JP2007188599A - Electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic device for reducing noises and efficiently cooling a heating element. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic device includes a casing 12 where suction and discharge holes 26 and 27 are formed. The casing includes a circuit board 34 having a heating element 52 mounted thereon, a heat discharge member 56 arranged between the suction and discharge holes and adjacent to the heating element, and a structure 36 facing the circuit board with a gap. A cooling fan 50 is disposed to face the discharge hole, and outside air is introduced through the suction hole into the casing, and discharged from the discharge hole via the heating element. The structure defines a distribution path P1 with the circuit board. This distribution path extends between the suction hole and the heat discharge member, has a sectional area smaller than the other areas, and supplies the outside air introduced from the suction hole through the heat discharge member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device including a housing, a heating element disposed in the housing, and a cooling mechanism for cooling the heating element.

  In recent years, music recording / playback apparatuses and image recording / playback apparatuses such as video tape recorders, DVD recorders, and hard disk recorders have been widely used as electronic devices. Such a recording / reproducing apparatus generally includes a rectangular box-shaped housing. Inside the housing, a drive for driving a recording medium, a recording / reproducing mechanism, a power source, various data processing units, a control unit, and the like are provided. The control unit includes a CPU mounted on a printed circuit board and other various electronic components. A front surface of the housing is provided with a slot or tray for loading a recording medium, a plurality of operation buttons for performing various operations of the apparatus, and a display unit for displaying the operation state of the apparatus.

The power supply and CPU serve as a heating element that generates heat during operation. For this reason, the recording / reproducing apparatus includes a cooling mechanism that cools the heating element to prevent excessive temperature rise in the housing. Usually, the cooling mechanism includes a plurality of intake holes and exhaust holes formed in the housing, a cooling fan provided on the wall of the housing so as to face the exhaust holes, and a heat sink provided in contact with the CPU or the like. Etc. are provided. Then, the cooling fan sucks outside air into the housing through the intake holes, flows through the heat sink through the heat sink, and exhausts the air from the intake holes to the outside of the housing. As a result, the CPU is cooled to prevent an excessive temperature rise. In addition, there has been proposed a device in which a second cooling fan is arranged inside the casing so as to supply the introduced outside air in a direction inclined with respect to the passage between the fins of the heat sink (for example, Patent Document). .
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-222584

  However, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus configured as described above, two cooling fans are required, so that the structure becomes complicated and noise generated from the fans is combined to generate a large noise. Further, since two cooling fans are arranged, it becomes an obstacle to downsizing the apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can reduce the generation of noise and efficiently cool a heating element.

  In order to achieve the above object, an electronic device according to an aspect of the present invention is provided with a box-shaped housing in which an air intake hole and an air exhaust hole are formed, and a heating element mounted on the housing. The circuit board is disposed between the intake hole and the exhaust hole in the housing, and the heat dissipating member is provided adjacent to the heating element, and is provided to face the exhaust hole. A cooling fan that introduces outside air into the housing through the hole and exhausts air from the exhaust hole through the heat dissipating member, and is disposed to face the circuit board with a gap in the housing. A structure extending between the hole and the heat radiating member, having a smaller cross-sectional area than other regions, and defining a flow passage through which the outside air introduced from the intake hole flows through the heat radiating member, I have.

  According to the aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic device that can reduce the generation of noise and efficiently cool the heating element.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which an electronic apparatus according to the present invention is applied to an information recording / reproducing apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIGS. 2 and 3 are a perspective view and a plan view showing the internal configuration of the information recording / reproducing apparatus with the cover removed, and FIG. It is a side view of the information recording / reproducing apparatus which removes and shows a side wall.

  The information recording / reproducing apparatus is configured as an image recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reading information on / from an optical disk as a recording medium and a hard disk. As will be described later, the recording / reproducing apparatus records and reads information on a video tape as another recording medium.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 10 includes a housing 12 formed in a flat rectangular box shape. The housing 12 includes a bottom wall 12a formed of a metal plate such as aluminum and constituting a chassis, a front panel (front wall) 12b and a back wall 12c that are vertically provided on the front side and the back side of the bottom wall. It is equipped with. The housing 12 has a cover 16 that is formed in a substantially U-shaped cross-section by bending a metal plate, and is detachably fixed to the bottom wall 12a, the front panel 12b, and the back wall 12c. The cover 16 constitutes a flat top wall 12d of the housing 12 and a pair of side walls 12e and 12f facing each other.

  A front panel 12b constituting the operation surface has an insertion slot 18 for loading a video tape recorder driving unit (hereinafter referred to as a VTR driving unit) to be described later and an optical disc loaded to a DVD drive to be described later. A loading section for ejecting is provided. In the present embodiment, the loading unit is configured by a disk tray 20 that can be pulled forward from the housing 12.

