JP2525489Y2 - Electronic equipment cooling device - Google Patents

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 an electronic device having a printed circuit board having a radial arrangement, and more particularly to a cooling device having improved cooling performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, electronic equipment has a large number of printed circuit boards on which heat-generating electronic components are mounted, and a cooling device is indispensable to guarantee the reliability thereof. In recent years, cooling devices have been required to have higher cooling performance as electronic devices have higher performance. Various cooling devices have been proposed to meet such demands. Here, a cooling device for a test head for an IC tester will be described as an example.

An IC tester has a tester main body and a test head. The test head is a device under test (hereinafter, D
UT) is equivalent to the terminal of the main body that electrically evaluates the UT. Usually, it includes a sample power supply unit to be applied to the DUT, a timing generator output unit, a pattern generator output unit, and an input unit for taking the DUT output into the measurement unit of the IC tester main body. These are mounted on a printed circuit board as electronic components and housed in a casing. A large number of printed boards need to be accommodated in a casing, but due to the demand for a smaller test head, printed boards are arranged radially instead of in parallel. FIG. 3 shows a conventional cooling device for cooling such a test head.

In order to uniformly cool a large number of printed boards 31 radiating in the test head 30, cooling air is introduced from the center of the printed boards 31 radiating and bent in the radial direction. I need to do it. For this purpose, a plurality of axial fans 32 for sucking cooling air are provided in the test head 30, and a number of slits 38 for exhaust are provided on the outer peripheral side surface of the test head 30. In addition, it is necessary to provide a cooling air inlet for introducing cooling air from the back surface side where the axial fan 32 is provided to the front side where the printed circuit board is provided, in the center of the motherboard 34 on which the printed circuit board 31 is erected. In this case, usually, the test head 30
As shown in the figure, a cylindrical body 35 having a viewing hole 33 for a microscope required at the time of wafer check passes through the motherboard 34 and vertically penetrates the test head 30 as shown in the figure. For this purpose, a ventilation opening called a vent hole ring is provided in a part of the central portion of the motherboard 34, not all of the central portion, so as to avoid the cylindrical body 35, in a ring shape around the cylindrical body 35.

As a result, the cooling air discharged from the fan 32 flows into the upper side of the test head 30 through the opening 36, cools the heat-generating electronic components on the printed circuit board 31, and is provided on the outer peripheral side surface of the test head. The ink is discharged from the slit 38.

[0006]

However, according to the conventional cooling device described above, the air volume distribution is limited to the printed circuit board 31.
Although the distance between the printed circuit boards was uniform, there was a variation on the surface of the printed circuit board 31, and a relatively large temperature difference occurred between the upper part and the lower part of the substrate. For example, as shown in FIG.
Taking four points a, b, c, and d in the height direction of the printed circuit board 31 and plotting wind speed and temperature at these points, the higher the position, the better the cooling, as shown in FIG. Conversely, it can be seen that cooling is insufficient at the lower position. This is because the air blown out from the axial fan 32 is accelerated when passing through the narrow ventilation opening 36, so that the main flow of the air flow may be biased above the printed circuit board 31 as shown by the arrow. Responsible.

If the cooling temperature on the surface of the printed circuit board 31 varies, the heat-generating electronic components 41 located on the main stream of the air flow will have no problem, but the heat-generating electronic components 42 located at positions deviated from the main stream will not be cooled much. This is a problem in reliability. In particular, if the electronic component is a component that generates a very large amount of heat, such as a pulse driver, a phenomenon occurs in which only this component is frequently destroyed.

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device for electronic equipment which can obtain a uniform cooling effect even on a printed circuit board surface.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device for electronic equipment which can obtain a more uniform cooling temperature distribution even if the heat generation distribution is not uniform.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an electronic device in which a plurality of printed circuit boards on which heat-generating electronic components are mounted are erected radially in a casing, and has a central space for introducing cooling air, The present invention is applied to a cooling device of an electronic device in which cooling air flows into a space and flows out to a printed circuit board erected radially.

In such a cooling device, a wind direction control plate for controlling the direction of the cooling air flowing out in the radial direction of the printed circuit board and uniformly distributing the cooling air in the upright direction of each printed circuit board, ie, in the width direction is provided. The wind direction control plate is empty
Wind that is almost perpendicular to the cooling gas flowing from the vertical direction into the space
In order to have a direction control surface and to be able to adjust the wind direction
In addition, it is provided to be movable in the
It is intended to be.

