Heat exchange – Intermediate fluent heat exchange material receiving and... – Liquid fluent heat exchange material
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-12
2003-05-20
Bennett, Henry (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
Intermediate fluent heat exchange material receiving and...
Liquid fluent heat exchange material
C165S185000, C165S104330, C165S104210, C257S715000, C361S702000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06564861
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cooling unit, and more particularly, to a cooling unit to be used with semiconductor elements and other such heat-generating components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electronic devices are provided with a large number of heat-generating components, first and foremost including the central processing unit, or CPU. As a result, in order to prevent the interior of the device from overheating a cooling unit is provided. In recent years a cooling unit for efficiently driving the CPU has come into particular demand.
Conventionally, the cooling units used in electronic devices are of two types: forced-air types and forced-liquid types.
FIG. 1A
is a diagram showing a conventional forced-air type cooling unit
100
.
FIG. 1B
is a diagram showing a conventional forced-liquid type cooling unit
200
.
As shown in
FIG. 1A
, the air-cooled cooling unit
100
has a heat sink
103
made from material having a high rate of heat transmission such as aluminum or copper is provided on a heated part
101
. The heat sink
103
is provided with a multiplicity of fins in order to increase the radiative effect. In the cooling unit
100
a flow of air forcibly created by a fan
105
cools these fins and so cools the heated part
101
.
Additionally, as shown in
FIG. 1B
, the liquid-cooled cooling unit
200
has thermally conductive cold plates
203
provided in direct contact with the heated part
201
. These cold plates
203
are positioned so as to contact a pipe
204
through which a liquid coolant
209
circulates opposite the heated part
201
. When the liquid coolant
209
passes through the heat exchanger
207
it is heat exchanged and cooled, so the cold plates
203
can also be cooled and, accordingly, the heated part
201
is also cooled. This liquid-cooled cooling unit
200
has a pump
205
and a heat exchanger
207
having a fan
208
to forcibly cool the heated part
201
.
However, the above-described air-cooled cooling unit
100
uses air to cool the heated member
101
, so the rate of heat transmission is very low and the radiative effect is poor. Moreover, the above-described cooling unit
100
uses an electrically driven fan
105
and thus requires power, in addition to which the fan generates noise and is subject to breakdowns.
The liquid-cooled cooling unit
200
described above, although it has good thermal conductivity, nevertheless still uses a pump
205
and a fan
208
and so is subject to the same disadvantages as those pertaining to the air-cooled cooling unit
100
described above, namely fan noise and fan breakdowns. Additionally, in the case of the liquid-cooled cooling unit
200
the pump or other equivalent circulatory device requires a great deal of space and must be maintained and serviced as well, which takes time and costs money.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved and useful cooling unit in which the above-described disadvantages are eliminated.
Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide and improved and useful cooling unit which does not use an external power source and hence is quiet, economical, efficient and capable of effectively cooling heated parts.
The above-described objects of the present invention are achieved by a cooling unit comprising:
a heat receiving unit that receives heat from a body radiating heat;
a radiator unit disposed at a distance from the heat receiving unit and radiating recovered heat;
a liquid coolant transporting heat generated at the heat receiving unit to the radiator; and
a hollow tube disposed so that the liquid coolant circulates between the heat receiving unit and the radiator,
a circulating flow of the liquid coolant formed by an elevating force of air bubbles generated from the heat received at the heat receiving unit, the radiator having an air pocket forming one part of the circulation path of the liquid coolant together with the hollow tube and capable of collecting the air bubbles.
According to the invention described above, the circulation path of the liquid coolant is formed by the motive force created by the elevating force of the air bubbles, so the liquid coolant can be circulated without the use of an external drive source, thus making it possible to transfer the heat of the heat-receiving part to the radiator via the liquid coolant at reduced cost and no noise. Additionally, the heat of the heat-receiving part is absorbed as the heat of evaporation when the liquid coolant is turned into a gas and the heat of aggregation is released when the air bubbles that reach the radiator are condensed and returned to a liquid state, so heat can be transferred more efficiently from the heat receiving part to the radiator and a cooling unit of high cooling effectiveness and efficiency can be provided.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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patent: 5871043 (1999-02-01), Osakabe et al.
patent: 6005772 (1999-12-01), Terao et al.
patent: 6070654 (2000-06-01), Ito
patent: 6104611 (2000-08-01), Glover et al.
patent: 6173761 (2001-01-01), Chandratilleke et al.
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Hirano Minoru
Miyazaki Ryuuji
Suzuki Masumi
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP.
Bennett Henry
Duong Tho van
Fujitsu Limited
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