  A plurality of operation buttons are provided on the front panel. These operation buttons are used to select a power button 22a for turning on / off the power of the recording / reproducing apparatus, a VTR selection button 22b for selecting a VTR drive unit, and a hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as HDD) to be described later. HDD selection button 22c, a DVD selection button 22d for selecting a DVD drive, an eject button 23a for ejecting a video tape from the housing 12, an eject button 23b for ejecting the optical disk, and the like.

  The one side wall 12e is formed with a plurality of intake holes 26 for introducing outside air into the casing 12 as cooling air. These intake holes 26 are provided in parallel with the bottom wall 12a and adjacent to each other. In the present embodiment, the intake hole 26 is provided in the lower part on the side of the front panel 12b on the side wall 12e. In addition, as the air intake hole for introducing outside air into the housing 12, only the air intake hole 26 is provided except for a gap between members. An exhaust hole 27 is formed in the rear wall 12 c of the housing 12.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the housing 12 is provided with first and second partition plates 28 a and 28 b that divide the space inside the housing into three. The first partition plate 28a is located between the pair of side walls 12e and 12f, and extends from the front panel 12b to the back wall 12c in parallel with these side walls. The inside of the housing 12 is partitioned by a first partition plate 28a into a first housing portion 30a located on the side wall 12e side and a second housing portion 30b located on the side wall 12f side. The intake hole 26 of the housing 12 communicates with the first housing portion 30a.

  The second partition plate 28b extends in parallel with the back wall 12c between the first partition plate 28a and the side wall 12f. By this second partition plate 28b, the second housing portion 30b is partitioned into a third housing portion 30c located on the front panel 12b side and a fourth housing portion 30d located on the back wall 12c side. The exhaust hole 27 formed in the back wall 12c communicates with the fourth housing portion 30d.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the first partition plate 28a is formed with a plurality of, for example, two vent holes 32a and 32b communicating with the first housing portion 30a and the fourth housing portion 30d.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a printed circuit board 34, a DVD drive 36 as a first disk drive, a tuner unit 38, and a modem 39 are disposed in the first housing portion 30 a. A VTR drive unit 40 is disposed in the third storage unit 30c. The VTR drive unit 40 includes a rotating drum 41 and the like, and records and reproduces information on a video tape. The fourth housing 30c houses an HDD 46 and a power source 44 as a second disk drive.

  The configuration in the first housing part 30a will be described in detail. 5 is an exploded view of the main part of the printed circuit board and the DVD drive, and FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the information recording / reproducing apparatus taken along line AA in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, the printed circuit board 34 is provided on the bottom wall 12 a of the casing 12 so as to be substantially parallel to the first housing portion 30 a. On the printed circuit board 34, a plurality of electronic components 54 including a CPU 52, which is a heating element, are mounted to constitute a control unit 51 that controls the operation of the information recording / reproducing apparatus. On the CPU 52, a heat sink 56 that functions as a heat radiating member is placed. The heat sink 56 is formed of aluminum or the like, and has a plurality of cooling fins 57 arranged with a gap therebetween. The heat sink 56 dissipates the heat of the CPU 52 into the first housing portion 30a and cools the CPU.

  The CPU 52 and the heat sink 56 are provided on or near the line AA connecting the intake hole 26 and the exhaust hole 27 formed in the housing 12. The heat sink 56 is arranged such that the cooling fins 57 extend in a direction intersecting the line AA.

  The DVD drive 36 has a flat rectangular box-shaped main body 36a, in which a motor that supports and rotates an optical disk, an optical pickup that performs information processing on the optical disk, and the like are housed. The DVD drive 36 has a disc tray 20 for loading and ejecting an optical disc to and from the main body 36a, and this disc tray can be pulled out through the front panel 12b.

  The DVD drive 36 as a structure is provided between the printed circuit board 34 and the top wall 12d of the housing 12 in the first housing portion 30a. The DVD drive 36 faces the printed circuit board 34 substantially in parallel with a gap, and is provided so as to overlap the heat sink 56. Thereby, between the DVD drive 36 and the printed circuit board 34, the flow path P1 having a smaller cross-sectional area than the other areas in the first accommodating portion 30a is defined. The intake hole 26 formed in the housing 12 is positioned to face the flow passage P1 and communicates with the flow passage P1. The flow path P <b> 1 extends between the intake hole 26 and the heat sink 56, and allows outside air introduced from the intake hole to flow through the heat sink 56.

