CN100391324C - Electronic device cooling mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a heat dissipation mechanism of an electronic device, which utilizes one end of a heat conduction metal sheet to be connected with a heating element in the electronic device, and the other end of the heat conduction metal sheet is attached to a heat dissipation opening area of a shell, so that heat generated by the heating element is effectively conducted to the surface of the shell and dissipated through a heat dissipation opening. The heat dissipation mechanism is also suitable for small and portable electronic devices, and can effectively solve the problem that the small electronic devices are difficult to dissipate heat.

Description

Electronic device cooling mechanism

technical field

The invention relates to a heat dissipation mechanism, in particular to a heat dissipation mechanism which utilizes a heat conducting metal sheet to conduct heat energy to the outside of an electronic device for heat exchange.

Background technique

Some electronic device components, such as the central processing unit and north bridge chip in the computer, will generate a lot of heat due to the impedance consumption of electrical energy during the process of transmitting or processing electrical signals. If the heat is not dissipated effectively, it will affect the performance of the electronic device , loss of service life, what's more, it will be damaged and cannot be used. Therefore, if an electronic device has the above-mentioned elements that generate a large amount of heat energy, the heat dissipation problem must be considered during design to ensure the operating performance of the device and prolong the life of the device. At present, there are many heat dissipation methods used in various fields and devices. According to the requirements and the objective conditions of the devices, different heat dissipation methods can be used in the design to achieve the purpose of heat dissipation.

Generally, for the purpose of protecting electronic devices, protecting users, or for aesthetic purposes, the electronic components are often placed in a casing, such as computers, TVs, walkmans, etc. Most of the components are covered in plastic casings. However, in this way, the heat generated by the electronic components is easy to accumulate in the casing and damage the electronic device. A common heat dissipation method for electronic devices (such as computers) with such a structure is to install a heat dissipation device on the heating element of the electronic device, such as a fan, cooling fins, etc., so that the heat energy is first transferred from the heating element to the air in the housing. Furthermore, a plurality of cooling holes are provided on the housing, so that heat can be dissipated to the outside of the housing through heat convection. In order to increase heat convection efficiency, a fan can also be added to allow the fan to generate forced convection to accelerate the removal of heat energy in the casing.

Heat dissipation fins, heat dissipation openings, fans, etc. are all heat dissipation methods, which are used together according to different needs. The heat dissipation method of the heat dissipation hole usually needs to cooperate with other devices to increase the heat convection efficiency, such as the above-mentioned fan. However, using a fan consumes power and also takes up space, which is not suitable for some electronic devices (such as thumb drives, wireless network cards, etc.). However, if only the heat dissipation holes are simply used, the heat dissipation efficiency is not good. Therefore, the present invention proposes a heat dissipation mechanism of an electronic device. Although the heat is dissipated out of the casing through the heat dissipation openings, it has better heat dissipation efficiency.

Contents of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a heat dissipation mechanism of an electronic device, so that the heat of the heating element of the electronic device can be effectively dissipated through the heat dissipation opening of the casing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat dissipation mechanism suitable for small, portable electronic devices to effectively dissipate the generated heat. For the consideration of use, in order to prevent the human skin from being burned by the elements of the heat dissipation mechanism, the design of the heat dissipation opening area is partially restricted, so that the human skin will not be trapped in the opening and touch the heat conducting metal sheet and be burned.

A heat dissipation mechanism of an electronic device according to the present invention comprises: a substrate on which at least one heating element is fixed; a casing on which the substrate is fixed, wherein at least one heat dissipation opening area includes a plurality of openings penetrating through the casing; and a thermally conductive metal sheet formed with at least two ends, one end connected to the heating element, and at least the other end connected to and attached to at least one of the heat dissipation openings.

The heat dissipation mechanism of the present invention can conduct heat from the heating element to the heat dissipation opening area, and exchange heat with the external cold air through the opening to dissipate heat.

Description of drawings

1A and 1B are an external view and a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the heat dissipation mechanism disclosed in the present invention;

Fig. 1C is a schematic structural diagram of a clamping element of a fixing element;

FIG. 1D is a structural schematic diagram of another fixing element screw;

FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of a structure for fixing a heat-conducting metal sheet;

FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram of a structure with a recessed portion;

FIG. 1G is a schematic structural view of a sheet-like heat-conducting metal sheet;

FIG. 1H is a schematic structural view of another sheet-shaped heat-conducting metal sheet;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a general small electronic device; and

3A and 3B are schematic diagrams of the design of the heat dissipation opening area applied to small electronic devices and a schematic diagram of the interior of the mechanism viewed from the direction 3B-3B.

Detailed ways

Some embodiments of the invention are described in detail below. However, the invention may be practiced broadly in other embodiments than those described in detail, and the scope of the invention is not limited except as defined by the appended claims.

In addition, in order to make the drawings show the features of the invention more concisely and clearly, the related drawings omit some connectors for external signal transmission, and also omit some mechanism parts not related to heat dissipation, and focus on explaining the structure of the heat dissipation mechanism.

