US20110297355A1

US20110297355A1 - Heat-conducting module and heat-dissipating device having the same

Info

Publication number: US20110297355A1
Application number: US12/795,648
Authority: US
Inventors: George Anthony Meyer, IV; Chien-Hung Sun; Chieh-Ping Chen
Original assignee: Celsia Technologies Taiwan Inc
Current assignee: Celsia Technologies Taiwan Inc
Priority date: 2010-06-07
Filing date: 2010-06-07
Publication date: 2011-12-08

Abstract

A heat-conducting module for heat conduction of an electronic heat-generating element includes a heat pipe and a vapor chamber. The vapor chamber has an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping around the heat pipe. With this arrangement, the contact area and heat-conducting efficiency between the vapor chamber and the heat pipe can be increased greatly, thereby obtaining a heat-conducting module with an excellent heat-conducting efficiency. With a heat-dissipating fin assembly and a fan being connected to the heat pipe, a heat-dissipating device having the aforesaid heat-conducting module can be obtained, whereby the heat of the vapor chamber and the heat pipe can be rapidly dissipated to the outside.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat-dissipating device, and in particular to a heat-conducting module and a heat-dissipating device having the same.
2. Description of Prior Art
With the advancement of science and technology, the power and performance of a modern electronic element have been increased a lot. As a result, a large amount of heat is generated during the operation of the electronic element. If the heat is not conducted to the outside but accumulated inside the electronic element, the temperature of the electronic element will rise to such an extent that its performance is affected and even the electronic element may suffer damage. Therefore, it is an important issue for the manufacturers in this field to develop various heat-conducting members to solve the above problem. For example, a vapor chamber and a heat pipe are two common heat-conducting members used nowadays.
The vapor chamber includes a flat sealed casing, a wick structure formed in the flat sealed casing, and a working fluid filled in the flat sealed casing. The vapor chamber has an evaporating section and a heat-conducting section away from the evaporating section. The evaporating section is brought into thermal contact with an electronic heat-generating element.
The liquid/vapor phase change of the working liquid inside the vapor chamber thermally conducts the heat generated by the electronic heat-generating element from the evaporating section to the heat-conducting section.
Similarly, the heat pipe includes a tubular sealed casing, a wick structure formed in the tubular sealed casing, and a working fluid filled in the tubular sealed casing. The heat pipe has a heat-absorbing section and a heat-releasing section away from the heat-absorbing section. The heat-absorbing section is brought into thermal contact with an electronic heat-generating element. The liquid/vapor phase change of the working liquid inside the heat pipe thermally conducts the heat generated by the electronic heat-generating element from the heat-absorbing section to the heat-releasing section.
Although both the vapor chamber and the heat pipe are heat-conducting members, they are applied to different cases because of their different profiles. More specifically, the vapor chamber has a larger contact surface, so that it can thermally conduct heat very quickly. Although the heat pipe has a smaller contact surface, it extends to a longer distance, so that the heat pipe is suitable to thermally conduct the heat generated by an electronic heat-generating element which is located at a further position.
Generally, with the combination of the vapor chamber and the heat pipe, the respective heat-conducting effects of the vapor chamber and the heat pipe can be integrated. Therefore, the manufacturers in this field continuously develop to increase the contact surface area between the vapor chamber and the heat pipe, thereby increasing the heat-conducting efficiency there between. At an earlier stage, the vapor chamber has a planar surface and this planar surface is brought into thermal contact with the tubular surface of the heat pipe, so only a linear contact is formed therebetween. As a result, the heat-conducting area is small and thus the heat-conducting efficiency is poor. Later, a semi-circular groove is formed on the planar surface of the vapor chamber for receiving a portion of the heat pipe. Although such a solution can increase the heat-conducting area therebetween, the vapor chamber has to be made thicker, which does not conform to the requirements for compact design.
Therefore, it is an important issue for the present inventor to solve the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is to provide a heat-conducting module, which is capable of increasing the contact area between a vapor chamber and a heat pipe to thereby increase the heat-conducting effect there between.
The present invention is to provide a heat-dissipating device having the heat-conducting module, in which an increased contact area is formed between a vapor chamber and a heat pipe. With a heat-dissipating fin assembly connected to the heat pipe, the heat of the vapor chamber and the heat pipe can be dissipated to the outside rapidly.
The present invention provides a heat-conducting module for heat conduction of an electronic heat-generating element, which includes a heat pipe and a vapor chamber. The vapor chamber has an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping around the heat pipe.
The present invention provides a heat-dissipating device having the heat-conducting module for heat dissipation of an electronic heat-generating element, which includes: a heat-conducting module, comprising a heat pipe having a heat-absorbing section and a heat-releasing section away from the heat-absorbing section; and a vapor chamber having an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping around the heat pipe; and a heat-dissipating fin assembly connected to the heat-releasing section.
In comparison with prior art, the present invention has advantageous features as follows.
In the heat-conducting module of the present invention, the vapor chamber has an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping around the heat pipe. This wrapped heat-conducting section can increase the contact area between the vapor chamber and the heat pipe, thereby increasing the heat-conducting effect there between.
In the heat-dissipating device of the present invention, the vapor chamber has an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping around the heat pipe. This wrapped heat-conducting section can increase the contact area between the vapor chamber and the heat pipe. With a heat-dissipating fin assembly connected to the heat-releasing section of the heat pipe, the heat of the vapor chamber and the heat pipe can be rapidly dissipated to the outside.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of a wrapped vapor chamber of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing that a heat pipe is to penetrate the wrapped vapor chamber of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an assembled perspective view showing that the vapor chamber of the present invention wraps around a U-shape heat pipe;

FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the operation of a heat-dissipating device of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is another schematic view showing the operation of the heat-dissipating device of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an assembled perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a side cross-sectional view of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing the operation of the heat-dissipating device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The characteristics and technical contents of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit the present invention.
Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 6. The present invention provides a heat-conducting module 1 and a heat-dissipating device 2 having the heat-conducting module 1.
The heat-conducting module 1 of the present invention includes a heat pipe 10 and a vapor chamber 20. The heat-dissipating device 2 includes the heat pipe 10, the vapor chamber 20, a heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 and a fan 40. Since the internal structures of the heat pipe 10 and the vapor chamber 20 are well-known and not the characteristics of the present invention, the description relating thereto is omitted for clarity.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vapor chamber 20 has an evaporating section 21 adhered to an electronic heat-generating element (not shown) and a heat-conducting section 22 located away from the evaporating section 21 and wrapping around the heat pipe 10. A forming tool (not shown) is used to bend the heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 20 into a wrapped section. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a straight heat pipe 10 is disposed on the heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 10. Then, the forming tool (not shown) is used to wrap the heat-conducting section 22 around the peripheral surface of the heat pipe 10, thereby increasing the contact area between the heat-conducting section 22 and the heat pipe 10 and increasing the heat-conducting effect there between.
Next, another forming tool (not shown) is used to bend the heat pipe 10 into any suitable shape based on practical demands, such as a U-shape heat pipe shown in FIG. 3 or an S-shape heat pipe 10′ shown in FIG. 7.
As shown in FIG. 4, in the present invention, the heat-conducting section 22 is bent to wrap around the heat pipe 10 to thermally contact the heat pipe 10, so that the contact area therebetween is substantially identical to the area of the peripheral surface of the contact portion of the heat pipe 10. On the other hand, since the thickness of the vapor chamber 20 is small, the total thickness of the heat pipe 10 after being wrapped by the vapor chamber 20 does not increase too much. Thus, such a combination of the heat pipe 10 and the vapor chamber 20 can still conform to the requirements for compact design. It should be noted that a heat-conducting paste layer 50 can be applied on the contact surfaces between the heat-conducting section 22 and the heat pipe 10, thereby reducing the thermal resistance there between.
As shown in FIG. 5, when one end of the heat pipe 10 is connected to the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 and the evaporating section 21 of the vapor chamber 20 is brought into thermal contact with an electronic heat-generating element 100, the liquid-phase working fluid in the evaporating section 21 absorbs the heat of the electronic heat-generating element 100 to vaporize. Then, the vapor-phase working fluid releases the absorbed heat to the interior of the heat pipe 10 (indicated by the arrows in FIG. 5 toward the center of the heat pipe 10). Next, the working fluid in the heat pipe 10 conducts the heat to the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30, whereby the heat can be dissipated to the outside of the heat pipe 10.
As shown in FIG. 6, in order to increase the heat-dissipating efficiency of the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30, the fan 40 can be mounted outside the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30. With a compulsive airflow generated by the fan 40, the heat of the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 can be rapidly dissipated to the outside. In this way, the heat generated by the electronic heat-generating element 100 can be conducted by the vapor chamber 20 and the heat pipe 10 and dissipated to the outside by the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30.