  On the upper surface and both side surfaces of the main body 36a of the DVD drive 36, for example, a shielding member 48 formed of an elastic material such as sponge is mounted. The shielding member 48 shields the gaps between the main body 36a of the DVD drive 36 and the top wall 12d, the side wall 12e, and the first partition plate 28a of the housing 12, and is introduced into the first housing portion 30a from the air intake hole 26. The outside air is restricted from flowing through the gap. Thereby, the outside air introduced through the intake hole 26 can be efficiently guided to the flow passage P1.

  The tuner unit 38 disposed in the first housing unit 30a includes an analog tuner 38a fixed to the inner surface of the back wall 12c, and two tuners mounted on the printed circuit board 34 and provided below the analog tuner 38a. Digital tuners 38b and 38c are provided.

  Next, the configuration in the fourth housing portion 30d will be described in detail. FIG. 7 shows the power source and the HDD housed in the fourth housing portion. 2, 3, 6, and 7, the power supply 44 includes a circuit board 44 a on which a plurality of electronic components 43, a heat radiating member 45, and the like are mounted, and a shield case 44 b that covers the circuit board. And have. The power supply 44 is disposed in the first housing portion 30 a in a state where the circuit board 44 a is supported on the bottom wall 12 a of the housing 12. The shield case 44b is configured by bending a metal plate. A pair of inflow ports 60 and outflow ports 62a and 62b are formed in the shield case 44b. The inflow port 60 is provided to face the vent hole 32a of the first partition plate 28a, and guides the outside air introduced through the vent hole 32a into the shield case 44b. The outlet 62 a is provided to face the exhaust hole 27 formed in the back wall 12 c of the housing 12, and the outlets 62 a and 62 b guide the air in the shield case 44 b to the exhaust hole 27.

  The HDD 46 has a flat rectangular box-shaped main body, in which a motor that rotatably supports the magnetic disk, a magnetic head that records and reproduces information on the magnetic disk, and the magnetic head are supported. A carriage or the like is provided. The HDD 46 is disposed to face the shield case 44b of the power supply 44 with a predetermined gap in the fourth housing portion 30d. A flow path P2 is defined between the HDD 46 and the shield case 44b. The flow path P2 communicates with the air holes 32b and the exhaust holes 27 formed in the first partition plate 28a, and after the outside air introduced through the air holes 32b flows between the HDD 46 and the shield case 44b, the air holes 27b. Lead to.

  A cooling fan 50 is fixed to the outer surface side of the rear wall 12 c of the housing 12 and faces the exhaust hole 27. On the inner surface side of the back wall 12 c, a shielding material 64 made of an elastic material such as sponge is provided around the exhaust hole 27, and faces the shield case 44 b and the outer surface of the main body of the hard disk drive 46. The shielding material 64 shields the gap between the back wall 12c and the shield case 44b and the HDD 46 around the exhaust hole 27, and guides only the outside air through the shield case 44b and the flow path P2 to the exhaust hole 27.

  In the information recording / reproducing apparatus configured as described above, when the cooling fan 50 constituting the cooling mechanism is operated, the outside air passes through the intake hole 26 of the housing 12 as indicated by arrows in FIGS. 3, 6, and 7. Is introduced into the flow path P1 in the housing. The introduced outside air flows through the flow path P1 and hits the heat sink 56 to cool the heat sink 56.

  Here, since the heat sink 56 is provided in the flow path P1, the air cooling effect by outside air can be enhanced. That is, the flow path P1 is defined by a narrow space between the printed circuit board 34 and the main body 36a of the DVD drive 36, and is formed to have a smaller cross-sectional area than other regions. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently cool the heat sink 56 by flowing outside air passing through the flow path P1 at a high wind speed. Further, since the cooling fins 57 of the heat sink 56 extend obliquely with respect to the line AA connecting the intake hole 26 and the exhaust hole 27, the outside air flowing through the flow passage P 1 is inclined with respect to the cooling fin 57. After hitting, it flows through the gap between the cooling fins. Accordingly, the cooling fins 57 are cooled by receiving stronger cold air, and the cooling effect of the heat sink 56 is enhanced. As a result, the CPU 52, which is a heating element, can be cooled with high efficiency by the heat sink 56, and excessive temperature rise can be prevented.

  After passing through the flow path P1, a part of the outside air flows around the tuner section 38 in the first housing section 30a to cool the tuner section. Further, part of the outside air that has passed through the flow path P1 flows into the shield case through the vent hole 32a of the first partition plate 28a and the inlet 60 of the shield case 44b, cools the power supply 44, and then shields the shield. The air is exhausted to the rear of the back wall 12c through the case outlet 62a and the exhaust hole 27. Further, a part of the outside air flows into the flow path P2 from the first accommodating portion 30a through the vent hole 32b of the first partition plate 28a, cools the HDD 46, and then passes through the exhaust hole 27 and behind the rear wall 12c. Is exhausted. Thereby, the power supply 44 and the HDD 46 can be efficiently cooled.

