US20090188647A1

US20090188647A1 - Heat Sink

Info

Publication number: US20090188647A1
Application number: US12/021,598
Authority: US
Inventors: Jong-Fuh LIU
Original assignee: CHUNTLON ENTERPRISE Co Ltd
Current assignee: CHUNTLON ENTERPRISE Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-01-29
Filing date: 2008-01-29
Publication date: 2009-07-30

Abstract

A heat sink is disposed on a heat source and is made by thermal conductive material. In the heat sink is defined a vacuum airtight space. A thermal conductive material and a volatile liquid are filled in the airtight space, and a plurality of radiating fins is equidistantly arranged on an outer surface of the heat sink. Such arrangements can perform a heat exchange quickly and efficiently, and the shape of the heat sink can be changed freely.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling or heating device, and more particularly to a heat sink which can perform the heat exchange quickly and efficiently, and the shape of the heat sink can be changed to meet the shapes of different products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, cooling devices are used more and more in the field of industry, in addition to being used as a heat sink for a light source, the cooling devices are usually provided for cooling an electronic heat generating products. Therefore, the use of cooling devices is very important to various heat generating products.
In order to prevent the products from being damaged by high temperature and high heat, the light source (such as light emitting diode (LED)) and the electronic heat source (such as center processor unit (CPU)) are provided with a cooling device, respectively, so as to maintain the operation and to prolong the life of the light source and the electronic heat source. Therefore, finding a more competitive heat sink products has become an important issue for the manufacturers.
Currently, one of the most common cooling device is a metal board made by thermal conductive material and integrally connected with a plurality of radiating fins that are spaced at intervals. The heat source is closely jointed to the metal board to conduct the heat energy, and a fan is used to quicken the heat exchange between the radiating fins and air. However, since such a conventional structure is inconvenient to fabricate and its shape is difficult to change once fabricated since it utilizes the metal to conduct the heat energy.
Further, the heat conduction efficiency cannot be largely improved since the conducting speed is restricted by the conductive coefficient of the metal material itself. Although a heat pipe is developed, such a heat pipe also utilizes the metal to conduct the heat energy, and its unitary air-cooled mode cannot perform the heat exchange efficiently, as a result, the cooling effect is limited.
In order to solve the efficiency problem, various kinds of designs appeared in the market, and one of the widely used and well-known cooling devices is a lamp with a cooling device disclosed in TW Pat. number M321496.
Such a conventional lamp with a cooling device comprises a housing, a heat sink, a circuit unit and a heat conductive unit. The housing is formed with a receiving room surrounding an axis and a penetrating opening in communication with the receiving room. The heat sink is installed in the receiving room and has an outer portion attached to the housing. The circuit unit is installed in the receiving room, and the circuit unit is provided with a plate attached to the heat sink and an illuminating member. The heat conductive unit is disposed in the receiving room and comprises a heat conductive post, one end surface of the heat conductive post is attached to a bottom of the heat sink, and a heat conductive piece connected to the other end surface of the heat conductive post and a periphery thereof attached to the housing. The heat energy from the circuit unit can be conducted to the housing via the heat conductive post and the heat conductive piece quickly, such that the heat energy produced by the lamp can be conducted and dissipated quickly.
However, the above-mentioned conventional lamp with a cooling device utilizes the heat conductive unit to conduct the heat energy, the technology of using the heat conductive piece and the heat conductive post is also restricted by the conduction efficiency of the material itself. As a result, the heat energy still cannot be dissipated quickly.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a brand new heat sink which can improve the efficiency of heat exchange and increase the degree of freedom of the design is developed.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a heat sink which has a high efficiency of heat exchange.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, the heat sink is disposed on a heat source and is made by thermal conductive material. In the heat sink is defined a vacuum airtight space. A thermal conductive material and a volatile liquid are filled in the airtight space, and a plurality of radiating fins is equidistantly arranged on an outer surface of the heat sink.
Since the thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid perform a fast heat exchange in the airtight space, the high temperature produced by the heat source can be immediately conducted by the evaporation of the volatile liquid. And the heat sink made by thermal conductive material and the radiating fins can also conduct the heat energy immediately. Thereby, the present invention can perform the heat exchange quickly and efficiently, thus producing a direct and better conduction efficiency.
Further, the present invention can produce the direct and better conduction efficiency higher than the conduction efficiency with 2300 W/M-K of the diamond, and can conduct the heat energy of the heat source immediately.
The second objective of the present invention is to provide a heat sink which can change the shape and position and can dissipate the heat energy produced by the heat source by its design quickly.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, in the heat sink is defined a vacuum airtight space, and a thermal conductive material and a volatile liquid are filled in the airtight space. Since the thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid can conduct the heat energy according to the change of the space, the size and the bending angle of the heat sink of the present invention can be changed according to the requirements, and the radiating fins can cooperate with the thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid to dissipate heat only by arranging the radiating fins on the outer surface of the equipment.
Thereby, the design of the present invention is free, the size and the bending angle of the heat sink can be changed according to the requirements, and the heat can be conducted and dissipated quickly and will not be restricted by the problem of direct conducting.
