JP2010177625A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a large capacity circuit module by achieving highly efficient thermal control while achieving power saving. <P>SOLUTION: A thermoelectric conversion module 13 is provided while being thermally connected to the circuit module 11 housed in an apparatus cabinet 10. Heat energy generated from the circuit module 11 is converted to electric energy by the thermoelectric conversion module 13 to generate power. An exhaust fan 14 is driven with the generated power as a power supply to subject the circuit module 11 to the heat control. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device that is suitable for being mounted on a moving body such as a flying object or used on a remote island or an undeveloped land.

  In general, an electronic device is provided with a cooling structure in which a circuit module is housed and arranged in a device housing, and heat generated by driving the circuit module is forcibly exhausted outside the device housing using an exhaust fan. The circuit module is thermally controlled using this cooling structure, so that a desired module performance is obtained.

  By the way, in such an electronic device, improvement of the module performance is demanded, and the capacity of the circuit module is increased, and thermal control of the circuit module accompanying the increase in capacity is one of the important issues. ing.

  Therefore, as a cooling method for efficiently exhausting the heat of the circuit module, etc., a fin having a fin shape that is improved in heat dissipation efficiency is formed, and the refrigerant of the refrigerant source is forcibly injected to the fin and blown. The thing of the structure which raised cooling efficiency by attaching is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 2768108

  However, although the cooling method can increase the cooling efficiency, it requires power consumption to drive the refrigerant supply means for injecting and spraying the refrigerant onto the fins. Etc., and it is difficult to apply to electronic devices used in remote islands or undeveloped areas with limited power consumption.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an electronic device capable of realizing a high-efficiency thermal control and realizing a large capacity of a circuit module after realizing power saving. The purpose is to do.

  The present invention relates to a device housing in which a circuit module is accommodated and thermoelectric conversion that is arranged thermally coupled to the circuit module and converts the heat energy generated in the circuit module into electric energy to generate electric power. The electronic apparatus is configured to include a module and a heat exhausting unit that is driven by using the power generated by the thermoelectric conversion module as a power source and exhausts the heat in the apparatus casing.

  According to the above configuration, when the circuit module is driven to generate heat, the thermoelectric conversion module converts the thermal energy generated in the circuit module into electrical energy, and the exhaust heat means is driven using this electrical energy as a power source. The heat in the device casing is exhausted. As a result, an exhaust heat configuration using self-generated power is realized, and it is possible to realize highly efficient thermal control while realizing power saving of power consumption.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic device capable of realizing a power saving and realizing a high-efficiency thermal control to increase the capacity of a circuit module. it can.

It is the block diagram shown in order to demonstrate the principal part structure of the electronic device which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is the disassembled perspective view shown in order to demonstrate the principal part structure of the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is the disassembled perspective view shown in order to demonstrate the principal part structure of the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is the disassembled perspective view shown in order to demonstrate the principal part structure of the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a plurality of circuit modules 11 are accommodated in an apparatus housing 10. The circuit module 11 is connected to, for example, a power supply unit 12 disposed in the device housing 10. For example, input power supplied from the outside is AC / DC converted by the power supply unit 12 and then supplied and driven. Be controlled.

  Further, in the device housing 10, for example, a plurality of plate-like thermoelectric conversion modules 13 constituting the thermoelectric converter are thermally coupled to the heat radiation surface of the circuit module 11 and accommodated. When the circuit module 11 is driven and generates heat, the plurality of thermoelectric conversion modules 13 convert the thermal energy into electrical energy to generate electric power.

  The plurality of thermoelectric conversion modules 13 are connected to the exhaust fans 14 whose output ends constitute exhaust heat means, and supply the generated electric power to the exhaust fans 14 respectively. The exhaust fan 14 is disposed corresponding to, for example, an air intake (not shown for convenience of illustration) provided in the device housing 10 and is selectively driven and controlled by the electric power generated by the thermoelectric conversion module 13. The The exhaust fan 14 takes in external air from the air intake (not shown) into the device housing 10 and circulates it to discharge the air in the device housing 10 to cool the circuit module 11 to obtain a desired value. Thermal control to temperature.

  In the above configuration, the input power is supplied to the power supply unit 12 to drive the circuit module 11, and the circuit module 11 generates heat in accordance with the driving, and this heat is conducted to the thermoelectric conversion module 13. Then, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 generates electric power by converting the thermal energy generated in the circuit module 11 into electric energy, and outputs this electric power to the exhaust fan 14 that constitutes the exhaust heat means. Is controlled.

  Here, the exhaust fan 14 takes in external air from an air intake (not shown) of the device housing 10 in conjunction with the drive, circulates the inside of the device housing 10, and discharges it to the outside. 11 is cooled and thermally controlled.