The heat pipe 10 shown in FIG. 6 is bent into a U shape, which has a heat-absorbing section 11 and two heat-releasing sections bent from two ends of the heat-absorbing section 11. The heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 20 is bent to wrap around the heat-absorbing section 11 of the heat pipe 10. The heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 is connected to the heat-releasing sections 12. Such a U-shape heat pipe 10 has two heat-releasing sections 12, so that it can conduct the heat absorbed by the heat-absorbing section 11 more rapidly.
Please refer to FIGS. 7 to 10, which show another embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the present embodiment and the previous embodiment lies in that: the cross section of the heat pipe 10′ is formed into a flat oval shape rather than a circular shape. Furthermore, the heat pipe 10′ is bent into an S shape rather than a U shape. Accordingly, the heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 20 can be bent into a “
” shape to thermally contact the heat pipe 10′. Of course, it is apparent that the heat-conducting section 22 can be bent into a C shape as shown in the previous embodiment to wrap the heat pipe 10′.
Like the previous embodiment, a heat-conducting paste layer 50′ is applied to the contact surfaces of the heat-conducting section 22 and the heat pipe 10′, thereby reducing the thermal resistance and increasing the heat-conducting effect there between.
As shown in FIG. 10, in the present invention, the heat pipe 10′ is bent into an S shape, which has a heat-absorbing section 11′, a heat-releasing section 12 away from the heat-absorbing section 11′, and an adiabatic section 13′ extending between the heat-absorbing section 11′ and the heat-releasing section 12′. The evaporating section 21 of the vapor chamber 20 is brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element 100, while the heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 20 is bent to wrap around the adiabatic section 13′ of the heat pipe 10′. The heat-absorbing section 11′ is brought into thermal contact with another electronic heat-generating element 110, while the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 is connected to the heat-releasing section 12′ of the heat pipe 10′. Although FIG. 10 shows that the heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 20 is bent to wrap around the adiabatic section 13′ of the heat pipe 10′, the heat-conducting section 22 of the vapor chamber 20 may wrap around the heat-absorbing section 11′ or near the heat-releasing section 12′ of the heat pipe 10′. As long as the temperature of the heat-conducting section 22 is higher than that of the heat pipe 10′, the heat in the heat-conducting section 22 can be naturally conducted into the heat pipe 10′ and finally to the heat-releasing section 12′ of the heat pipe 10′.
The S-shape heat pipe 10′ shown in FIG. 10 has advantageous features as follows. The heat-absorbing section 11′ of the heat pipe 10′ can be brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element 110 located at a further position, so that the whole heat-dissipating device 2 can dissipate the heat of two separated electronic heat-generating elements 100 and 110.
Like the previous embodiment, the heat-releasing section 12′ of the heat pipe 10′ is connected to the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30, thereby dissipating the heat of the heat-releasing section 12′ to the outside of the heat pipe 10′. Furthermore, with the compulsive airflow generated by the fan 40, the heat of the heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 can be dissipated to the outside more rapidly.
In comparison with prior art, the present invention has advantageous features as follows.
In the heat-conducting module 1 of the present invention, the vapor chamber 20 has an evaporating section 21 brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element 100 and a heat-conducting section 22 located away from the evaporating section 21 and wrapping around the heat pipe 10. This wrapped heat-conducting section 22 can increase the contact area between the vapor chamber 20 and the heat pipe 10, thereby increasing the heat-conducting effect there between.
In the heat-dissipating device 2 of the present invention, the vapor chamber 20 has an evaporating section 21 brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element 100 and a heat-conducting section 22 located away from the evaporating section 21 and wrapping around the heat pipe 10. This wrapped heat-conducting section 22 can increase the contact area between the vapor chamber 20 and the heat pipe 10. With a heat-dissipating fin assembly 30 connected to the heat-releasing section 12 of the heat pipe 10, the heat of the vapor chamber 20 and the heat pipe 10 can be rapidly dissipated to the outside.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still occur to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A heat-conducting module for heat conduction of an electronic heat-generating element, comprising:

