cabinet, 2 is a shelf, 3 is a shielding plate for preventing thermal interference between upper and lower units, and 4 is a printed board on which components such as 1C are mounted, which are housed in the shelf 2.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For equipment installed in an office, it is particularly preferable to use a small and thin cabinet. Even if there is an exhaust port on the top, it is often blocked. Furthermore, there is a possibility that cups containing coffee, tea, etc. will be placed there, so so-called coffee protection (preventing spilled coffee from flowing into electronic devices) is required, and the top surface is equipped with exhaust ventilation. Can't make an opening.

FIG. 6 shows the flow of natural air cooling air in a cabinet with a conventional structure. 11 dotted lines indicate the flow of airflow. The air taken in from the front opening 10 of the cabinet absorbs the heat of the electronic components inside the shelf 2, and is exhausted from the opening 13 on the back side via the shielding plate 3 (11-1);
Or through the back side of shelf 2 and through the rack space,
Exhaust the air out of the cabinet from the exhaust port at the top of the front (11
-2).

On the other hand, since the side and back openings may be installed in close contact with the walls of the office, it is not a good idea to provide the back and side air intake and exhaust ports on those surfaces. If you install a cabinet with the back side tightly against the wall, the distance to the exhaust port will be longer, which will significantly reduce the cooling capacity.

[0007] Furthermore, in an office environment, a lot of dust is generated due to people coming in and out with their shoes on, movement of people, etc. For this reason, large openings cannot be provided in precision electronic devices because they do not like dust. However, when the opening becomes smaller, the cooling performance decreases significantly, especially in a natural air cooling device. As described above, the range of application of conventional small cabinets using natural air cooling has been limited to devices with low heat generation density.

[0008] In view of these drawbacks, the object of the present invention is to
To provide a cooling structure for a small electronic device housing that efficiently cools the electronic device by providing an opening necessary for intake and exhaust while having a configuration that does not introduce dust into the cabinet.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a cabinet structure in which an electronic device is built in, in which an air intake port is provided at the intermediate portion of at least one of the front and rear or left and right sides, and the air intake port is connected to the air intake port. It has an extension duct that extends downward outside the cabinet and has an open opening on the downward side, and an exhaust port is provided at the top of at least one above the intermediate part of the front and rear or left and right sides of the cabinet, and the exhaust It is characterized by a cooling structure having an extension duct that extends downward from the opening outside the cabinet and has an open opening on the downward side.

0010

[Operation] According to the above means, the present invention has an intake duct structure with an intake port on the lower side, in order to take the cooling air into the cabinet after passing through the duct flow path from the bottom to the top. Conversely, the air flows from the top to the bottom through a flow path before being exhausted to the outside of the cabinet, so it features a duct structure with an exhaust port on the bottom.
The main difference is that conventional cabinets do not have a duct structure that takes these things into consideration.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an external view of an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, an intake duct 7 is attached to the front surface, and a box-shaped cover 8 is placed over the top surface.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the cabinet according to the present invention, which illustrates the airflow flow 11. Air enters from the lower side of the intake duct 7, flows from the bottom to the top in the vertical duct space 10a, and enters the cabinet through the intake port 10. Cooling air enters each shelf 2 from here, and the heat-absorbed air reaches the overhead space 12 via the shielding plate 3 and the back space, and from here it is further passed through the vertical exhaust air formed by the side surface of the cabinet and the box-shaped cover 8. Duct space 1
2a from top to bottom, and is exhausted from the exhaust port 14 to the outside of the cabinet.

The air velocity of natural air cooling in the vertical intake duct space 10a is about 20 cm/s at most. At this level of air velocity, dirt and other particles are considered to be settled dust. Therefore,
The dust thrown up by the speed of the surrounding airflow falls on the floor while passing through the 10 to 20 cm length of the vertical duct space 10a, and is not taken into the cabinet. On the other hand, since the exhaust port has the exhaust vertical duct space 12a in addition to the flow of the air to be exhausted, dust and the like will fall based on the same principle, so that even if there is some wind around it, it will not be taken into the cabinet.

