JP2001044678A - Cooling device and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a cooling device which can sufficiently cool a heating element, such as the CPU, etc., even though the element generates a large quantity of heat. SOLUTION: A cooling device is constituted in such a structure that the heat generated from a heating element 6 is transferred to a heat radiating means 11 through a circulating pipe 14 and radiated from the means 11. At the same time, the electric power generated from a thermoelectric element 12 by the heat from the heating element 6 is utilized to efficiently transfer the heat from the heating element 6 to the heat radiating means 11, by making a heat conductive fluid in the circulating pipe 14 to flow.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling device for cooling a heating element such as a CPU, and an electronic apparatus provided with the cooling device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer), a CPU provided inside a device is provided.
(Central processing unit) is a heat-generating electronic component that generates heat when driven.

Since the performance of this CPU deteriorates when the temperature is too high, it is necessary to provide a cooling device in the personal computer for effectively cooling the CPU.

Conventionally, as this cooling device, a heat radiating means such as a heat sink is provided outside the apparatus, and the heat radiating means is provided with a CPU.
Some devices have a structure in which heat generated from a device is transmitted to dissipate heat to the outside of the device.

[0005]

However, in recent years, C
The PU generates a large amount of heat with an increase in processing speed. For this reason, a cooling device having a structure in which heat generated from a CPU is simply transmitted to a heat radiating means outside the device as in the related art provides sufficient cooling. It is no longer possible.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device capable of sufficiently cooling even a heating element such as a CPU that generates a large amount of heat.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a cooling device which transmits heat generated from a heat generating element inside a device to a heat radiating means outside the device to radiate heat, which is in contact with the heat generating member. Element, a cooling body provided so as to sandwich the thermoelectric element between the heating element, and a cooling element provided so as to connect the cooling element and the heat radiating means, and a heat conducting fluid is sealed therein. And a flow means for flowing the heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe.The flow means is driven by an electromotive force generated in the thermoelectric element due to a temperature difference between the heating element and the cooling element, and Is made to flow.

[0008] By flowing the heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe in this manner, the heat generated from the heating element can be efficiently transmitted to the heat radiating means outside the device to radiate the heat.
Sufficient cooling is possible even with a heating element that generates a large amount of heat.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a desktop personal computer 1 as an example of electronic equipment to which the present invention is applied. Here, 2 is a personal computer main body, 3 is a display device using a CRT, and 4 is a keyboard device.

As shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer 2 has a CPU
6, Hard disk drive 7, Memory (RAM) 8, CR
A T controller 9, a keyboard controller 10 and the like are incorporated therein. In addition to the above, the floppy disk drive device and the C
D-ROM drive devices and their controllers,
A modem device and the like are incorporated.

In this personal computer main unit 2, a CPU
Reference numeral 6 denotes a heating element that generates heat as it is driven. If the temperature rises excessively, the performance deteriorates. Therefore, a cooling device according to the present invention is provided in the personal computer body 2 as a means for effectively cooling the CPU 6. Have been.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show examples of the structure of this cooling device. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a heat sink as a heat radiating means. This heat sink is made of a metal material having excellent thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, and is provided so as to be exposed to the outside of the personal computer 2.

The cooling device of the present embodiment cools the CPU 6 by transmitting heat generated from the CPU 6 mounted on the substrate 5 inside the device of the personal computer body 2 to the heat sink 11 and radiating the heat to the outside of the device. It is.

In this configuration, a thermoelectric element 12 and a cooling plate (cooling body) 13 are fixed in layers to the CPU 6 inside the device. That is, the thermoelectric element 12 is provided so as to entirely contact the CPU 6, and the cooling plate 13 is provided so as to sandwich the thermoelectric element 12 with the CPU 6.

The thermoelectric element 12 is an element (Seebeck element) that converts thermal energy into electricity by using the so-called Seebeck effect, and includes, for example, a PN-type thermoelectric element having a configuration in which a plurality of PN elements are connected in series. Used.

The cooling plate 13 is made of a material having excellent thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, similarly to the heat sink 11. The cooling plate 13 and the heat sink 11 are connected by a circulation pipe 14, that is, the circulation pipe 14
The heat of the CPU 6 is transmitted to the heat sink 11 via the.

The circulating pipe 14 is also made of a material having excellent heat conductivity such as aluminum, and a heat conductive fluid is sealed in the inside of the circulating pipe 14 so that the heat of the CPU 6 can be efficiently transferred to the heat sink 1.
1 is transmitted. Incidentally, as the heat conducting fluid, for example, pure water, fluorocarbon, or the like is suitably used.

