GB2433352A

GB2433352A - Computer with fan-less power supply.

Info

Publication number: GB2433352A
Application number: GB0525267A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mou-Ming Ma; Shiang-Chich Tseng
Original assignee: Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2005-12-13
Filing date: 2005-12-13
Publication date: 2007-06-20
Anticipated expiration: 2025-12-13
Also published as: GB2433352B; GB0525267D0

Abstract

A computer 1 comprises a fan-less power supply 2 and a separate fan 16 located on an outlet 18 on the chassis 10. Heat pipe (3, Fig 1) extends from the power supply having a second portion 32 located across the fan outlet and at least one fin 34. The heat pipe is cooled by the fan. A duct (36, Fig 4) or flow pipe (38, Fig 5) may be provided to direct the airflow of the fan onto the heat pipe.

Description

S 2433352

FAN-LESS POWER SUPPLY OF COMPUTER HAVING HEAT

DISSIPATING DEVICE

The present invention relates to a power supply of a computer having a heat dissipating device, and more particular to a fan-less power supply of a computer having a heat dissipating device.

The power supply is used and integrated in most of electrical equipments, or exhibited in the model of the integrated plug of the transforming rectifier, e.g. the power supply for the desk light.

However, the integrated power supply could not be used in the computer. The situations of power supply are multiform since there are many kinds of devices existing in the computer, e.g. the central processing unit, motherboard, floppy, compact disc, hard disk, graphic card and audio card. The multiform situations of the power supply could not be overcome by the simple integrated power supply, and thus an integrated power supply which could supply the power in many ways is developed.

The heat produced by the rectifying and transforming functions of the power supply is very huge. The electrical devices in the power supply would be damaged if the heat continues to be accumulated. A heat dissipating system of a computer is developed for avoiding the above situation. For the moment, the most popular device used in the heat dissipating system of the computer is a fan, and a hot air existing in the power supply would be exhausted thereby directly.

Living in such a modern life, people further seek for a high qualit' of life, so that the noise caused by the fan could not be borne by the people. For overcoming the noise issue, an air motive external of the fan is to be improved. However, the noise issue could not be overcome by this improvement completely. Thus, a fan-less power supply is presented to the public for overcoming the noise issue. The feature of the fan-less power supply is that the heat produced by the power supply is conducted to an outside of the power supply via a heat pipe (or named as a heat duct) rather than a fan, and thus the noise issue caused by the fan could be overcome.

Since the fan is not used in the power supply anymore, the heat is only dissipated through the natural convection produced by using the heat pipe to heat the air around the heat pipe when the heat was conducted to the outside of the power supply. Therefore, the dissipating efficiency of the fan-less power supply is improved. Besides, in this case, it is just taking a superfluous action to further add a fan on the power supply.

Consequently, a fan-less power supply which could improve the dissipating efficiency without the fan is needed.

The main aspect of the present invention is to provide a heat dissipating system of a computer with which a heat produced by a power supply could be dissipated efficiently.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, the heat dissipating system of a computer includes a fan placed on an outlet of the computer, and a power supply having a heat pipe with a fin, wherein the fin is extended to the outlet via the heat pipe, and a temperature of the power supply is decreased via blowing the fin with the fan.

Preferably, the heat dissipating system of a computer further comprising a duct sited on the outlet of the computer for concentrating an air of the fan to the fin.

Preferably, a heat of the computer is dissipated to an outside of the computer by the fan.

Preferably, the heat pipe is extended outwardly from the computer.

Preferably, a heat of the power supply is received by the heat pipe and conducted to an outside of the power supply.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a fan-less power supply of a computer having a heat dissipating device and a case is provided. The provided fan-less power supply of a computer having a heat dissipating device and a case includes a power supply main body, a heat pipe having a first end sited on the power supply main body and a second end outwardly extending from the power supply main body, and a fin connected with the heat pipe.

