JP2007207944A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide electronic equipment capable of efficiently mounting a fan unit. <P>SOLUTION: A fan casing 46 has a fixing section 58 on an external surface on the same axis as that of a rotating shaft 54. The fixing section 58 is projected and fitted to the outside from the lower wall of the fan case 46. An inserting section 61 formed in a recessed shape is formed on the bottom wall 4a of a box body 4. The fixing section 58 fitted to the fan case 46 is inserted into the inserting section 61. The fixing section 58 for the fan case 46 is inserted into the inserting section 61, a screw 60 is inserted from the external surface of the bottom wall 4a, and the fixing section 58 and the bottom wall 4a are fixed. By such a constitution, the fan unit 30 is fixed into the box body 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device on which a heat generating circuit component such as a CPU is mounted, for example, and relates to a fan mounting structure.

  CPUs used in electronic devices such as portable computers have increased heat generation during operation as the processing speed increases and the number of functions increases. If the CPU temperature becomes too high, problems such as the loss of efficient CPU operation or the inability of the CPU will occur.

  As a countermeasure against this heat, conventional electronic devices are equipped with a cooling unit that forcibly cools the CPU. The cooling unit is housed in a housing of the electronic device together with main components such as a printed circuit board and a hard disk drive.

  The cooling unit is a heat sink thermally connected to the CPU, a heat transfer duct attached to the heat sink, a fan housed in the heat transfer duct, and the CPU heat transferred to the heat sink. And a heat pipe for transfer to the vicinity of the heat duct.

The fan has a fan case fixed to the circuit board by a plurality of screws. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-101272 A

  According to the conventional literature, it is necessary to form a plurality of screw fixing portions for fixing a plurality of screws to the fan case. When the fan case is mounted, only a plurality of screw fixing portions are required for the mounting area. There is a problem that the degree of freedom in design is reduced. Further, it is necessary to fix a plurality of screws, and there is a problem that the assemblability is remarkably lowered.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an electronic device that can efficiently mount a fan unit.

  In order to achieve the above object, an electronic device of the present invention includes a housing, a fan unit built in the housing, and a plate-like member to which the fan unit is fixed. And an impeller that can rotate through the rotation shaft in the fan case, and a fixing portion that protrudes outward from the fan case on the same axis as the rotation shaft, and is fixed to the plate-like member. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic device that can efficiently mount a fan unit.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings applied to a portable computer.

  1 to 3 disclose a portable computer 1 which is an example of an electronic apparatus. The portable computer 1 includes a main unit 2 and a display unit 3. The main unit 2 has a first housing 4. The first housing 4 is made of a metal material that is lightweight and excellent in thermal conductivity, such as an aluminum alloy or a magnesium alloy.

  The first housing 4 has a flat box shape having a bottom wall 4a, an upper wall 4b, a front wall 4c, left and right side walls 4d and 4e, and a rear wall 4f. As shown in FIG. 4, the first housing 4 has a suction port 5 and an exhaust port 6. The suction port 5 is located at the left end of the rear end of the bottom wall 4a, and the exhaust port 6 is located at the rear end of the left side wall 4d.

  A keyboard support portion 7 is formed on the upper wall 4 b of the first housing 4. The keyboard support portion 7 is a recess that enters the inside of the first housing 4, and is located above the suction port 5. The keyboard support unit 7 supports the keyboard 8.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the display unit 3 includes a second housing 10 and a liquid crystal display panel 11. The liquid crystal display panel 11 is accommodated in the second housing 10. The liquid crystal display panel 11 has a screen 11a for displaying an image. The screen 11 a is exposed to the outside of the second housing 10 through an opening 12 formed on the front surface of the second housing 10.

  The second housing 10 is connected to the rear end portion of the first housing 4 via a hinge (not shown). By this connection, the display unit 3 is between a closed position where the display unit 3 lies on the main unit 2 so as to cover the keyboard 8 from above and an open position where the display unit 3 stands up with respect to the main unit 2 so as to expose the keyboard 8 and the screen 11a. It can be turned.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a circuit board 20 and an optical disk drive device 21 are accommodated in the first housing 4. The circuit board 20 and the optical disk drive device 21 are main components of the portable computer 1, and are aligned with each other in the width direction of the first housing 4.

