GB2424522A - Low-noise cooling method and apparatus for computer - Google Patents

Low-noise cooling method and apparatus for computer Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2424522A
GB2424522A GB0505973A GB0505973A GB2424522A GB 2424522 A GB2424522 A GB 2424522A GB 0505973 A GB0505973 A GB 0505973A GB 0505973 A GB0505973 A GB 0505973A GB 2424522 A GB2424522 A GB 2424522A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
fan
computer host
gate
driving
electric gate
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB0505973A
Other versions
GB0505973D0 (en
Inventor
Teng-Chieh Liu
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd filed Critical Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Priority to GB0505973A priority Critical patent/GB2424522A/en
Publication of GB0505973D0 publication Critical patent/GB0505973D0/en
Publication of GB2424522A publication Critical patent/GB2424522A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
    • G06F1/20—Cooling means
    • G06F1/206—Cooling means comprising thermal management
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
    • H05K7/00—Constructional details common to different types of electric apparatus
    • H05K7/20—Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating
    • H05K7/20009—Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating using a gaseous coolant in electronic enclosures
    • H05K7/20136—Forced ventilation, e.g. by fans
    • H05K7/20172—Fan mounting or fan specifications

Abstract

A computer is cooled by a fan 3 associated with an electrically-actuated louver 21 which can be set to an appropriate position corresponding to the sensed internal temperature range or fan speed. The fan speed may be controlled together with the louver. The invention provided for closing of the louver and a reduced fan speed when the temperature falls so as to reduce the level of noise emitted.

Description

LOW-NOISE COOLING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR
COMPUTER HOST
The invention relates to cooling technology for computer hosts, and more particularly to a low-noise cooling method and apparatus for a computer host.
Traditional computer hosts use the fan arranged on the back panel to dissipate the heat generated during operation. Recently, it is often seen that another fan installed on the front panel of a computer host because the power consumption of current CPU tremendously increases.
However, inevitably, the noise generated by the fan, no matter on the back panel fan or the front panel fan, is annoying and badly affects the user if there is no proper isolation for the noise. Moreover, the noise will influence moods to the user and damage the hearing of the user.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a lownoise cooling method and apparatus for a computer host so as to suppress noise generated by a fan in the computer host and thus reduce the effect of the noise on the user.
The present invention provides a fan and an electric gate for a computer host. The electric gate opens and closes in proportion to changes of the interior temperature of the computer host or rotation speeds of the fan.
In this way, the noise generated by the fan is reduced by the electrical gate, which has a slightly open state when the interior temperature of the computer host or the rotation speed of the fan decreases.
In addition, the rotation speeds of the fan change in proportion to the changes of the interior temperature. As a result, when the interior temperature of the computer host reduces, the noise generated by the fan is reduced because the open state of the electrical gate becomes smaller and the rotation speed of the fan decreases.
Obviously, once the noise generated by the fan is decreased by the reduced interior temperature of the computer host or the reduced rotation io speed of the fan, the probability of the noise affecting to the user is also reduced. Therefore, the power consumption of the fan is decreased due to the reduced rotation speed of the fan.
The present invention will now be specified with reference to its preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which FIG. 1 shows a schematic view depicting the preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG.2 through FIG. 4 show the operation of the referred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG.5 shows a schematic block diagram depicting the control circuit of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view depicting of the present cooling apparatus. In FIG. 1, a vent 11 is formed on a front panel 10 of a computer host 1. The vent 11 includes an electric gate 2 installed therein. The electric gate 2 further includes a frame 20 mounted to the vent 11 and a plurality of blades 21 which are parallel to each other and rotatably connected to the frame 20. Two ends of each blade 21 are respectively connected to one side and the opposite side of the frame. The electric gate 2 further includes a driving device (shown in FIG.5) having a motor and a transmission system (not shown). Via the transmission system, the motor drives the blades 21 to rotate synchronously.
Referring to FIG.2, the computer host 1 includes a fan 3 installed therein. The fan 3 is provided for circulating airflow of the interior of the computer host 1 to the exterior of the computer host 1 when the electric gate 2 is opened. As shown in FIG. 2, the blades 21 rotate synchronously to horizontal positions, which means that the electric gate 2 is fully opened. In other words, the electric gate 2 is in a fully open state, which means the blades 21 of the electric gate 2 rotate synchronously to an angle of 90 degree clockwise.
FIG.3 shows the blades 21 of the electric gate 2 rotate synchronously to an angle of 45 degree, which means that the electric gate 2 is in a half open state.
FIG.4 shows the blades 21 of the electric gate 2 partially overlap with each other, which means that the electric gate 2 is in a fully close state.
That is, the rotation angle of the blades 21 is in an angle of zero degree. At the same time, the fan 3 is motionless.
From the above description, it is understood that the state of the electric gate 2 can be opened or tilted from a zero degree (fully close state) to a 90 degree (fully open state). In addition, the smaller the tilted angle of the electric gate 2, the higher the quietness. Therefore, the present invention uses the angle-variable electric gate 2 to suppress the noise generated by the fan 3. Meanwhile, the rotation speed of the fan 3 is reduced in response to the reduced temperature in the interior of the host I. As a result, the power consumption of the fan 3 is also reduced and much higher electricity is thus saved.
FIG.5 shows a schematic view depicting the block diagram of a control circuit 4 installed in the interior of the computer host 1. The control circuit 4 includes a temperature sensor 40, a gate driving circuit 41, a fan driving circuit 42, and a microprocessor 43. The temperature sensor 40 is provided for sensing the interior temperature of the computer host 1 and the gate driving circuit 41 is provided for driving the electric gate 2 to rotate.
The fan driving circuit 42 is provided for driving the fan 3. In addition, the microprocessor 43 is provided for controlling the open/close state of the electric gate 2 via the gate driving circuit 41 and the rotation speed of the fan 3 via the fan driving circuit 42 according to a sensed condition sensed by the temperature sensor 40 and a pre-determined table.
In particular, the pre-determined table defines the corresponding relationships among a plurality of temperature ranges of the computer host 1, a plurality of open/close states of the electric gate 2 and a plurality of rotation speeds of the fan 3. One embodiment of the table is shown as follows.
Temperature Range Open/close State (angle) Rotation Speed Above 40[.I Fully Open (90 ) Full Speed Li 40 [11 Half Open (45 ) Half Speed 30L135fl Quarter Open (15 ) Quarter Speed below 30L1 Fully close (0 ) 0 Therefore, after acquiring the internal temperature of the computer host 1, the microprocessor 43 is able to locate the corresponding angle and the corresponding rotation based on the pre-deterrnined table so as to drive the electric gate 2 rotating to the desired angle and the fan 3 rotating at the desired rotation speed. For example, when the interior temperature of the computer host 1 sensed by the temperature sensor 40 is 38-centigrade degree, the microprocessor 43 drives the electric gate 2 rotating to the angle 45 degree via the gate driving circuit 41, according to the above table. Also as shown in FTG.3, the microprocessor 43 simultaneously drives the fan 3 rotating at the rotation speed of 1800 rpm via the fan driving circuit 42.
Furthermore, the control circuit 4 of the present invention could further comprise a detecting circuit (not shown) provided for detecting rotation speeds of the fan 3.
In the above embodiment, although the openlclose states of the electric gate 2 is varied according to the interior temperature of the computer host 1, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to contemplate that the io open/close states of the electric gate 2 could be varied according to the rotation speeds of the fan 3.
In addition, FIG.5 further shows the present invention comprises a display device 5, mounted to the front panel 10 of the computer host 1 and electrically connected to the microprocessor 43 is of the control circuit 4 for displaying the interior temperature of the computer host 1. The display device 5 can be further applied to display the operation conditions of the electric gate 2 and the fan 3, such as the open/close state of the electric gate 2, the current rotation speed of the fan 3 and so on.
While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (3)

