Heat exchange – Intermediate fluent heat exchange material receiving and... – Liquid fluent heat exchange material
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-24
2004-06-01
McKinnon, Terrell (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
Intermediate fluent heat exchange material receiving and...
Liquid fluent heat exchange material
C165S104330, C361S700000, C257S715000, C174S015200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06742575
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a boiling and condensing apparatus for cooling a heating element by the transferring of latent heat due to the boiling and condensation of a coolant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various proposals have been made by the applicant of this patent application in relation to boiling and condensing apparatuses. One such boiling and condensing apparatuses includes a coolant tank, a bottom of which is brought into contact with a heating element such as heat-generating electronic parts to receive heat from the latter, a plurality of tubes arranged upright on the upper surface of the coolant tank to be communicated with the interior of the coolant tank, and a header tank for communicating the plurality of tubes with each other.
In this prior art, the coolant tank has a heat-reception plate, on which surface is attached the heating element, a heat-radiation plate, on which surface are attached the tubes, and two intermediate plates laminated to each other and disposed between the heat-reception plate and the heat-radiation plate so that a plurality of slit-like openings thereof extend through the thickness of the plates. One example of such an arrangement of the plate members used in the coolant tank of the laminated structure is shown in
FIG. 6
, and a sectional view of the boiling and condensing apparatus provided with this coolant tank is shown in
FIGS. 7A and 7B
.
An intermediate plate
124
shown in
FIG. 6
is adjacent to a heat-radiation plate
125
having openings
125
a
for attaching the tubes. As shown in the drawing, a plurality of slit-like openings
124
a
extending in the lateral direction in the drawing are arranged in parallel to each other in the intermediate plate
124
. Also, the intermediate plate
122
shown in
FIG. 6
is adjacent to the heat-reception plate
121
. As shown in the drawing, the intermediate plate
122
has a plurality of slit-like openings
122
a
extending parallel to each other in the vertical direction in the drawing.
When the intermediate plates
122
,
124
are laminated between the heat-reception plate
121
and the heat-radiation plate
125
, the slit-like openings
122
a
and
124
a
are disposed vertical to each other. Thereby, all the openings
122
a
and
124
a
are communicated with each other to form a space for storing the coolant in the coolant tank.
In this regard, a boiling area is defined by a portion of the attachment surface in the interior of the coolant tank on which the heating element is projected in the vertical direction, wherein the coolant is vaporized by receiving heat from the heating element. The boiling area is enclosed by a chain line in FIG.
6
and indicated as
161
.
A boiling and condensing apparatus
101
having a coolant tank
102
formed by laminating the plates
121
,
122
,
124
and
125
to each other is disposed so that the coolant tank
102
is positioned on the lower side as shown in FIG.
7
A. When the heating element
6
attached to the outer bottom surface of the coolant tank
102
is cooled (i.e., when used in a bottom-heat mode), the coolant stored in the coolant tank
102
receives heat from the heating element
6
and is boiled mainly in the boiling area
161
.
The coolant vaporized to become a gas passes through tubes
103
mainly disposed above the boiling area
161
, then passes through the interior of a header tank
104
and finally returns to the outer peripheral region of coolant tank
102
via the tubes
103
mainly disposed above the non-boiling area. At this time, the coolant in the tubes
103
radiates the latent heat outside and is condensed to a liquid coolant.
In the boiling and condensing apparatus, however, the coolant tank
102
is arranged on a lateral side as shown in FIG.
7
B. When the heating element
6
attached to the outer lateral surface of the coolant tank
102
is cooled (that is, when used in a side-heat mode), the coolant flows through a path different from that in a so-called bottom-heat mode shown in FIG.
7
A.
When the coolant stored in the coolant tank
102
is boiled mainly in the boiling area by receiving heat from the heating element
6
, the vaporized coolant passes through the upper tubes
103
as shown in
FIG. 7B
, enters the header tank
104
, and returns to the coolant tank
102
via the lower tubes
103
. At this time, in the tubes
103
, the coolant radiates the latent heat outside and is condensed to a liquid coolant.
Under the circumstances, part of the coolant boiled in the coolant tank
102
may flow in the counter direction within the coolant tank
102
or in the tubes
103
and interfere with the normal flow of the coolant. If the circulation of the coolant is not smoothly carried out in such a manner, there might be a problem in that the quenching performance is lowered.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art by providing a boiling and condensing apparatus facilitating the circulation of coolant even if the coolant tank is disposed on the lateral side so that the apparatus is used in a side-heat mode wherein the heating element attached to the lateral outer surface of the coolant tank is quenched.
To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a boiling and condensing apparatus is provided which comprises a coolant tank storing coolant to be boiled by receiving heat from a heating element attached to one surface of the coolant tank, a radiator having a plurality of tubes communicated with the interior of the coolant tank and substantially standing upright from the other surface disposed opposite to the surface in the coolant tank on which the heating element is attached, and a header tank communicating the plurality of tubes with each other, wherein the coolant stored in the coolant tank receives heat from the heating element and is boiled to vaporize into a coolant vapor, from which a latent heat is radiated from the radiator to cool the heating element, wherein the plurality of tubes consists of first tubes for delivering the coolant from the coolant tank to the header tank and second tubes for delivering the coolant from the header tank to the coolant tank, a boiling area is formed in the interior of the coolant tank, for evaporating and vaporizing the coolant by the heating element, the coolant tank comprises a first coolant flow path for communicating the boiling area with the first tube, and a second coolant flow path for communicating the boiling area with the second tube, and the second coolant flow path is longer than the first coolant flow path and, when the heating element attachment surface is disposed on the lateral side, part of the second coolant flow path disposed beneath the boiling area is solely connected to the boiling area.
According to this apparatus, as the condensed liquid coolant is delivered to the boiling area solely from below via the second coolant flow path longer than the first coolant flow path, and the vaporized coolant in the coolant tank hardly flows in the reverse direction, in the second tube, to the second coolant flow path. Thus, it is possible to facilitate the coolant circulation.
Also, according to another aspect of the present invention, the boiling area is provided generally at a center of the interior of the coolant tank, and the second tube is assembled at a position outside the boiling area in the coolant tank.
Thus, as in the preceding aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily form the second coolant flow path to be longer than the first coolant flow path and to connect the former to the boiling area solely from below.
In this case, when the heating element attachment surface is disposed on the lateral side, the second tube is assembled to the upper and lower sides on the coolant tank.
Also, according to the present invention, a plurality of second tubes are provided, and partitions are formed in the header tank so that the coolant is delivered approximately uniformly to
Denso Corporation
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
McKinnon Terrell
LandOfFree
Boiling and condensing apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Boiling and condensing apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Boiling and condensing apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3333817