[0014] The intake duct 7 has a length of, for example, 500 mm.
Moreover, if the intake port 10 is located slightly below the center of the cabinet 1 in the vertical direction, the cooling performance will be improved. Further, if the length of the exhaust duct constituted by the box-shaped cover 8 and the cabinet 1 from the top surface of the box-shaped cover 8 to the exhaust port 14 is, for example, about 150 mm, it will be less affected by the outside air. In this case, the length from the top surface of the cabinet 1 to the exhaust port 14 is, for example, about 100 mm.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the cabinet according to the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view of the cabinet when the back surface is installed closely against a wall. It has the same structure as the first embodiment except that there is no exhaust port on the back side. Therefore, it goes without saying that this embodiment has the same effect as the first embodiment. Note that similar cooling characteristics can be ensured by increasing the number of exhaust openings elsewhere, such as on the front side, to compensate for the decrease in the number of exhaust openings on the back side.

[0016] In this embodiment, an example in which the intake port is provided on the front side has been described, but depending on the internal structure of the electronic device,
Effects similar to those described above can be obtained by providing exhaust ports on the left and right sides, or in some cases on the back, and extending from there to the bottom of the duct.

As described above, in the cooling structure for a small electronic device housing of the present invention, since the vertical duct space is provided at the exhaust port, there is an advantage that the cooling performance is not deteriorated and a dust-proof structure can be achieved. Furthermore, since the opening area can be increased, cooling performance is also improved. FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram comparing the cooling performance of a cabinet with the structure of the present invention and a cabinet with a conventional structure. Note that this is a case where the amount of heat generated per printed board of 28 cm x 20 cm is 8 W. In the figure, A is a case of a conventional cabinet structure with the back side installed close to the wall, and B is a case of a conventional cabinet structure where exhaust can also be exhausted from the back side.
C is the case of the cabinet having the structure of the first embodiment of the present invention. Since A does not have an exhaust port on the back side, the temperature rise is large, and B, which can exhaust air from the back side, recovers about 20%. In this example, the temperature is further reduced by 10%.

Furthermore, natural air cooling devices are susceptible to the influence of ambient air currents, and in particular, when air is directed towards the exhaust port of the cabinet, the temperature may rise by as much as 50%. With the structure of the present invention, even if the air-conditioning airflow hits the cabinet, the exhaust port is located at the bottom, so the structure is such that the wind does not directly hit the exhaust port, so the influence of such airflow is extremely small, and the office It has a structure that is strong against the environment.

[0019]

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, a small electronic device housing is provided which efficiently cools the electronic device by providing openings necessary for intake and exhaust while preventing dust from being taken into the cabinet. A cooling structure can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a cabinet according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a second embodiment cabinet of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram comparing the cooling performance of a cabinet with the structure of the present invention and a cabinet with a conventional structure.

FIG. 5 is an external view of a conventional electronic device cabinet.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional cooling structure for an electronic device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...cabinet, 2...shelf, 3...shielding plate, 4...
Printed board, 6... Cabinet foot, 7... Intake duct, 8... Box-shaped top cover, 10... Front air intake port, 10a... Intake vertical duct space, 11... Airflow flow, 12... Top space, 12a... Exhaust Vertical duct space, 13...back exhaust port,
14...Duct exhaust port.

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] In a cabinet structure containing an electronic device, an extension duct is provided with an intake port in the middle of at least one of the front and rear or right and left sides, extends downward from the intake port outside the cabinet, and has an open opening on the downward side. at least one uppermost part of the cabinet is provided above the intermediate part of the front and rear or right and left sides of the cabinet, and the cabinet has an open opening extending downward from the exhaust port to the outside of the cabinet. A cooling structure for a small electronic device case characterized by a cooling structure having an extension duct.