[0012]

Further, in order to automatically adjust the optimal wind direction for uniformly cooling the printed circuit board, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature in the electronic device, and comparing the detected temperature with a set temperature and responding accordingly. It is preferable to include a temperature control unit that outputs a signal indicating that the air flow direction is low, and an actuator that controls the position of the wind direction control plate according to the output signal of the temperature control unit.

[0014]

The cooling gas introduced into the space from the standing direction of the printed circuit board is gently bent toward the far end of the printed circuit board 31 with acceleration applied when flowing into the space, and tends to be led out in the radial direction. However, due to the action of the wind direction control plate, it is largely bent in front. For this reason, the gas flow in the radial direction is distributed uniformly without being biased to the far side in the width direction of the printed circuit board. Therefore, the temperature distribution in the electronic device is made uniform.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a test head of an IC tester will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 2 and FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows an IC test system, for example, an IC tester main body 71 for measuring functions and electrical characteristics of a logic LSI and a memory, and a D which is electrically connected to the IC tester main body 71.
It mainly comprises a test head 70 on which the UT is tested. The test head 70 mounted on the carriage 72 is cooled by a built-in axial fan.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of such a test head, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the test head from which the upper lid has been removed.

In FIG. 2, the test head 10 with the upper lid removed has a lower cover 21 with a built-in axial fan, a central frame 22 on which a printed board is erected, an IC tester main body, and a test head for electrical connection. It is mainly composed of the plug plate 23. The hole 13 formed in the center is a viewing hole for a microscope. A large number of printed circuit boards 11 are erected radially on a mother board 14 of a frame 22 so as to surround a cylindrical body 15 forming a viewing hole 13 for a microscope. On the printed circuit board 11, heat-generating electronic components for measuring the DUT, for example, high-speed elements with relatively large power consumption such as ECL (emitter coupled logic) are mounted.

A ring-shaped ventilation opening 16 is formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical body 15 on the motherboard 14. Above the ventilation opening 16 is a ring-shaped space 19 surrounded by the ends of the printed circuit boards 11 arranged radially as it is, and through the ventilation opening 16 and the space 19 from the back side of the motherboard 14.
Cooling air is introduced between the printed circuit boards 11. The direction of the cooling air flowing into the ring-shaped space 19 and flowing out to the printed circuit board 11 is controlled so that the cooling air is uniformly distributed in the standing direction (height direction) of the printed circuit boards 11 arranged radially. Is provided. In the illustrated example, the wind direction control plate 1 is formed of a disk horizontally fitted into the cylindrical body 15 and has a wind direction control surface substantially perpendicular to the cooling air flowing into the space from the standing direction. Has become. Even if the wind direction control plate 1 is fixed,
It may be movable. When fixing, the printed circuit board 1
Experimental results show that it is preferable to fix horizontally at a height of about half of the height of 1 for uniform air volume. In addition, when it is movable, it is mounted so as to be movable up and down along the axial direction of the cylindrical body 15 so that it can be stopped at an arbitrary position so that the optimal position can be adjusted.

Now, as shown in FIG.
As a result, the cooling air flowing into the space 19 through the ventilation opening 16 cools the printed circuit board 11 and then is discharged from the slit 18. The air flow in the test head 12 is
When the wind direction control plate 1 is horizontally inserted into the block 5, the flow changes as indicated by the dashed line, the solid line, and the two-dot chain line according to the axial insertion positions a, b, and c. The wind direction indicated by each of these lines may be interpreted as the main flow of air. Wind direction control plate 1
It can be seen that when the position is lowered, the airflow is reduced and the airflow moves below the printed circuit board 11. From now on, it can be understood that the setting should be made to be at the center of the printed circuit board 11.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the printed circuit board 11
Taking the four points a, b, c, and d in the height direction, and plotting the wind speed and temperature at these points, as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the entire surface of the printed circuit board is cooled uniformly. In particular, as shown in FIG. 5A, when the wind direction control plate 1 is provided so as to be vertically movable and is moved intermittently or continuously at a predetermined speed between an upper limit and a lower limit, the wind direction is averaged. As a result, the effect of uniformization is increased. Further, if the vertical movement speed is set to be the slowest in the middle and the fastest in the upper and lower positions as shown by the characteristic curve S shown by the broken line in FIG. The advantage of the chemical effect is utilized, and the effect is more effective.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
The point different from the above embodiment is not to make the air volume distribution in the test head fixed, but to perform the optimal air direction adjustment according to the heat generation amount of the printed circuit board, thereby further uniforming the temperature distribution. It is designed to work.

