JPH05102686A - Cooling unit and electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce noise in an electronic apparatus to be leaked externally of the apparatus through a cooling duct by providing a suction port lower than a heat generation source at a housing surface, providing an exhaust port in the bottom of the housing, and disposing a once-through fan in the upper part of the housing. CONSTITUTION:A blower 3 for blowing cooling air is mounted in an inner heat generator of an electronic apparatus 1 to feed cooling air from a suction port 12 into the apparatus. After the air cools the generator 2a placed forward of the blower 3 through a baglike or ductlike cooling cover 5 in a housing, it cools a main inner heat generator 2b at a downstream of the blower 3. A dividing plate 6 for dividing the downstream of the blower 3 into the generator 2b and a nonheat generator is mounted, the air is fed only to the generator 2b to reduce noise. The air is discharged from an exhaust port 9, in which a sound shielding plate 8 is mounted through a soundproof chamber 7, after it cools the generator 2b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling air intake / exhaust structure for electronic equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of cooling electronic equipment, cooling air taken from the outside of the equipment is caused to flow through a heat-generating portion, and the heat of the heat-generating portion is removed by forced convection cooling, so that the heated air is again discharged outside the equipment. The air-cooling method of discharging is the most common. In such a cooling system, it is desirable to reduce the pressure loss in the cooling air passage as much as possible.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 45054, the structure is such that the cooling air passage passes almost perpendicularly to the surface of the equipment cover.

[0003]

When a method of cooling electronic equipment such as a computer using the above-mentioned conventional technique is used,
The installation position of the intake and exhaust ports for cooling air is limited because it is necessary to consider not to block the intake port and not to feel uncomfortable when the exhausted cooling air hits the worker. Air intake or exhaust ports are often provided mainly on the front and bottom surfaces of electronic devices. Since the cooling intake and exhaust ports are often provided in the front, noise from the cooling fan inside the electronic device is leaked from the front of the operator, which causes an uncomfortable feeling to the operator of the electronic device and the people around it. There was a problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device capable of suppressing the noise inside the electronic device from leaking to the outside of the device from the intake and exhaust ports of the cooling air and reducing the noise to the outside of the device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the low noise cooling unit of the present invention is a low noise cooling unit having a main heat source and a secondary heat source. It is characterized in that an intake port is provided below the source, an exhaust port is provided at the bottom of the housing, and a cross-flow fan is arranged above the housing. In this case, it is desirable to provide two cross-flow fans. When applied to electronic equipment, the main heat source is the arithmetic unit and the power supply unit, and the secondary heat source is the magnetic disk. Further, the low noise cooling unit of the present invention is characterized in that the inside of the housing is divided into an ascending flow path from the intake port to the cross-flow fan and a descending flow path from the cross-flow fan to the exhaust port. In this case, it is desirable to provide a heat source on each flow path.

The electronic device of the present invention is characterized in that the intake port and the exhaust port are arranged close to each other, and the electronic device is provided at a substantially longest distance from the cross-flow fan as a sound source. In this case, it is desirable to additionally attach a sensing mechanism.

[0007] With the present inventor changing roles from a place where an office processes information to a place where information is created,
The noise generated from air-cooled computers tends to increase due to the increase in the number of sound sources and the shortening of the distance with the users as the number of installed machines increases. Aiming to improve the sound environment, we have invented a silent structure for small and medium-sized computers. As a silent structure, this technology can provide a product that does not disturb its silence even when placed in a museum.

Conventionally, a small high-speed fan is provided for each of a large number of heat generating parts in the same housing to individually cool them, so that the cooling performance is high in noise. Therefore, we have developed a silent computer structure in which cooling and noise are harmonized by making full use of fan sound source analysis and flow visualization experiments.

The optimal implementation is in particular as follows.
(1) The heat generating parts are roughly divided into two places and arranged in a centralized flow path, and two cross-flow type fans that are effective for uniforming the wind speed distribution are adopted in the middle of the heat generating parts. This enables sound reduction and centralized cooling due to the deep inside of the exterior. (2) In order to prevent the sound from the upper fan from directly coming out of the device, the air inlet is arranged at the lower part of the device, and the bag structure utilizing the reinforcement of the door is used as the silencer structure.
(3) The fan rotation speed can be controlled while sensing the room temperature and the exhaust temperature. As a result, the noise can be further reduced when the cooling load is small. As a result, the noise can be reduced to about 40 dB.

