Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-28
2003-09-16
Thompson, Gregory (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C165S080300, C165S121000, C361S695000, C257S718000, C257S722000, C415S177000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06621699
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electric component cooling apparatus for cooling an electronic component such as an MPU or the like, and more particularly to an electronic component cooling apparatus of the type that a heat sink on which an electronic component is mounted is forcibly cooled by air fed from a fan unit.
As shown in
FIG. 6
, an electronic component cooling apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 102787/2001 comprises a heat sink
102
having a plurality of radiation fins
101
, a fan unit
105
including an impeller
103
driven by a motor and a casing
104
, and casing mounting means
106
located at opposite sides of the casing
104
. The casing mounting means
106
are provided to mount the casing
104
on the heat sink
102
so that a gap is provided between the leading ends of the radiation fins
101
and an opposite wall
104
a
of the casing
104
. Air discharged from the impeller
103
passes through the gap formed between the leading ends of the radiation fins
101
and the opposite wall
104
a
and through intervals between the radiation fins
101
in the heat sink
102
, and then flows out to the outside of the casing
104
and the heat sink
102
. The electronic component
108
mounted on a base
102
a
is thereby cooled. The electronic component cooling apparatus is mounted on a circuit board
100
using mounting tools of various structures. Recently, a mounting tool such as a mounting tool
107
, indicated by a dotted line in
FIG. 6
, has also been conceived. In this example, a pushing force toward the heat sink
102
is applied to the opposite wall
104
a
of the casing
104
to push the base
102
a
of the heat sink
102
against the electronic component
108
, thereby mounting the electronic component cooling device on the circuit board
100
.
In this conventional electronic component cooling apparatus, however, a pushing force applied by the mounting tool
107
is exerted on the base
102
a
through the casing mounting means
106
located on the opposite sides of the casing
104
. In this case, a force exerted on the electronic component
108
, based on the pushing force locally becomes larger or becomes unbalanced. In this case, for example, a large force is locally applied to an upper corner
108
a
of the electronic component
108
. For this reason, unbalanced contact occurs between the electronic component
108
and the base
102
a
of the heat sink
102
, so that heat dissipation from the electronic component
108
becomes locally unbalanced, and the heat dissipation effect of the electronic component might be thereby reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing disadvantage of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic component cooling apparatus that can prevent a reduction in the heat dissipation effect of an electronic component when a pushing force toward a heat sink is exerted on the opposite wall of a casing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic component cooling apparatus that can prevent extreme unbalance in contact between the base of a heat sink and an electronic component when a pushing force toward the heat sink is exerted on the opposite wall of a casing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic component cooling apparatus that does not extremely increase air resistance against air that passes through a gap formed between the opposite wall of a casing and a plurality of radiation fins in a heat sink.
In accordance with the present invention, an electronic component cooling apparatus comprises a heat sink, a fan unit, and casing mounting means. The heat sink has a base having a front surface provided thereon with a plurality of radiation fins and a rear surface to be mounted thereon with an electronic component to be cooled. The fan unit includes an impeller having a plurality of blades, a motor for rotating the impeller mounted on a rotor fixedly mounted on a revolving shaft, and a casing having an opposite wall arranged opposite to leading ends of the radiation fins in the heat sink, and an opening for receiving the impeller. The casing mounting means is provided to mount the casing on the heat sink so that the leading ends of the radiation fins are spaced from the opposite wall to define a gap. In this electronic component cooling apparatus, air discharged from the impeller passes through the gap between the heat sink and the leading ends of the radiation fins and through intervals between the radiation fins for discharge to the outside of the casing and the heat sink. Then, when the electronic component cooling apparatus is used, the base of the heat sink is pushed against the electronic component with the pushing force toward the heat sink being applied to a pair of wall sections of the opposite wall located with the opening of the casing interposed therebetween.
In accordance with the present invention, at least one pushing force transferring section for transferring the pushing force to the heat sink through contact with the leading ends of the radiation fins is integrally provided at each of a pair of wall sections of the opposite wall of the casing. Then, at least one pushing force transferring section at each of the pair of wall sections is constructed to distribute the pushing force and transfer distributed force to the heat sink so as to prevent a force applied or transferred to the electronic component by the pushing force from increasing locally and excessively, or being brought into an unbalanced state.
If at least one pushing force transferring section is provided in accordance with the present invention, a pushing force is transferred to the heat sink through the casing mounting means and the pushing force transferring section, with the pushing force toward the hear sink applied to the pair of the wall sections of the opposite wall of the casing. Then, this pushing force is exerted on the electronic component through the heat sink. For this reason, the pushing force is distributed and the distributed force is transferred to the heat sink due to the existence of the pushing force transferring section, so that the force exerted on the electronic component will not increase locally and extremely. In other words, the balanced pushing force is exerted on the entire electronic component, thereby eliminating extreme unbalance in contact between the base of the heat sink and the electronic component. Consequently, an occurrence of local unbalance in heat dissipation of the electronic component can be prevented. A reduction in efficiency of heat dissipation can be thereby prevented.
Preferably, the cross sectional profile or shape of the pushing force transferring section is defined so as to reduce air resistance against the air that passes through the gap between the leading ends of the radiation fins and the opposite wall. This arrangement can streamline the airflow, which would be severely blocked due to the existence of the pushing force transferring section, thereby preventing the cooling effect of the radiation fins from decreasing. In this case, if the cross sectional profile of the pushing force transferring section is formed to have substantially a circular shape, air resistance can be reduced, and the mechanical strength of the pushing force transferring section can be increased.
Further, if an axial fan unit for discharging air in one axial direction of the revolving shaft of the motor is employed as the fan unit, it is preferable that the cross sectional shape of the pushing force transferring section is formed to have an elongate, streamlined shape so that it parallels airflow discharged from the fan unit and then passing through the gap or so that it does not make a large resistance against the airflow. With this arrangement, air resistance of the pushing force transferring section against airflow can be reduced.
Still further, when providing each of pushing force transfe
Maruyama Haruhisa
Ogawara Toshiki
Watanabe Michinori
Rankin, Hill Porter & Clark LLP
Sanyo Denki Co. Ltd.
Thompson Gregory
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