Automatic temperature and humidity regulation – Cooling radiator – Air control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-22
2001-02-06
Tanner, Harry B. (Department: 3744)
Automatic temperature and humidity regulation
Cooling radiator
Air control
C236S07800D, C236S07800D, C236SDIG009, C165S299000, 63
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182902
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a thermal control method and device, and in particular to a method and device to regulate the rotational speed of a fan cooler by thermal control, whereby the fan cooler can be actively adjusted to work at an appropriate speed to maintain the inner temperature of an apparatus within a selected moderate temperature range. Thereby, a balance between temperature reduction and power consumption can be achieved.
2. Description of Related Art
Heat is always generated while ordinary electronic equipment is turned on. For example, a personal computer having a high-speed microprocessor will generate a large amount of heat. Various devices for reducing temperature have been developed to avoid the negative effects of excess heat on electronic devices, such as a shortening of component lifetime and malfunction.
There are two general types devices for dissipating heat. One uses a mechanical structure, such as a radiator plate or a conduction heat plate, to perform heat dissipation. The refrigerant efficiency depends on the contact area between the heat generating component, such as the heating microprocessor, and a radiator or a heat conduction plate. Generally speaking, the refrigerant efficiency is higher when the contact area is larger, and vise versa. However, the application of such a mechanical structure for heat dissipation in portable electronic devices (for example, notebook computers) is restricted by the limited volume available to each component equipped therein because a large contact area is not feasible. When the operational speed of the portable electronic device becomes very fast, a limited contact area may be too small to achieve the purpose of heat dissipation.
The other type of heat dissipating device uses a fan cooler or a cooling installation to dissipate heat. Fan coolers are usually applied in portable electronic devices which need high refrigerant efficiency due to their smaller volume.
Most fan coolers used in portable electronic devices are powered by a constant voltage in either a turned on or off state, and whether or not the fan cooler starts to dissipate heat is determined by a control mechanism of the portable electronic device. But there are several disadvantages in the foregoing fan of the prior art. First, unlike the radiator plate, the fan cooler must be powered to rotate as fast as possible in order to effect heat dissipation, so a portion of the limited electric power stored in the portable electronic device will be consumed. This negatively impacts the ability of portable electronic devices to strictly control power consumption. In addition, fan coolers rotating at the full speed will make a significantly loud noise, which is also a problem that needs to be resolved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a thermal control method and device for automatically regulating the rotational speed of the fan. By the present invention, heat can be dynamically dissipated by the fan cooler in response to the inner temperature of the electronic device, whereby a balance between refrigerant efficiency and power consumption can be achieved, and the problem of the fan cooler noise can also be improved.
A first thermal control device for automatically regulating the rotational speed of the fan cooler of the present invention comprises a control-voltage generator having a means for sensing temperature, such as a thermister, for sensing an inner temperature of the electronic device and then generating a control-voltage corresponding to the inner temperature; a pulse modulator, like a pulse width modulator, coupled to the control-voltage generator for modulating the pulse width of a clock signal with respect to the control-voltage to generate a pulse modulation signal; and a fan driver for regulating the rotational speed of the fan cooler to modulate the refrigerant efficiency so as to reduce power consumption and fan noise.
Besides, in the thermal control device, the means for sensing temperature may include regional sensors. The regional sensors is distributed over different regions of the electronic device to sense regional temperatures. The control-voltage may be generated by a weighted summation of the relative control-voltages in response to the sensed regional temperatures.
A second thermal control device for automatically regulating the rotational speed of the fan cooler of the present invention includes control-voltage generators, wherein each has a related sensor located in an individual region to sense a temperature and a relative control-voltage is generated in response to the temperature; a weighted circuit connected to the control-voltage generators to receive all the relative control-voltages in response to the sensed regional temperatures and gives a respective weighted-coefficient to each control-voltage to generate a weighted control voltage; a pulse modulator connected to the weighted circuit to receive a clock signal and modulate the pulse width of the clock signal with respect to the weighted control voltage to generate a corresponding pulse modulation signal; and a fan driver connected to the pulse modulator to adjust the rotational speed of the fan cooler by the pulse modulation signal, whereby the refrigerant efficiency can be maintained and the balance between temperature reduction and power consumption can be achieved, and fan noise will be reduced.
Furthermore, a thermal control method for automatically regulating the rotational speed of the fan cooler comprises the following steps. First, with a means of sensing temperature, inner temperatures in an electronic device are sensed. A control-voltage is generated in response to the inner temperatures. The pulse width of a clock signal with respect to the control-voltage generates a relative pulse modulation signal. At last, the rotational speed of the fan cooler is regulated by the pulse modulation signal and the refrigerant efficiency in the electronic device can be controlled.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4425766 (1984-01-01), Claypole
patent: 4560106 (1985-12-01), Dorsch
patent: 5226729 (1993-07-01), Alford
patent: 5234050 (1993-08-01), Weigert
patent: 5718373 (1998-02-01), Kim et al.
Darby & Darby
Mitac Technology Corp.
Tanner Harry B.
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