According to the present invention, the cooling unit attached to the intake / exhaust section of the cooling air has a silencer structure in which the cooling unit is bent at least once at a right angle so that noise generated by a cooling fan or the like inside the cooling air passage is attenuated to reduce the noise of electronic equipment. Try to reduce the noise to the outside. In addition, the internal structure of the intake / exhaust unit and the electronic device is separated into a heat generating part and a non-heat generating part to reduce the load on the cooling fan, reduce noise, and make the structure of the intake / exhaust unit optional. The change in the required amount of cooling airflow caused by the difference in the installation environment of the electronic equipment makes it possible to easily control the pressure loss and the like.

[0011]

According to the present invention, the silencer provided in the cooling air passage attenuates the noise generated inside the electronic device before it leaks to the outside, and the noise of the housing itself due to the double structure of the cooling air passage. Noise to the outside of the device can be reduced by the sound insulation effect and the sound reduction effect by reducing the load of the cooling fan by effectively using the cooling air by separating the cooling part and the non-cooling part.

If two cross-flow fans are provided, they can be used even if one goes down. If you have an intake port on the front of the case, you can put it anywhere because there are no holes on the side or back. Since there is no intake port or exhaust port above, there is no direct wind on the operator's face, and it is far from the sound outlet. further,
It is also possible to put an object on the upper surface.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described below with reference to a perspective view of constituent parts. An air blower 3 for sending cooling air is installed in the internal heat generating portion 2 of the electronic device 1, and the air blower 3
As a result, the cooling air flows from the intake port 12 into the electronic device. The cooling air passes through a bag-shaped or duct-shaped cooling cover 5 inside the housing to cool a subordinate internal heat-generating part 2a composed of a disk unit, which is placed in front of the blower 3, and then is cooled downstream of the blower 3. A main internal heat generating portion 2b including a certain arithmetic unit and a power supply unit is cooled.

A dividing plate 6 for separating the downstream side of the blower 3 into a heat generating portion 2b and a non-heat generating portion is provided, and the cooling air blown from the blower 3 is made to flow only to the heat generating portion 2b to enhance the cooling effect, thereby improving the cooling effect of the blower 3. The load can be reduced and the noise can be reduced. The cooling air is discharged after cooling the heat generating unit 2b and then through the soundproof chamber 7 through the discharge port 9 to which the sound insulating plate 8 is attached.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the electronic device shown in FIG. Noise generated by the cooling device 3 and the internal heat generating portion 2a is emitted to the outside of the electronic device 1 through the intake port 12 and the exhaust port 9. The arrows in the figure are the noise propagation paths. Since the generated noise is attenuated while passing through the cooling cover 5, it can be effectively reduced especially in the high frequency range. Moreover, since the inside is partitioned by the dividing plate 6, the cooling cover 5, and the platter cover 10, the generated noise is blocked and is not easily emitted to the outside. Further, since the cooling wind and noise generated inside the electronic device are not directly discharged to the floor surface by the soundproof chamber 7, there is an effect of preventing the noise from being reflected on the floor surface and spreading to the outside. Soundproof chamber 7 at this time
If the sound absorbing material 11 is attached to the inside of the, the effect of noise reduction becomes greater. The noise emitted from the soundproof chamber 7 is suppressed by the sound insulation plate 8 from directly going out to reduce the noise.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the blower 3
As a once-through fan. Since the flow direction of the cross-flow fan changes between the inlet and the outlet of the fan, the cooling flow path is separated from the intake air and the exhaust air as in this embodiment, and
It is very effective when it has a complicated cooling air passage having a main heat generating part and a sub heat generating part. Further, by providing two cross-flow fans, even if one is stopped due to an accident or the like, the remaining fans can be used for cooling.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an example of an electronic device using an intake / exhaust unit according to the prior art. In this case, the noise generated inside the device is transmitted to the outside of the electronic device 1 through the intake port 12 and the exhaust port 9. Since the noise generated at this time is not particularly effectively attenuated and insulated, most of it is directly emitted to the outside, which causes an unpleasant feeling to people around the electronic device. Particularly, the noise generated by the blower 3 attached to the lower part of the electronic device 1 is reflected on the floor surface and becomes a large noise.