1A and 1B are an external view of a preferred embodiment of the heat dissipation mechanism of an electronic device disclosed in the present invention and a cross-sectional view viewed from the 1B-1B section. At least one heating element 102 is fixed on the substrate 100 , which is the main source of heat generation in the electronic device, and includes other elements 103 . In this embodiment, a preferred material of the substrate 100 is a printed circuit board (PCB). The substrate 100, the heating element 102 and other elements 103 are placed in the housing 104. The housing 104 has a plurality of openings distributed in different areas. These openings allow heat to flow from the electronic device to the outside of the device. For convenience of description, each relatively dense group of holes is called a heat dissipation hole area, and the housing 104 includes more than one heat dissipation hole area (eg, 106 , 107 ). Certainly, the heat dissipating hole area may only contain one hole, and the present invention does not limit the number of holes.

In the drawing, the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 is made into a long strip with bent ends, one end of which is connected to the above-mentioned heating element 102 , and the other end is connected and attached to the heat dissipation hole area 106 . It should be noted here that the present invention is not limited to the appearance shape of the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 , nor is it limited to only being able to connect to a heating element or a heat-dissipating hole area. For example, the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 can be designed in a Y-shape, one end of which is connected to the heating element, and the other two ends are respectively connected to different heat dissipation opening areas. That is, the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 can be bonded to a plurality of heat-dissipating hole regions.

In order to distinguish clearly, the heat dissipation opening area bonded with the heat conducting metal sheet is called a heat exchange area, for example, the heat dissipation opening area 106 is a heat exchange area. The thermally conductive metal sheet 108 is made of a metal material with high thermal conductivity, usually such as copper, aluminum or other alloy materials. The thermally conductive metal sheet 108 and the heating element 102 can be pasted and fixed by a viscous thermally conductive substance such as thermally conductive glue. The other end connected to the heat dissipation hole area 106 utilizes some fixing elements, such as the clip 140 in FIG. 1C , cooperates to form the front end 141 of the heat-conducting metal sheet as shown in the accompanying drawing, and can insert the clip 140 to fix the heat-conducting metal sheet. 108 is placed under the housing 104, or a screw 150 is used to fix the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 (refer to FIG. 1D ). Of course, the shape of the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 can also be specially designed so that when it is assembled and combined with the housing 104, the end of the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 attached to the heat dissipation opening area 106 is just below the heat dissipation opening area 106 and naturally attached to the heat dissipation opening area 106. The heat dissipation opening area 106 avoids the use of fixing elements such as screws and bolts; or further, as shown in FIG. The part 1081 is aligned and inserted into the opening of the heat dissipation hole area 106, so that the structure and shape of the heat conduction metal sheet 108 can be tightly fixed in the heat dissipation opening area to fix the heat conduction metal sheet 108; or even as shown in FIG. 1F, it can be The housing 104 is designed to have a recess 1041 for fixing the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 . Of course, the structure of the recessed portion 1041 is not limited to what is shown in the figure, and can also be appropriately changed according to requirements. Or use a sheet-shaped heat-conducting metal sheet 108 (as shown in FIG. 1G ), sandwich it between the heat-dissipating hole area 106 and the heating element 102 during assembly, and fix it with heat-conducting glue or glue, so that the structure of the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 can be simplified. Minimize and reduce the thickness of electronic devices. In addition, if the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 is completely attached to the housing 104, and the heating element 102 is directly sandwiched by the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 during assembly, so that the structural shape of the heat-conducting metal sheet can be tightly fixed on the housing 104, then Furthermore, the heat-conducting glue and the fixing element can be subtracted, and no additional device is needed to fix the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 at all.

In addition, several heat dissipation opening areas can be left without making them stick to the heat-conducting metal sheet, which is purely used for heat convection, that is, the present invention does not limit the number of heat exchange areas, and the heat dissipation opening areas are not necessarily bonded. A heat dissipation metal sheet forms a heat exchange area.

When the heating element 102 in the electronic device generates a large amount of heat, the temperature of the place where the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 contacts the heating element 102 is higher than that where the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 contacts the cooling hole area 106 and the outside cold air. According to the principle of heat conduction, heat will be transferred from high temperature to low temperature. When the heat is transferred to the heat exchange area 106, the external cold air contacts the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 through a plurality of openings on the top to perform heat exchange and achieve the purpose of heat dissipation.

In addition, it must be noted that the heat dissipation mechanism disclosed in the invention can be connected to the heat dissipation opening area of the housing through a heat conducting metal sheet as the main heat dissipation area, and the heat dissipation opening area is not as shown in Figure 1B, it can only be located in the Right above the heating element 102 or the substrate 100; therefore, no matter in any direction or area of the housing 104, a heat dissipation hole area can be opened as required, and it can be used as a main heat dissipation area.

In addition, the structure proposed by the present invention is also suitable for small, portable electronic devices, such as thumb drives, wireless network cards, etc., so as to effectively improve the problem of difficult heat dissipation of such devices. FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a common small electronic device at present. There is a heating element 202 on the substrate 200 , which is sealed in a casing 204 . The heat generated by the heating element 202 exchanges heat with the air in the housing 204 and is distributed to different areas of the housing 204 by convection inside the device. Due to the narrow space inside the device, it is not as good as large-scale electronic devices that can disperse heat to various regions to cool down when the internal convection is performed, so the heat is easy to accumulate in the small space.