Preferably, the heat dissipating device comprises a systematic fan.

Preferably, a heat of the computer is dissipated to an outside of the computer by the heat dissipating device.

Preferably, a heat of the power supply main body is received by the first end and then conducted to an outside of the power supply main body via the second end.

Preferably, the fin is connected to the heat dissipating device of the computer for decreasing a temperature of the power supply main body via the heat dissipating device of the computer.

Preferably, the power supply main body is set in the case of the computer.

Preferably, the fan-less power supply of a computer further comprising a duct set on a surrounding of the fin.

Preferably, the fin is connected to the heat dissipating device of the computer via the duct.

Preferably, an exhausting air of the heat dissipating device is concentrated to the fin by the duct.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, a method for dissipating a heat of a fan-less power supply set on a systematic heat dissipating device of a computer is provided. The provided method for dissipating a heat of a fan-less power supply set on a systematic heat dissipating device of a computer includes steps of: (1) providing a heat pipe extended from an inner of the fan-less power supply to an outer of the computer, (2) setting a fin on the heat pipe, (3) mounting the fin to a specific position so as to be cooled by the systematic heat dissipating device of the computer, and (4) starting the systematic heat dissipating device.

Preferably, a heat of the fan-less power supply is received by the heat pipe and conducted to an outside of the fan-less power supply.

Preferably, the fin is mounted to the specific position via a duct.

Preferably, an exhausting air of the systematic heat dissipating device is concentrated to the fin by the duct.

The above contents and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed descriptions and accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fan-less power supply of a computer in the present invention; Fig. 2 is a rear view of a fan-less power supply of the computer in the present invention; Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the heat pipe shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a systematic fan and a duct of the present invention; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a deflecting flow pipe of the computer in the present invention; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of another deflecting flow pipe of the computer in the present invention.

The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purposes of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.

Please refer to the Fig. 1, which shows a perspective view of a fan-less power supply of a computer in the present invention. The computer 1 includes a mainframe case 10, and a disk cartridge array 12, a motherboard 14 and a power supply 2 are disposed therein. Heat produced by the power supply 2 is exhausted by a systematic fan 16 which is placed on an outlet 18 of the mainframe case 10.

The main feature of the present invention is related to the application of the power supply 2. The power supply 2 is a fan-less power supply, the heat produced thereby is not exhausted to the outside of the power supply 2 by a forcing convection method which uses a fan to drive the air.

Instead, the heat is conducted to the outside of the power supply 2 by a heat pipe 3, and a case 20 is set on the power supply 2 for protecting the electronic components therein (not shown). The heat pipe 3 is divided into a first portion 30 and a second portion 32. The first portion 30 is set at the inside of the case 20 for receiving the heat produced by the power supply 2, and the second portion 32 is extended from the first portion 30 and passes through the case 20 so as to exhaust the heat from the power supply 2. However, the dissipating efficiency of the fan-less power supply would be poor if only the design of the heat pipe 3 is employed.

For further dissipating the heat of the heat pipe 3 with an airflow of the systematic fan 16, the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 is further extended, or the length of the second portion 32 is increased and extended toward the direction of the systematic fan 16. The heat dissipating area of the heat pipe 3 would be increased since the length thereof is increased, and thus the dissipating efficiency could be further improved. Because the second portion 32 is extended toward the position of the systematic fan 16 and blew thereby, the dissipating efficiency would be improved by the assistance of the forcing convection.

Please refer to Fig. 2, which shows a rear view of a fan-less power supply of the computer in the present invention. From Fig. 2, it would be clearer to see the relative configuration between the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 and the systematic fan 16 as well as the outlet 18. As shown in Fig. 2, the power supply 2 is set on the top of the case 20 and the systematic fan 16 is set on a middle position thereof, through which the second portion 32 is set on a position which could be blew by the systematic fan 16. As above, the second portion 32 is not only extended from the case 20 as disclosed in the prior art, but also further deflexed downward to a position which is in front of the outlet 18, so that the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 could be blew by the systematic fan 16. With the assistance of the systematic fan 16, the heat resulting from the power supply 2 could be exhausted by the heat pipe 3. For promoting the dissipating efficiency, fins 34 are set on the second portion 32 for increasing the heat dissipating area.