In addition, an inner surface of the vacuum airtight space in the heat sink is designed to be a rough (rugged and not smooth) inner surface, such that an exchange area of the thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid is increased, and the efficiency of heat exchange is improved.
The above-mentioned thermal conductive material can be steel wool, copper wool or wire-shaped thermal conductive material. The volatile liquid can be the liquid with a lower vaporizing temperature, such as a compound liquid of alcohol, ether and water, and the compound proportion of the compound liquid is set according to the working temperature.
It is to be noted that the heat sink is connected to a three-way copper tube, and the copper tube is also connected to a vacuum tube and an injecting tube. The vacuum tube and the injecting tube are provided with a valve, respectively. The vacuum tube is used to vacuum the airtight space, and the injecting tube is provided for injecting the volatile liquid into the airtight space. The copper tube is closed after the volatile liquid is injected into the airtight space, thus forming a naturally vaporized and coagulated circulation system. The conductive coefficient of the heat sink is increased by the volatilization of the air.
The radiating fins can cooperate with the thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid to dissipate heat only by arranging the radiating fins at the outer surface of the equipment, and the radiating fins can be equidistantly arranged and can also cooperate with an air-cooled fan to improve the cooling effect.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an assembly cross sectional view of a heat sink in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembly cross sectional view of the heat sink in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view showing the heat sink being applied to a lamp equipment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a heat sink 10 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention is disposed on a heat source (not shown) and is made by thermal conductive material. In the heat sink 10 is defined a vacuum airtight space 11 having a rough (rugged and not smooth) inner surface 111. A thermal conductive material 12 and a volatile liquid 13 are filled in the airtight space 11, and a plurality of radiating fins 14 is equidistantly arranged on an outer surface 101 of the heat sink 10. The airtight space 11 of the heat sink 10 is outwardly connected to a three-way copper tube 20, and the copper tube 20 is also connected to a vacuum tube 21 and an injecting tube 22. The vacuum tube 21 and the injecting tube 22 are provided with a valve 211 and 221, respectively. The vacuum tube 2.1 is used to vacuum the airtight space 11, and the injecting tube 22 is provided for injecting the volatile liquid 13 into the airtight space 11.
With the above-mentioned structures, the present invention utilizes the thermal conductive material 12 and the volatile liquid 13 to perform a fast heat exchange in the airtight space 11, and conducts the high temperature produced by the heat source to the thermal conductive material 12 and the volatile liquid 13 (the heat exchange will also be performed between the thermal conductive material 12 and the volatile liquid 13) after the high temperature is conducted to the rough inner surface 111 in the heat sink 10. At that time, the volatile liquid 13 will be vaporized into air A and will conduct the high temperature to the rough inner surface 111. At the same time, the air A the heat energy of which is absorbed by the rough inner surface 111 will be coagulated into the volatile liquid 13 again. During the above-mentioned process, the heat exchange will also be performed between the thermal conductive material 12 and the volatile liquid 13 quickly. Finally, the heat energy absorbed by the rough inner surface 111 will be conducted to the outer surface 101 and the radiating fins 14, and then dissipated to the outside. Since the thermal conductive material 12 of the present invention cooperates with the evaporation of the volatile liquid 13 to immediately conduct the heat source, and the heat sink 10 made by thermal conductive material and the radiating fins 14 can also conduct the heat energy immediately, the present invention can perform the heat exchange circulation quickly and efficiently, thus producing a direct and better conduction efficiency (almost higher than the conduction efficiency of the diamond).
Referring to FIG. 2, it is to be noted that the heat exchange circulation can be produced by cooperating with the thermal conductive material 12 and the volatile liquid 13 only by defining the airtight space 11 in the heat sink 10. In the present embodiment, the heat sink 10 is designed to be reverse Z-shaped, and the airtight space 11 is also bended to be reverse Z-shaped, such that one end of the heat sink 10 enables the heat source (not shown) to store in an equipment, and the other end of the heat sink 10 enables the radiating fins 14 to extend out of the equipment to dissipate heat.
Thereby, the size and the bending angle of the heat sink 10 of the present invention can be changed according to the requirements, and the radiating fins 14 can cooperate with the thermal conductive material 12 and the volatile liquid 13 to dissipate heat only by arranging the radiating fins 14 on the outer surface of the equipment.
Referring to FIG. 3, another embodiment in accordance with the present invention is shown, the heat sink 10 is applied to a lamp equipment 30. The heat sink 10 is designed to be stored in the equipment, one end of the heat sink 10 absorbs the heat source 31, and the other end of the heat sink 10 enables the radiating fins 14 to extend out of the lamp equipment 30 to dissipate heat.
To summarize, the heat sink of the present invention is disposed on the heat source and is made by thermal conductive material. In the heat sink is defined the vacuum airtight space. The thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid are filled in the airtight space, and the plurality of radiating fins is equidistantly arranged on the outer surface of the heat sink.
By such arrangements, the present invention can perform the heat exchange quickly and efficiently and its shape can be changed freely.
While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A heat sink disposed on a heat source and made by thermal conductive material, in the heat sink being defined a vacuum airtight space filled with a heat thermal conductive material and a volatile liquid, the thermal conductive material cooperating with the volatile liquid to perform a heat exchange circulation, and the heat sink being connected to the thermal conductive material and the volatile liquid to dissipate heat energy to the outside.