As described above, the wind direction control plate 1 is provided so as to be adjustable in the vertical direction so that the wind direction can be changed. The number of temperature sensors 61, 61,... For detecting the temperature of each part of the printed circuit board 11 is provided in the circumferential direction in the test head 10 so that the temperature in the test head 10 can be measured finely.

A temperature control unit 62 is provided for comparing the detected temperature detected by these temperature sensors 61 with a preset set temperature and outputting a signal corresponding thereto. This can be constituted by a comparator or a microcomputer.
An actuator 63 controlled according to an output signal of the temperature control unit 62 is provided.
3, the moving speed or the position of the wind direction control plate 1 is controlled. According to this, even if the amount of heat generated at the position of the printed circuit board is different, for example, even if the amount of heat generated tends to be different from the lower side to the higher side of the printed circuit board, all the printed circuit boards are the same. With such a tendency, the temperature distribution on the printed circuit board surface can always be made uniform. For this reason, when designing a printed circuit board, it is not necessary to strictly consider the generation of heat for each substrate so as to make it uniform on the substrate, and it is sufficient to make the heat generation tendency the same. There is also an advantage that the degree is improved.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the circular plate is provided as the wind direction control plate to control the direction of the cooling air flowing into the printed circuit board to make the air volume distribution uniform in the width direction. Can be uniformly cooled, and the capacity of the test head can be increased.

In the above embodiment, the case where the axial fan is provided at the lower part of the test head and the cooling air is sucked from below has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a case where an axial fan is provided to suck cooling air from above.

Although the disk for the wind direction control plate is provided in the horizontal direction, it may be slightly inclined. However, according to the experimental results, it is not preferable to make the control plate inclined greatly or to make the shape of the control plate funnel-shaped or trumpet-shaped. This is because the wind direction at the time of inflow is promoted.

In the above embodiment, the electronic device is an IC.
Although the case of the test head for the tester has been described, the present invention is not limited to the test head. The present invention can be applied to any electronic device as long as it is a device that introduces gas by a suction unit and cools the device, and the air volume distribution in the device becomes non-uniform.

[0028]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

According to the cooling device for electronic equipment of the present invention, by providing the air flow direction control plate, the air flow direction of the cooling gas flowing through the printed circuit board is controlled to make the air volume distribution uniform in the standing direction of the printed circuit board. As a result, the surface of the printed circuit board can be uniformly cooled. In addition, move the wind direction control plate
Since it is provided freely, the wind direction can be optimized.

[0030]

[0031] According to the cooling device of an electronic apparatus according to claim 2, since the air direction control board was in conjunction with the temperature control mechanism, even heat generation distribution is uneven in the device, a more uniform cooling temperature distribution Is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention applied to a test head of an IC tester.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a detailed structure of a test head with an upper lid removed according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating an example of a conventional cooling device for a test head.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing cooling characteristics of a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing cooling characteristics of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an overall configuration diagram showing an IC test system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wind direction control board 10 Test head 11 Printed circuit board 12 Axial flow fan 13 Microscope observation hole 14 Motherboard 15 Cylindrical body 16 Vent opening 18 Slit 19 Space

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An electronic device for cooling a printed circuit board by radiating a printed circuit board radially so that a space is formed in the center, and discharging a cooling gas flowing into the space from the erected direction in a radial direction. in the cooling device, in the space, by controlling the direction of the cooling gas, along the cooling gas to flow out radially standing direction of the printed circuit board comprises a uniform wind direction is controlled distribution plate, is該風direction control plate , Cooling air flowing into the space from the vertical direction
It has a wind direction control surface that is almost perpendicular to the body,
A cooling device for electronic equipment, wherein the cooling device is movably provided in a setting direction . 2. A temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of a printed circuit board.
And compares the detected temperature with the set temperature and outputs a signal according to it
And a position of the wind direction control plate according to an output signal of the temperature control unit.
The cooling device for an electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising an actuator for controlling an arrangement.