For the computer presently available in the market, particularly a personal computer, the configuration of the hardware therein is multiform.

The relative position between the power supply and the systematic fan of the computer may be different from that illustrated in the embodiment of the present invention as shown in Fig. 2. Nevertheless, any configurations where the heat pipe of the power supply is extended toward the position which could be blew by the systematic fan is the feature of the present invention. Thus, the extending method of the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 in the present invention is suitable for any arrangement of the relative position between the power supply and the systematic fan, either left-right arrangement or upper-down arrangement.

In other words, the method of the present invention enables the heat pipe of the fan-less power supply to be blew by the systematic fan. The heat resulting from the power supply 2 could be further dissipated by the heat pipe 3 with the assistance of the systematic fan 16.

The reason why the heat could be dissipated by the systematic fan 16 is that the temperature of air exhausted by the systematic fan 16 is low.

The air is exhausted by the fans of a central processing unit and a graphic chip, so the temperature thereof is relatively lower than the heat of the power supply. Therefore, the heat would not be conducted into the power supply 2 while blowing the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 via the systematic fan 16. It means that the temperature of the second portion 32 would be higher than that of the air exhausted by the systematic fan 16. According to the thermodynamic law, the heat of the second portion 32 would be conducted to the surrounding atmosphere, so the dissipating efficiency would be promoted by the forcing convection of the systematic fan 16.

For promoting the dissipating efficiency, another embodiment is further provided. Please refer to Fig. 3, which shows an enlarged view of the heat pipe in Fig. 2. At least one fin 34 is set on the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 for increasing the dissipating area thereof, so that the heat to be exhausted would be increased since the dissipating area of the second portion 32 contacted with the air could be further increased.

For promoting the dissipating efficiency, a further embodiment is provided. Please refer to Fig. 4, which shows a perspective view of a systematic fan and a duct of the present invention. A duct 36 is set on the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 for making an airflow of the systematic fan 16 pass through the outlet 18 and concentrate to the second portion 32. Furthermore, better dissipating efficiency would be obtained if the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is combined with the fin 34 shown in Fig. 2.

The feature of the present invention is to use the airflow of the systematic fan to dissipate the heat of the fan-less power supply. As the above, the heat is conducted to the outside of the fan-less power supply 2 via the heat pipe 3, which means that the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 is extended to the position which could be blew by the systematic fan 16. Nevertheless, another efficient method is further provided. In which, the airflow of the systematic fan 16 is conducted to the position that the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3 could be blew thereby.

Please refer to Fig. 5, which shows a perspective view of a deflecting flow pipe of the computer in the present invention. A deflecting flow pipe 38 having an inlet 38a and an outlet 38b is set at the outlet 18. The inlet 38a is toward the systematic fan 16 and the export 38b is toward a dissipating fin 32' of the power supply 2. The dissipating fin 32' is extended from the first portion 30 of the heat pipe 3 and the shape thereof is deformed into a fin. The airflow of the systematic fan 16 is conducted to the dissipating fin 32' of the fan-less power supply 2 via the deflecting flow pipe 38 so as to increase the dissipating efficiency.

Please refer to Fig. 6, which shows a perspective view of another deflecting flow pipe of the computer in the present invention. In order to make the present invention applied in all of the existent fan-less power supplies rapidly, an additional deflecting flow pipe 38 having an inlet 38a and an outlet 38b is provided in the present invention. The inlet 38a is toward the outlet 18, and thus the dissipating fin 32' is covered by the deflecting flow pipe 38. Hence, the airflow of the systematic fan 16 could be conducted to the dissipating fin 32' via the deflecting flow pipe 38. That is, the heat pipe 3 of the fan-less power supply 2, e.g. the dissipating fin 32' or the second portion 32 shown in Fig. 1, could be blew by the systematic fan 16 for achieving the feature of the present invention. Further, the dissipating fin 32' is a kind of variation of the second portion 32 of the heat pipe 3, wherein the tubular shape thereof is deformed into a flat cannular shape.