In the prior art, an axial fan is often used for the blower 3, and the axial fan requires a duct to change the direction of the flow, so that the flow path is bent due to downsizing and cost problems. Instead, the cooling air is directly emitted to the outside, so noise also leaks to the outside.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention. By providing the curved duct 4 in which the direction of the flow path is changed at least once inside the cooling cover 5, the noise reduction effect can be enhanced.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. Bending duct 4 and sound absorbing material 1 inside the cooling cover 5.
The noise reduction effect shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 can be further increased by providing the silencer of 1.

FIG. 6 shows an example of another embodiment of the present invention.
Since the cooling cover 5 is attached to the electronic device 1 as a unit, it can be easily exchanged for another shape. Therefore, in the case where the installation environment of the electronic device 1 is relatively good and the air volume required for cooling can be reduced, by using the cooling cover 5 ′ and the curved duct 4 ′ having a large pressure loss but a large sound damping effect, Noise can be effectively reduced.

An installation embodiment of the device of the present invention is shown in FIGS. In the electronic device 1 according to the present invention, in addition to the effect of reducing the noise of the device itself, the intake port and the exhaust port, which are the outlets for internal noise, are concentrated below the device, away from the ear of the worker 13. The noise reduction term at the ear of the worker 13 is also large.

[0023]

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the noise to the user of the electronic equipment and the people around the electronic equipment, and to reduce the discomfort given to the user by the installed electronic equipment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of an embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional technique.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of another embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention using a sound absorbing material.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a cooling cover having a large noise reduction effect.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an installation embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing an installation embodiment of the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic equipment, 2 ... Heating part, 3 ... Blower, 4 ... Silencer, 5 ... Cooling cover, 6 ... Dividing plate, 7 ... Chamber, 8 ...
Sound insulation plate, 9 ... Exhaust port, 10 ... Platter cover, 11 ...
Sound absorbing material, 12 ... Intake port, 13 ... Worker.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H05K 7/20 G 8509-4E

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A cooling unit having a main heat source and a subordinate heat source, wherein an intake port is provided below the subordinate heat source on the surface of the housing, an exhaust port is provided at the bottom of the housing, and a flow flows upward in the housing. A cooling unit that features a fan. 2. A cooling unit according to claim 1, wherein two through-flow fans are provided. 3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the main heat source is an arithmetic unit and a power supply unit, and the secondary heat source is a magnetic disk. 4. A cooling unit characterized in that the inside of the housing is divided into an ascending flow path from the intake port to the cross-flow fan and a descending flow path from the cross-flow fan to the exhaust port. 5. The cooling unit according to claim 4, wherein a heat source is provided on each flow path. 6. An electronic device, wherein an intake port and an exhaust port are arranged close to each other and are provided at a substantially longest distance from a cross-flow fan which is a sound source. 7. The electronic device according to claim 6, further comprising a sensing mechanism. 8. The load of a cooling fan is reduced by efficiently dividing a heat source placed on each flow path by providing a dividing plate for separating a heat generating portion and a non-heat generating portion. A cooling unit characterized by reducing the noise generated. 9. A cooling unit for a heat generating portion in an electronic device, characterized in that a bent duct, which is formed by a casing of the electronic device and whose flow path direction changes at least once, is incorporated as a cooling flow path. Cooling unit. 10. A cooling unit for a heat generating section in an electronic device, wherein at least one of the cooling units is composed of a casing of the electronic device.
A cooling unit comprising a cooling duct having a silencer structure in which the flow passage is bent at a substantially right angle. 11. The cooling passage according to claim 9, wherein the cooling duct has an intake duct and a cooling section, and the cooling duct has a double structure including an intake section and a cooling section. Cooling unit characterized by. 12. A cooling unit according to claim 11, wherein housing cover inlets of an electronic device having a cooling air duct structure are provided on left and right side surfaces of the cover.