  As described above, the electronic device is configured such that the thermoelectric conversion module 13 is thermally coupled to the circuit module 11 accommodated in the device housing 10 and the thermal energy generated by the circuit module 11 is transferred to the thermoelectric conversion module 13. Then, electric power is generated by converting into electric energy, and the circuit module 11 is thermally controlled by driving the exhaust fan 14 using the generated electric power as a power source.

  According to this, when the circuit module 11 is driven and generates heat, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 converts the thermal energy generated in the circuit module 11 into electrical energy, and drives the exhaust fan 14 using this electrical energy as a power source. In addition, by performing the thermal control of the circuit module 11, the exhaust heat configuration is realized without requiring external input power, and power consumption is reduced, and high efficiency heat is achieved. Control can be realized. As a result, it is particularly suitable for use in a moving body such as a flying body having restrictions on power consumption, a remote island, an undeveloped land, or the like.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be configured as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, for example, and similarly effective. However, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those in FIG. 1, and the detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 is thermally coupled to a circuit component 112 which is a heating element mounted on a printed wiring board 111 constituting the circuit module 11, and its output The end is connected to the exhaust fan 14 constituting the heat exhausting means. The circuit component 112 is thermally coupled to the heat sink 15 as a heat radiating member. When the circuit component 112 is driven to generate heat, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 converts the thermal energy into electric energy, and supplies the converted electric power to the exhaust fan 14 for driving control. Here, the exhaust fan 14 blows cooling air to the heat sink 15 as it is driven to exhaust the heat transferred from the circuit component 112 to cool the circuit component 112.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 is arranged by being thermally coupled to a circuit component 112 which is a heating element mounted on a printed wiring board 111 constituting the circuit module 11, and The Peltier element 16 that is a heat dissipating heat member constituting the heat exhausting means is thermally coupled to the circuit component 112. When the circuit component 112 is driven and generates heat, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 converts the thermal energy into electric energy to generate electric power, and drives the Peltier element 16. Here, the Peltier element 16 cools the circuit component 112 and controls the heat.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the heat conductive type device housing 20 is used. That is, an opening 201 is formed in the device casing 20, and a plurality of circuit modules 11 are accommodated, for example, in a stacked form and arranged thermally coupled through the opening 201. Then, the outer lid 202 is attached to the opening 201 of the device casing 20 with a screw member or the like through the thermoelectric conversion module 13 and is closed.

  In this manner, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 is assembled by being thermally coupled to the device housing 20 so that the heat energy generated in the circuit module 11 can be transferred through the device housing 20 and the outer lid 202. .

  With the above configuration, when the circuit module 11 in the device housing 20 is driven to generate heat, the heat is transmitted to the device housing 20 and the outer lid 202, and passes through the device housing 20 and the outer lid 202. Heat is transferred to the thermoelectric conversion module 13. Then, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 generates electric power by converting the thermal energy transferred through the device casing 20 into electric energy, and outputs the electric power to the exhaust fan 14 that constitutes the exhaust heat means to be driven. To do. Here, the exhaust fan 14 exhausts heat transferred into the device housing 20 to cool the device housing 20 and to thermally control the circuit module 11.

  Moreover, although the case where it applied to the exhaust heat structure of the air cooling structure using the exhaust fan 14 was demonstrated in the said embodiment, it is not restricted to this, For example, the liquid cooling structure which circulates a refrigerant | coolant liquid using a circulation pump, for example It can also be applied to the exhaust heat configuration of a so-called air-cooled / liquid-cooled combined cooling structure, and the same effective effect is expected. When applied to a liquid cooling structure, the thermoelectric conversion module 13 may be configured to be thermally coupled to, for example, the high temperature side of the refrigerant liquid circulation pipe.

  Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention at the stage of implementation. Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements.

  For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the effect of the invention can be obtained. In such a case, a configuration in which this configuration requirement is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Apparatus housing, 11 ... Circuit module, 111 ... Printed wiring board, 112 ... Circuit component, 12 ... Power supply part, 13 ... Thermoelectric conversion module, 14 ... Exhaust fan, 15 ... Heat sink, 16 ... Peltier device, 20 ... Equipment Housing, 201 ... opening, 202 ... outer lid.

Claims (4)

A device housing in which the circuit module is accommodated and disposed;
A thermoelectric conversion module arranged to be thermally coupled to the circuit module and generating electric power by converting thermal energy generated in the circuit module into electrical energy;
The power generated by the thermoelectric conversion module is driven as a power source, and heat exhausting means for exhausting heat in the device casing,
An electronic apparatus comprising:   2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a heat radiating member is thermally coupled to the circuit module, and the thermoelectric conversion module is thermally coupled to a high heat side of the heat radiating member. .   The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the heat radiating member is a Peltier element, and is driven and controlled by electric power generated by the thermoelectric conversion module.   2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric conversion module is arranged to be thermally coupled to the device casing, and heat generated in the circuit module is conducted through the device casing. machine.

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