  According to the information recording / reproducing apparatus configured as described above, the heating element in the housing can be cooled using a single cooling fan, and noise can be reduced during operation of the apparatus. The heating element can be efficiently and powerfully cooled. Further, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of cooling fans, the configuration of the entire apparatus can be simplified and downsized, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  For example, the structure that defines the flow path is not limited to a DVD drive, and may be another disk drive, a drive unit, or an electronic device. The present invention is not limited to the information recording / reproducing apparatus described above, and can be applied to various electronic devices.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal configuration of the information recording / reproducing apparatus with the cover removed. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the internal configuration of the information recording / reproducing apparatus with the cover removed. FIG. 4 is a side view of the information recording / reproducing apparatus with the side wall of the cover removed. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of a printed circuit board and a DVD drive in the information recording / reproducing apparatus. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the information recording / reproducing apparatus, taken along line AA in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a hard disk drive, a power source, and a cooling fan in the information recording / reproducing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Information recording / reproducing apparatus, 12 ... Housing | casing, 12a ... Bottom wall, 12b ... Front panel,
12c ... Back wall, 12e, 12f ... Side wall, 16 ... Cover, 26 ... Air intake hole,
27 ... exhaust hole, 28a ... first partition plate, 28b ... second partition plate,
30a ... 1st accommodating part, 30c ... 3rd accommodating part, 30d ... 4th accommodating part,
32a, 32b ... vents, 34 ... printed circuit board, 36 ... DVD drive,
40 ... VTR drive unit, 44 ... power supply, 44a ... circuit board,
44b ... shield case 46 ... HDD 48 ... shielding member 50 ... cooling fan,
52 ... CPU, 56 ... heat sink, 60 ... inlet, 62a, 62b ... outlet,
P1, P2 ... Flow passage

Claims (11)

A box-shaped housing in which intake and exhaust holes are formed;
A circuit board disposed in the housing and mounted with a heating element;
A heat radiating member disposed between the intake hole and the exhaust hole in the housing and provided adjacent to the heating element;
A cooling fan provided facing the exhaust hole, introducing outside air into the housing through the intake hole, and exhausting from the exhaust hole through the heat radiating member;
The circuit board is opposed to the circuit board with a gap in the housing, extends between the air intake hole and the heat dissipation member, and has a smaller cross-sectional area than other areas. And a structure that defines a flow path through which the outside air introduced from the intake hole flows through the heat radiating member.   The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the structure includes a box-shaped main body and a disk drive that records and reads information on and from a disk-shaped recording medium.   The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the disk drive is provided in parallel with the circuit board and overlaps the heat dissipation member. The housing includes a bottom wall, a top wall facing the bottom wall, a front wall constituting the operation surface, a back wall facing the front wall, and a pair of side walls extending perpendicular to the front wall and the back wall. And
The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the intake hole is formed on one side wall and communicates with the flow passage, and the exhaust hole is formed on the back wall.   The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the heat dissipation member includes a plurality of fins extending in a direction intersecting with a line connecting the vent hole and the exhaust hole. A first partition plate provided in the housing substantially parallel to the side wall and partitioning the inside of the housing into first and second accommodating portions; and extending between the first partition plate and one side wall; A second partition plate that divides the two accommodating portions into a third accommodating portion located on the front wall side and a fourth accommodating portion located on the back wall side;
The structural body and the circuit board are disposed in the first housing portion, the first partition plate has a vent hole communicating the first housing portion and the fourth housing portion, and the exhaust hole is the fourth housing portion. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the electronic device communicates with the housing portion.   A first disk drive disposed in the housing and constituting the structure; a video tape recorder driving unit disposed in the third housing; and a disk-shaped recording disposed in the fourth housing. The electronic device according to claim 6, further comprising: a second disk drive that records and reads information on a medium. The circuit board is provided to face the bottom wall in the first housing part, and the structure is provided between the circuit board and the top wall in the first housing part,
The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a shielding member that shields a gap between the structure and the top wall, the side wall, and the first partition plate is provided around the structure.   The electronic apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: a power source provided in the fourth housing portion so as to overlap the second disk drive.   The power source includes a board on which electronic components are mounted and a shield case provided so as to cover the board, and the shield case is provided to face a vent hole of the first partition plate and the introduction The electronic apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising an inlet that guides the outside air into the shield case, and an outlet provided to face the exhaust hole.   10. The electronic device according to claim 9, wherein the second disk drive is disposed to face the power source with a gap, and defines a flow path that guides the introduced outside air to the exhaust hole between the power source and the second power source. .

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