In addition, if the heat is dissipated only by providing heat dissipation holes, only a small amount of heat in the housing can be dissipated. The heat dissipation openings that can be opened in small electronic devices are relatively small, and air circulation and convection are relatively difficult. Due to the limitations of internal space and power supply, most of them do not allow fans to be installed to enhance convection. The following table is a comparison table of heat dissipation effects obtained through simulation of different heat dissipation methods applied to the small electronic device in Fig. 2. The last item of which uses the heat dissipation mechanism of the present invention is to set a heat dissipation opening area with multiple openings and a heat dissipation opening area. The heat dissipation result of the heat-conducting metal sheet.

cooling method Chip Surface Temperature (Celsius) completely sealed 98.39 Add a copper sheet on the heating element (without heat dissipation opening) 96.12 Open a hole on the shell (without heat dissipation metal sheet) 96.29 Open multiple openings on the shell (without heat dissipation metal sheet) 96.05 Heat dissipation mechanism of the present invention 61.78

It can be seen from the results in the above table that the chip surface temperature of small electronic devices is always much higher because it is difficult to dissipate heat by convection through the heat dissipation holes.

When the heat dissipation mechanism of the present invention is applied to small electronic devices, it can be specially designed to prevent users from being burned due to inadvertent contact with the heat-conducting metal sheet 108 , so an anti-scald design can be considered. FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of the design of the heat dissipation opening area (especially the heat exchange area) applied to a small electronic device, and FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of the inside of the mechanism viewed from the side view from the direction 3B-3B. The opening can be designed as a mesh 304 , a circle 307 or a strip 306 , and a heat-conducting metal sheet 308 can be pasted underneath.

The opening size and depth of the heat exchange area can be designed according to requirements so that human skin does not touch the heat conducting metal sheet 308 , especially when the heat conducting metal sheet is fixed as shown in FIG. 1E . For example, the casing is usually formed by injection molding, and its thickness is slightly greater than 1 mm. The heat exchange area can be designed as a mesh (such as 304), circular (such as 307), the size of the opening can be less than 2mm, or a long strip (such as 306), the width can be less than 1.5mm, to prevent the skin from sinking into the opening Touch the heat dissipation metal sheet 308 and burn yourself. Of course, the heat dissipation opening area 307 not pasted with the heat conduction metal sheet does not necessarily need to comply with the above restrictions. In addition, the housing 302 itself can be made of materials that are not easy to conduct heat and have low thermal conductivity, such as acrylic or plastic, so as to avoid scalding human skin.

The design of the above-mentioned heat dissipation opening area, especially the heat exchange area, is only to illustrate the feasible implementation mode of the present invention. The opening design can be based on the principle of preventing human skin (especially fingers) from being burned, and it is not limited to the above examples The size of the implementation. When the various heat dissipation mechanisms in Figures 1A to 1H are used as heat dissipation mechanisms for small, portable electronic devices, some mechanism components can be reduced as described above, which can be regarded as another preferred embodiment of the present invention. .

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the application for patent rights of the present invention; at the same time, the above descriptions should be clear and implementable for those who are familiar with the technical field, so other Equivalent changes or modifications accomplished under the disclosed spirit shall be included in the scope defined by the following claims of the present application.

Claims (14)

1. a cooling mechanism is applied to portable electronic device, and this cooling mechanism comprises:

One substrate, at least one heater element is fixed in this substrate;

One housing, this substrate is fixed in this housing, and wherein, at least one heat radiation aperture area comprises plurality of openings and connects this housing; And

One thermal conductive metal plate connects this heater element, and fits at least one this heat radiation aperture area;

Wherein this housing forms with a low heat conductivity material.

2. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this thermal conductive metal plate connects this heater element by a stickiness conduction material.

3. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this low heat conductivity material comprises acryl.

4. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this low heat conductivity material comprises plastic cement.

5. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1, it is netted to it is characterized in that this plurality of openings is designed to, and this perforate is arranged to not make human body skin to be absorbed in this perforate and is touched this thermal conductive metal plate.

6. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this plurality of openings is designed to circle, and this perforate is arranged to not make human body skin to be absorbed in this perforate and is touched this thermal conductive metal plate.

7. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this plurality of openings is designed to strip, and this perforate is arranged to not make human body skin to be absorbed in this perforate and is touched this thermal conductive metal plate.

8. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this thermal conductive metal plate is fixed in this heat radiation aperture area by a retaining element.

9. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 8 is characterized in that this retaining element comprises a snib.

10. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 8 is characterized in that this retaining element comprises a screw.

11. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1, but it is characterized in that this thermal conductive metal plate planform just driving fit be fixed in this heat radiation aperture area.

12. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this thermal conductive metal plate comprises a plurality of protuberances, fills in this perforate of being fixed in this heat radiation aperture area.

13. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that this housing has a depressed part and fixes this thermal conductive metal plate.

14. cooling mechanism as claimed in claim 1, but it is characterized in that this thermal conductive metal plate planform just driving fit be fixed in this housing.

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