  The circuit board 20 is fixed via screws 23 on a plurality of boss portions 22 protruding upward from the bottom wall 4b. The boss part 22 is integrated with the bottom wall 4 a, and the bottom wall 4 a and the circuit board 20 are thermally connected via the boss part 22.

  The circuit board 20 has a first mounting surface 20a facing the bottom wall 4a and a second mounting surface 20b located on the opposite side of the first mounting surface 14a. A socket 24 is mounted on the first mounting surface 20 a of the circuit board 20. The socket 24 supports the CPU 25 as the first circuit component. The CPU 25 has a base substrate 26 and an IC chip 27 located at the center of the lower surface of the base substrate 26. The IC chip 27 generates a large amount of heat during operation as the processing speed increases and the number of functions increases, and cooling is necessary to maintain a stable operation.

  A plurality of second circuit components 28 that generate heat are mounted on the first and second mounting surfaces 20a and 20b of the circuit board 20, respectively. The second circuit component 28 includes a plurality of tall circuit components 28a such as coils and capacitors. These circuit components 28 a protrude from the circuit board 20 toward the bottom wall 4 a and the bottom of the keyboard support portion 7, and their tips are in contact with the bottom wall 4 a and the bottom of the keyboard support portion 7. Therefore, the plurality of tall circuit components 28 a are thermally connected to the first housing 4.

  As shown in FIG. 2, among the second circuit components 28 positioned on the second mounting surface 20 b, the second circuit component 28 having a particularly large calorific value is provided on the keyboard support portion 7 via the heat conducting member 29. Thermally connected to the bottom. The heat conducting member 29 is made of a material having a higher heat conductivity than the first housing 4 such as a carbon sheet or a copper plate. The heat conducting member 29 is interposed between the second circuit component 28 and the bottom of the keyboard support portion 7, and transfers heat from the second circuit component 28 to the upper wall 4 b of the first housing 4. .

  As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the first housing 4 accommodates an air cooling type cooling unit 33 that cools the CPU 25. The cooling unit 33 includes a heat receiving plate 31, a heat pipe 32 as a heat transfer member, and a heat sink 39.

  The heat receiving plate 31 is made of a metal material having excellent thermal conductivity such as an aluminum alloy or copper, and has a square shape that is slightly larger than the IC chip 27. The heat receiving plate 31 has a flat heat receiving surface 34 and a fitting groove 35 located on the opposite side of the heat receiving surface 34. The heat receiving plate 31 is supported on the first mounting surface 20a of the circuit board 20 via a leaf spring (not shown). Thereby, the heat receiving surface 34 of the heat receiving plate 31 is pressed against the IC chip 27 of the CPU 25 and is thermally connected to the IC chip 27.

  The heat pipe 32 includes a heat receiving end portion 37 and a heat radiating end 38. The heat receiving end portion 37 is fitted into the fitting groove 35 of the heat receiving plate 31 and is thermally connected to the heat receiving plate 31. The heat radiating end portion 38 is located immediately before the exhaust port 6.

  A heat sink 39 is attached to the heat radiating end 38. The heat sink 39 has a plurality of heat radiation fins 40. The radiating fins 40 face the exhaust port 6 and are arranged in parallel with a space therebetween. The heat radiating end portion 38 of the heat pipe 32 penetrates the central portion of the radiating fin 40 and is thermally connected to each radiating fin 40.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, a fan unit 30 is built in the first housing 4. The fan unit 30 is disposed side by side with the circuit board 20 and is disposed to face the exhaust port 6 with the heat sink 39 interposed therebetween.
The fan unit 30 includes an impeller 44, a motor 45 that rotates the impeller 44, and a fan casing 46 that houses the impeller 44 and the motor 45. The impeller 44 includes a cylindrical boss portion 47 and a plurality of blades 48 protruding in a tangential direction from the outer peripheral surface of the boss portion 47.

  The motor 45 has an inner rotor shape and is accommodated coaxially inside the boss portion 47. The motor 45 houses the stator 51 and the rotor 52. The stator 51 has a cylindrical shape and is supported by the circuit board 53. The rotor 52 is accommodated coaxially inside the stator 51.

  The rotor 52 has a rotation shaft 54. The rotary shaft 54 rotates integrally with the rotor 52 and has a first end 54a and a second end 54b that are spaced apart in the axial direction. The first end portion 54 a of the rotation shaft 54 is rotatably supported by the boss portion 47 via a bearing 55. The second end portion 54 b of the rotating shaft 54 is rotatably supported by the fan casing 46 via a bearing 57.