The circulating pipes 14 are buried inside the cooling plate 13 and the heat sink 11, respectively, and the buried portions are bent and formed in a ninety-nine-fold form to increase the heat conductivity. I have.

In the middle of the circulation pipe 14,
An electric pump 15 is provided as a flow unit for flowing the heat transfer fluid in the pipe.

The electric pump 15 is driven by using the thermoelectric element 12 as a power source.
An electromotive force is generated by the Seebeck effect due to the temperature difference between the cooling plate 13 and the cooling plate 13, and this power is boosted to a predetermined voltage via the boosting circuit 16 and supplied to the electric pump 15, whereby the electric pump 15 is driven. Then, the heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe 14 flows.

As the heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe 14 flows as described above, the heat generated from the CPU 6 is efficiently transmitted to the heat sink 11 outside the device and is radiated, whereby the CPU 6 is effectively cooled. Things.

Further, in this cooling device, the CPU 6
Is provided, and the drive of the electric pump 15 as a flow means is controlled based on the detection signal. That is, the detection signal from the temperature sensor 17 is input to the control circuit 18 and the control circuit 18
Then, the switch unit 19 is operated according to the temperature to control the power supply from the thermoelectric element 12 to the electric pump 15, whereby the driving of the electric pump 15 is controlled.

As described above, the drive of the electric pump 15 is controlled in accordance with the temperature of the CPU 6 so that the circulation pipe 14 is controlled.
When the flow rate of the heat transfer fluid changes, that is, when the temperature of the CPU 6 is low, the flow rate of the heat transfer fluid is low, and when the temperature of the CPU 6 is high, the flow rate of the heat transfer fluid increases, and the heat is transferred to the heat sink 11. Since the operation is performed with higher efficiency, more effective cooling is performed.

Thus, in the personal computer 1 having the cooling device according to the present invention, the CPU 6 can be efficiently cooled and the temperature rise can be suppressed, so that stable information processing can be performed without lowering the performance of the CPU 6.

In the above example, the case where the cooling device according to the present invention is applied to the cooling of the CPU inside the personal computer has been described. However, the cooling device according to the present invention is not limited to the personal computer.
It goes without saying that the present invention can be widely applied to cooling of the heat generating portion of various electronic devices.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, in the cooling device according to the present invention, the heat of the heating element is transferred to the outside of the apparatus by using the electromotive force generated by the thermoelectric element to flow the heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe. Since the heat can be efficiently transmitted to the heat radiating means and the heat can be radiated, sufficient cooling can be performed even for the heat generating element having a large amount of generated heat. By applying this cooling device to, for example, cooling a CPU of a personal computer, stable information processing can be performed without lowering the performance of the CPU.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a desktop personal computer as an example of an electronic device provided with a cooling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an internal configuration of a personal computer.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a configuration of a cooling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 PC (electronic device), 2 PC body, 6
{CPU (heating element), 11} heat sink (radiator), 12} thermoelectric element, 13} cooling plate (cooling element),
14 ‥‥ circulation pipe, 15 ‥‥ electric pump (flow means),

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cooling device for transmitting heat generated from a heat generating element inside a device to a heat radiating means outside the device to radiate heat, comprising: a thermoelectric element provided so as to be in contact with the heat generating element; A cooling body provided so as to be sandwiched between the heating element, a circulating pipe provided so as to connect the cooling body and the heat radiating means, and having a heat conduction fluid sealed therein; A flow means for flowing a conductive fluid, comprising: a driving means for driving the flow means with an electromotive force generated by the thermoelectric element due to a temperature difference between the heating element and the cooling element to flow the heat conductive fluid in the circulation pipe. A cooling device for cooling the heating element. 2. The cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the heating element, and controlling the driving of the flow unit based on the detection signal. Cooling system. 3. An electronic device comprising a cooling device for transmitting heat generated from a heating element inside the device to a heat radiation means outside the device and radiating heat, wherein the cooling device is provided so as to be in contact with the heating element. A thermoelectric element, a cooling body provided so as to sandwich the thermoelectric element between the heating element, a thermoelectric element provided so as to connect the cooling body and the heat radiating means, and a heat conducting fluid sealed therein. A circulation pipe, and a flow means for flowing a heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe; anddriving the flow means with an electromotive force generated in the thermoelectric element due to a temperature difference between the heating element and the cooling element, An electronic device, wherein the heat generating element is cooled by flowing a heat transfer fluid in the circulation pipe. 4. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the cooling device includes a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the heating element, and controls the driving of the flow unit based on the detection signal. Electronic equipment characterized by the above.