  1. CLAIMS: 1. A low-noise cooling method for a computer host, comprising the
    steps of: providing an electric gate and a fan for mounting to the computer host; defining a plurality of temperature ranges for the computer host and a plurality of openlclose states for the electric gate, each temperature range corresponding to one open/close state; acquiring an interior temperature of the computer host; locating the temperature range corresponding to the interior io temperature of the computer host; and driving the electric gate to have the open/close state of the electric gate corresponding to the temperature range.
  2. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of defining a plurality of temperature ranges for the computer host and a plurality of is open/close states for the electric gate further comprises: defining a plurality of rotation speeds for the fan, each temperature range corresponding to one open/close state of the electric gate and one rotation speed of the fan; and wherein the step of driving the electric gate further comprises driving the fan to have the rotation speed of the fan corresponding to the temperature range.
  3. 3. The low-noise computer host according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit further comprises a fan driving circuit, connected to the microprocessor and the fan, and wherein the pre-determined table further is defines with rotation speeds of the fan corresponding to the temperature ranges respectively, whereby according to the interior temperature of the housing sensed by the temperature sensor and the predetermined table, the fan driving circuit is controlled by the microprocessor so as to control rotation speeds of the fan.
    3. A low-noise cooling method for a computer host which includes a fan, the method comprising the steps of: providing an electric gate for mounting to the computer host; defining a plurality of rotation speeds for the fan and a plurality of open/close states for the electric gate, each rotation speed corresponding to one openlclose state; acquiring an actual rotation speed of the fan; locating the rotation speed of the fan corresponding to the actual io rotation speed of the fan; and driving the electric gate to have the open/close state of the electric gate corresponding to the rotation speed of the fan.
    4. A low-noise apparatus for a computer host comprising: an electric gate, mounted to the computer host; a fan, installed in an interior of the computer host and provided for circulating airflow of the interior of the computer host to the exterior of the computer host when the electric gate is opened; and a control circuit, installed in the interior of the computer host and provided for controlling open/close states of the electric gate.
    5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control circuit further comprises: - 10 - a temperature sensor, provided for sensing an interior temperature of the computer host; a gate driving circuit, provided for driving the electric gate; and a microprocessor, provided for controlling the gate driving circuit corresponding to a sensed condition sensed by the temperature sensor.
    6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control circuit further comprises: a temperature sensor, provided for sensing an interior temperature of the computer host; a gate driving circuit, provided for driving the electric gate; a fan driving circuit, provided for driving the fan; and a microprocessor, provided for controlling the gate driving circuit and the fan driving circuit corresponding to a sensed condition sensed by the temperature sensor.
    7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control circuit further comprises: a detecting circuit, provided for detecting rotation speeds of the fan.
    8. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the electric gate further comprises: a frame, mounted to a vent of the computer host; a plurality of blades, being parallel to each other and being rotatably connected to the frame, wherein two ends of each blade are respectively connected to one side and the opposite side of the frame; and a driving device, including a motor and a transmission system, the motor driving the blades to rotate synchronously via the transmission system.
    9. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the electric gate further comprises: a frame, mounted to a vent of the computer host; a plurality of blades, being parallel to each other and being rotatably connected to the frame, wherein two ends of each blade are respectively io connected to one side and the opposite side of the frame; and a driving device, including a motor and a transmission system, the motor driving the blades to rotate synchronously via the transmission system.
    10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the electric gate further comprises: a frame, mounted to a vent of the computer host; a plurality of blades, being parallel to each other and being rotatably connected to the frame, wherein two ends of each blade are respectively connected to one side and the opposite side of the frame; and a driving device, including a motor and a transmission system, the motor driving the blades to rotate synchronously via the transmission system.
    11. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: - 12 - a display device, electrically connected to the microprocessor and provided for displaying the interior temperature of the computer host.
    12. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: a display device, electrically connected to the microprocessor and provided for displaying the interior temperature of the computer host.
    13. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: a display device, electrically connected to the microprocessor and provided for displaying the interior temperature of the computer host.
    14. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising: a display device, electrically connected to the microprocessor and provided for displaying the interior temperature of the computer host.
    15. An apparatus as herein described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
    Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A low-noise computer host comprising: a housing, having a front panel which has a vent formed thereon; a gate, installed in the vent and comprising: a frame, having an outlet connected with the vent, and an inlet; a plurality of blades, rotatably installed in the outlet of the frame; and a driving device, provided for driving the blades to rotate; a fan, installed in the inlet of the frame for dissipating the heat generated from the interior of the housing to the exterior of the housing via the vent of the housing; and a control circuit, installed in the housing for controlling the driving device of the gate and the fan, and comprising: is a temperature sensor, provided for sensing the interior temperature of the housing; a gate driving circuit, connected to the driving device of the gate; and a microprocessor, connected to the temperature sensor and the gate driving circuit, and having a pre- determined table installed therein, wherein the pre-determined table defines with temperature ranges of the housing and openlclose states of the gate, and the temperature ranges are corresponding to the open/close states respectively, whereby according to the interior temperature of the housing sensed by the temperature sensor and the pre- determined table, the gate driving circuit is controlled by the microprocessor so as to drive the driving device of the gate to have the blades rotated.
    2. The low-noise computer host according to claim 1, further comprising a display device, mounted to the front panel of the housing and connected to the microprocessor for displaying the interior temperature of the housing.
GB0505973A 2005-03-23 2005-03-23 Low-noise cooling method and apparatus for computer Withdrawn GB2424522A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0505973A GB2424522A (en) 2005-03-23 2005-03-23 Low-noise cooling method and apparatus for computer

