Heat exchange – With retainer for removable article – Electrical component
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-29
2003-03-11
Atkinson, Christopher (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With retainer for removable article
Electrical component
C165S104330, C165S046000, C361S689000, C361S700000, C257S715000, C174S015200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06530419
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling system for a variety of electronic packages that are used in electronic equipment such as electronic computers, workstations, personal computers and the like.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As is well known, electronic equipment such as electronic computers, workstations, personal computers and the like are equipped with circuit boards on which are mounted a variety of electronic packages such as CPUs (central processing units) as represented by MPUs (microprocessor units) and MCMs (multi-chip modules). In recent years, the electronic packages are becoming more dense and, hence, generate more heat when they are in operation. It need not be pointed out that in order to guarantee proper operation of the electronic packages and to extend their life, it is necessary to suitably cool the electronic packages to maintain their temperatures to lie within predetermined ranges.
In order to cool the above-mentioned highly sophisticated electronic packages, it has heretofore been proposed to use, for example, a heat sink
10
with a cooling fan as shown in FIGS.
15
(
a
),
15
(
b
) and
15
(
c
). The heat sink
10
with cooling fan comprises a heat sink plate
12
, a small electric motor
14
mounted on the center of the heat sink plate
12
, and a fan
16
attached to an output shaft of the small electric motor
14
. Furthermore, a number of heat-radiating fins
18
are extending from the heat sink plate
12
and are nearly radially arranged so as to surround the fan
16
. As will be obvious from
FIGS. 15
b
and
15
c
, the heat sink
10
with cooling fan is directly attached to a highly dense electronic package
20
. Upon driving the small electric motor
14
, therefore, the highly sophisticated electronic package is efficiently cooled. That is, upon rotating the fan
16
, an air flow is produced among the heat-radiating fins
18
as indicated by arrows in FIGS.
15
(
a
) and
15
(
b
), whereby the heat conducted to the heat-radiating fins
18
from the highly dense electronic package
20
through the heat sink plate
12
is efficiently radiated.
FIG. 16
illustrates another conventional cooling system in which a heat conducting plate element
24
is attached onto the highly dense electronic package
20
that is mounted on a circuit board
22
. A pair of heat pipes
26
extend from the heat conducting plate element
24
, and many heat-radiating fins
28
are attached to the ends of the pair of heat pipes
26
. According to the prior art, the heat is efficiently conducted from the heat conducting plate element
24
to the heat-radiating fins
28
through the heat pipes
26
, and the highly dense electronic package
20
is favorably cooled.
It has been pointed out that the conventional cooling system shown in FIGS.
15
(
a
),
15
(
b
) and
15
(
c
) has a problem in that the heat sink with cooling fan is itself bulky. For example, the junction temperature of a highly dense electronic package (MPU: microprocessor unit) having a square shape of a side of about 4 cm that generates 15 watts of heat can be lowered to be not higher than 85° C. at an ambient temperature of 40° C. When the heat is generated in further increased amounts, however, the heat sink with cooling fan of a larger size must be employed to guarantee the operation of the MPU maintaining a temperature of 85° C. In the vicinities of a place where the highly dense electronic package is mounted, however, no space is available for installing such a large heat sink with cooling fan. In order to cope with an increased amount of heat without using the heat sink of a large size, it can be contrived to employ a liquid cooling system requiring, however, conduits and coolant feeding device resulting in a considerable increase in the cost for cooling.
The conventional cooling system of the type shown in
FIG. 16
has a problem in that a forced air cooling is necessary to assist the radiation of large amounts of heat from the heat-radiating fins and that the cooling fan must be provided separately from the cooling system. When the housing of an electronic equipment is provided with a cooling fan for forced air cooling, the place for installation must be determined in relation to a place where the heat-radiating fins are formed, imposing a limitation on the freedom for designing the electronic equipment as a whole. There also arise problems in that there is no freedom in the combination of the cooling fan and the heat-radiating fins, it is not easy to improve the conduction of heat through the fins, and the heat-radiating fins themselves must be formed in a large size. So far, no particular attention has been given to space for laying out the heat pipes and heat-radiating fins in the housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a system which is capable of efficiently cooling a variety of electronic packages and, particularly, highly sophisticated electronic packages that are used in the electronic equipment without greatly limiting the freedom for designing the electronic equipment as a whole.
According to the present invention, a cooling system comprises at least one independent heat radiator-holding portion formed in advance in a housing of an electronic equipment, a heat radiator installed in said heat radiator-holding portion, a heat conducting plate element provided for at least one electronic package in said housing so as to receive heat therefrom, and a heat conducting passage element (e.g., a heat pipe) which is connected at its one end to said heat conducting plate element and is connected at its other end to said heat radiator so that heat is conducted from the heat conducting plate element to said heat radiator.
It is desired that the heat radiator includes a number of heat-radiating fins provided at the other end of the heat conducting passage element. It is further desired that the heat radiator has a cooling fan for cooling said number of heat-radiating fins.
The heat radiator comprises a second heat conducting plate element connected to the other end of said heat conducting passage element (e.g., a heat pipe), heat-radiating pin elements extending from both sides of said second heat conducting plate element, and cooling fans provided on both sides of said second heat conducting plate element. Otherwise, the heat radiator comprises the second heat conducting plate element connected to the other end of said heat conducting passage element, and a cold plate secured to the second heat conducting plate element.
It is desired that the heat conducting passage element is at least partly formed as a bellows.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling system for electronic packages, comprising a plurality of independent heat radiator-holding portions formed in advance along the outer circumference of a housing of an electronic equipment, a plurality of heat radiators installed in said heat radiator-holding portions, a heat conducting plate element provided for at least one electronic package in said housing so as to receive heat therefrom, and a plurality of heat conducting passage elements (e.g., heat pipes) which are connected at their ends on one side thereof to said heat conducting plate element and are connected at their ends on the other side thereof to said heat radiators so that heat is conducted from the heat conducting plate element to said plurality of heat radiators.
The first heat conducting plate element provided for the electronic package is connected to a relay heat conducting plate element through a second heat conducting passage element, and the heat conducting passage elements extending from the first heat conducting plate element and from said relay heat conducting element are connected to the heat radiators. Otherwise, the first heat conducting plate element provided for the electronic package is connected to a relay heat conducting block element through the second heat conducting passage element, and the heat conducti
Atkinson Christopher
Fujitsu Limited
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