2. The heat sink as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outer surface of the heat sink is arranged with a plurality of radiating fins.

3. The heat sink as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat sink is provided with a bending angle, and the airtight space of the heat sink is bended accordingly.

4. The heat sink as claimed in claim 1, wherein an inner surface of the heat sink is designed to be a rough inner surface.

5. The heat sink as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat sink is provided with a copper tube connected to the airtight space in the heat sink and used to vacuum the airtight space and to inject the volatile liquid into the airtight space.

6. The heat sink as claimed in claim 5, wherein the copper tube is a three-way tube and is connected to a vacuum tube and an injecting tube, the vacuum tube and the injecting tube are provided with a valve, respectively, the vacuum tube is used to vacuum the airtight space, and the injecting tube is provided for injecting the volatile liquid into the airtight space.

7. The heat sink as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thermal conductive material is selected from the group consisting of a steel wool, a copper wool and a wire-shaped thermal conductive material.

8. The heat sink as claimed in claim 1, wherein the volatile liquid is the liquid with a lower vaporizing temperature.

9. The heat sink as claimed in claim 8, wherein the volatile liquid is a compound liquid of alcohol, ether and water, and a compound proportion of the compound liquid is set according to a working temperature.

10. The heat sink as claimed in claim 2, wherein the radiating fins are disposed outside the heat sink and are equidistantly arranged.

11. The heat sink as claimed in claim 10, wherein the radiating fins cooperate with an air-cooled fan to improve cooling effect.

12. The heat sink as claimed in claim 2, wherein the radiating fins cooperate with an air-cooled fan to improve cooling effect.