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0505973A GB2424522A (en) 2005-03-23 2005-03-23 Low-noise cooling method and apparatus for computer

Publications (2)

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GB0505973D0 GB0505973D0 (en) 2005-04-27
GB2424522A true GB2424522A (en) 2006-09-27

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2020023149A1 (en) * 2018-07-26 2020-01-30 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Adaptive airflow guides in an electronic device

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5552112A (en) * 1978-10-12 1980-04-16 Mitsubishi Electric Corp Temperature control unit for electronic unit
JPH05126352A (en) * 1991-11-05 1993-05-21 Hitachi Ltd Cooling apparatus accomodating electronic device
JPH11177265A (en) * 1997-12-05 1999-07-02 Nec Corp Case cooling system
JP2002196840A (en) * 2000-12-25 2002-07-12 Toshiba Corp Computer case body and in-case body temperature control method

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5552112A (en) * 1978-10-12 1980-04-16 Mitsubishi Electric Corp Temperature control unit for electronic unit
JPH05126352A (en) * 1991-11-05 1993-05-21 Hitachi Ltd Cooling apparatus accomodating electronic device
JPH11177265A (en) * 1997-12-05 1999-07-02 Nec Corp Case cooling system
JP2002196840A (en) * 2000-12-25 2002-07-12 Toshiba Corp Computer case body and in-case body temperature control method

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2020023149A1 (en) * 2018-07-26 2020-01-30 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Adaptive airflow guides in an electronic device
US10732681B2 (en) 2018-07-26 2020-08-04 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Adaptive airflow guides in an electronic device
CN112513468A (en) * 2018-07-26 2021-03-16 微软技术许可有限责任公司 Adaptive airflow guide in an electronic device
CN112513468B (en) * 2018-07-26 2023-02-17 微软技术许可有限责任公司 Adaptive airflow guide in an electronic device

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