  The fan casing 46 has a fixed portion 58 on the outer surface coaxial with the rotating shaft 54. The fixing portion 58 is provided so as to protrude outward from the lower wall of the fan case 46. An insertion portion 61 formed in a concave shape is formed on the bottom wall 4 a of the housing 4. A fixing portion 58 provided in the fan case 46 is inserted into the insertion portion 61. After the fixing portion 58 of the fan case 46 is inserted into the insertion portion 61, the screw 60 is inserted from the outer surface of the bottom wall 4a to fix the fixing portion 58 and the bottom wall 4a. With such a configuration, the fan unit 30 is fixed inside the housing 4.

  Old mechanisms 61 a and 61 b for taking in air from the outside are provided on the upper and lower walls of the fan case 46. The lower wall of the fan case 46 is opposed to the bottom wall 4a, and the air inlet 61b of the fan case 46 is provided to face the suction port 5 provided in the bottom wall 4a.

  The impeller 44 of the fan unit 30 rotates in response to the torque of the motor 45 when the temperature of the IC chip 27 reaches a predetermined value. By the rotation of the impeller 44, the air outside the housing 4 is directly taken into the fan case 46 through the air inlet 5 of the bottom wall 4a and the air inlet 61b of the fan case 46. Further, air outside the fan case 46 is sucked into the fan case 46 from the air inlet 61 a provided on the upper wall of the fan case 46. The air sucked into the fan case 46 due to the rotation of the impeller 44 is discharged from the outer periphery of the impeller 44 toward the heat sink 39 and passes between the adjacent radiating fins 40.

  As a result, the heat of the IC chip 21 transmitted to the heat radiating fin 40 is carried away by multiplying the air flow. The air heated by heat exchange with the heat sink 39 is discharged from the exhaust port 6 to the outside of the computer main body 2.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, the fixing portion 58 is provided on the fan case 46 coaxially with the rotation shaft 54 of the fan unit 30 so that the fan unit 30 can be fixed to the housing with a single screw. Workability is improved in repair and replacement.

  In this embodiment, the milk unit is fixed to the casing. However, the fan unit is fixed to a detachable cover or the like that forms a part of the casing, so that the cover and the fan are externally provided. The unit can be easily attached and detached, and the workability in assembly / maintenance / replacement and the like is improved. In the present invention, the member to which the fan unit is fixed may be a plate-like member such as a housing, a circuit board, and a fixed sheet metal.

  Furthermore, since the fan unit is fixed with a single screw, even if it is mounted on a circuit board, the mounting area can be reduced by the amount of conventional screw fixing parts, and the fan hot water fixing part height can be increased. It is also possible to mount other components between the case and the circuit board.

  The electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to a portable computer, and can be implemented in the same manner even if it is another information device such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

1 is a perspective view of a portable computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portable computer according to an embodiment of the present invention showing a state in which a printed circuit board is fixed to a first housing. Sectional drawing of the portable computer which concerns on embodiment of this invention which shows the positional relationship of CPU mounted in the 1st housing | casing, and a heat receiving board. Sectional drawing of the portable computer which concerns on embodiment of this invention which shows the positional relationship of the 1st chamber which accommodates a printed circuit board, and the 2nd chamber which accommodates a fan. Sectional drawing which shows the positional relationship of CPU mounted in the printed circuit board, the heat receiving board, and the heat receiving edge part of a heat pipe in embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the mounting structure of a fan in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 ... Housing | casing (1st housing | casing), 5 ... Suction port, 6 ... Exhaust port, 15 ... Partition, 16 ... 1st chamber, 17 ... 2nd chamber, 25 ... Circuit component (1st circuit component) , CPU), 29 ... heat conducting member, 32 ... heat transfer member (heat pipe), 30 ... fan unit, 58 ... fixed part

Claims (4)

A housing,
A fan unit built in the housing;
A plate-like member to which the fan unit is fixed,
The fan unit is
A fan case,
An impeller rotatable within a fan case via a rotation shaft; and a fixing portion that protrudes outward from the fan case on the same axis as the rotation shaft and is fixed to the plate-like member;
Electronic equipment characterized by having The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plate member is a part of the casing. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plate-like member is a circuit board. 3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the housing and the fan case each have an air inlet, and the air inlets oppose each other.

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