a heat pipe; and

a vapor chamber having an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping the heat pipe.

2. The heat-conducting module according to claim 1, wherein a heat-conducting paste layer is applied between the heat-conducting section and the heat pipe.

3. The heat-conducting module according to claim 2, wherein the cross section of the heat pipe is formed into a circular shape, the heat-conducting section is bent into a C shape to wrap around the heat pipe.

4. The heat-conducting module according to claim 3, wherein the heat pipe is bent into a U shape to have a heat-absorbing section and two heat-releasing sections bent from both ends of the heat-absorbing section, the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap around any one of the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing sections of the heat pipe.

5. The heat-conducting module according to claim 3, wherein the heat pipe is bent into an S shape to have a heat-absorbing section, a heat-releasing section away from the heat-absorbing section, and an adiabatic section extending between the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing section, and the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap around any one of the heat-absorbing section, a heat-releasing section and the adiabatic section of the heat pipe.

6. The heat-conducting module according to claim 2, wherein the cross section of the heat pipe is formed into a flat oval shape, the heat-conducting section is bent into a “

” shape to wrap around the heat pipe.

7. The heat-conducting module according to claim 6, wherein the heat pipe is bent into a U shape to have a heat-absorbing section and two heat-releasing sections bent from both ends of the heat-absorbing section, and the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap around any one of the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing sections of the heat pipe.

8. The heat-conducting module according to claim 6, wherein the heat pipe is bent into an S shape to have a heat-absorbing section, a heat-releasing section away from the heat-absorbing section, and an adiabatic section extending between the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing section, and the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap around any one of the heat-absorbing section, a heat-releasing section and the adiabatic section of the heat pipe.

9. A heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module for heat dissipation of an electronic heat-generating element, comprising:

a heat-conducting module, comprising:

a heat pipe having a heat-absorbing section and a heat-releasing section away from the heat-absorbing section; and

a vapor chamber having an evaporating section brought into thermal contact with the electronic heat-generating element and a heat-conducting section located away from the evaporating section and wrapping the heat pipe; and

a heat-dissipating fin assembly connected to the heat-releasing section.

10. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 9, wherein a heat-conducting paste layer is applied between the heat-conducting section and the heat pipe.

11. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 10, further comprising a fan mounted outside the heat-dissipating fin assembly.

12. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 11, wherein the cross section of the heat pipe is formed into a circular shape, the heat-conducting section is bent into a C shape to wrap around the heat pipe.

13. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 12, wherein the heat pipe is bent into a U shape, and the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap around any one of the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing section of the heat pipe.

14. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 12, wherein the heat pipe is bent into an S shape to have an adiabatic section extending between the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing section, and the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap any one of the heat-absorbing section, the heat-releasing section and the adiabatic section of the heat pipe.

15. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 11, wherein the cross section of the heat pipe is formed into a flat oval shape, the heat-conducting section is bent into a “

” shape to wrap around the heat pipe.

16. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 15, wherein the heat pipe is bent into a U shape, anf the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap around any one of the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing section of the heat pipe.

17. The heat-dissipating device having a heat-conducting module according to claim 15, wherein the heat pipe is bent into an S shape to have an adiabatic section extending between the heat-absorbing section and the heat-releasing section, and the heat-conducting section is bent to wrap any one of the heat-absorbing section, the heat-releasing section and the adiabatic section of the heat pipe.