Either the embodiments where the heat pipe 3 is extended and bent to the position which could be blew by the systematic fan 16 as shown in Figs. 1-4 or the embodiments where the airflow direction of the systematic fan 16 could be changed via the deflecting flow pipe 38 as shown in Figs. 5-6, exhibit the feature of the present invention that the heat resulting from the fan-less power supply could be dissipated via blowing the heat pipe with the systematic fan.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A heat dissipating system of a computer, comprising: a fan (16) placed on an outlet (18) of the computer (1); and a power supply (2) having a heat pipe (3) with a fin (34), wherein the fin (34) is extended to the outlet (18) via the heat pipe (3), and a temperature of the power supply (2) is decreased via blowing the fin (34) with the fan (16).

2. The heat dissipating system of a computer as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a duct (36) sited on the outlet (18) of the computer (1) for concentrating an air of the fan (16) to the fin (34).

3. The heat dissipating system of a computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein a heat of the computer (1) is dissipated to an outside of the computer (1) by the fan (16).

4. The heat dissipating system of a computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat pipe (3) is extended outwardly from the computer (1).

5. The heat dissipating system of a computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein a heat of the power supply (2) is received by the heat pipe (3) and conducted to an outside of the power supply (2).

6. A fan-less power supply of a computer having a heat dissipating device and a case, comprising: a power supply main body (2); a heat pipe (3) having a first end (30) sited on the power supply main body (2) and a second end (32) outwardly extending from the power supply main body (2); and a fin (34) connected with the heat pipe (3).

7. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 6, wherein the heat dissipating device comprises a systematic fan (16).

8. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 6, wherein a heat of the computer (1) is dissipated to an outside of the computer (1) by the heat dissipating device.

9. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 6, wherein a heat of the power supply main body (2) is received by the first end (30) and then conducted to an outside of the power supply main body (2) via the second end (32).

10. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 6, wherein the fin (34) is connected to the heat dissipating device of the computer (1) for decreasing a temperature of the power supply main body (2) via the heat dissipating device of the computer (1).

11. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 6, wherein the power supply main body (2) is set in the case (10) of the computer (1).

12. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 6 further comprising a duct (36) set on a surrounding of the fin (34).

1. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the fin (34) is connected to the heat dissipating device of the computer (1) via the duct (36).

14. The fan-less power supply of a computer as claimed in claim 13, wherein an exhausting air of the heat dissipating device is concentrated to the fin (34) by the duct (36).

15. A method for dissipating a heat of a fan-less power supply set on a systematic heat dissipating device of a computer, comprising steps of: (1) providing a heat pipe (3) extended from an inner of the fan-less power supply (2) to an outer of the computer (1); (2) setting a fin (34) on the heat pipe (3); (3) mounting the fin (34) to a specific position so as to be cooled by the systematic heat dissipating device of the computer (1); and (4) starting the systematic heat dissipating device.

16. The method for dissipating a heat of a fan-less power supply as claimed in claim 15, wherein a heat of the fan-less power supply (2) is received by the heat pipe (3) and conducted to an outside of the fan-less power supply (2).

17. The method for dissipating a heat of a fan-less power supply as claimed in claim 15, wherein the fin (34) is mounted to the specific position via a duct (36).

18. The method for dissipating a heat of a fan-less power supply as claimed in claim 17, wherein an exhausting air of the systematic heat dissipating device is concentrated to the fin (34) by the duct (36).

19. A heat dissipating system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.