Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-26
2001-04-24
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S690000, C361S694000, C174S16100R, C454S184000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06222729
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cooling system of an electronic device having a plurality of circuit boards therein.
In a conventional electronic device in which many circuit boards are installed, the circuit boards are arranged vertically in multiple stages to reduce the signal propagation delay time among the circuit boards.
Referring to
FIG. 7
, a conventional electronic device
1
comprises a plurality of circuit boards
2
, each having a plurality of electronic components such as large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs) and integrated circuits (ICs) thereon, and a cabinet
11
in which these circuit boards
2
are installed in multiple stages arranged vertically. On the bottom of the cabinet
11
is provided an inlet port
3
through which air (cool air) is taken into the cabinet
11
; on the top of the cabinet
11
is provided an exhaust port
4
through which air is exhausted from the cabinet
11
. In addition, to blow cool air taken in through the inlet port
3
onto the electronic components on the circuit boards
2
and to cool them, a plurality of fans
5
are provided on the inlet port sides of the circuit boards
2
.
In the conventional electronic device
1
such as the one described above, the fans
5
take in air through the inlet port
3
into the cabinet
11
to supply it to the plurality of circuit boards
2
. The air, warmed by the electronic components on the circuit boards
2
, is exhausted from the cabinet
11
through the exhaust port
4
.
When the heat generated by the electronic components in the conventional electronic device
1
becomes high, the temperature of the room (hereinafter called “machine room”) where electronic device
1
is mounted rises. This warms the air blown by the fans
5
onto the electronic components, making it difficult to cool the electronic components properly.
In such a case, an air conditioning system is usually provided in the machine room to lower the temperature of the air in the room. In a machine room where a large electronic device is installed, the so-called floor air-conditioning system that supplies cool air under the floor is usually used. In this system, air blown up from under the floor cools the inside of the electronic device.
In
FIG. 7
, the wind speed at arrow X at which cool air is blown up from under the floor is, usually, as high as 2 meter to 3 meter per second. Inside the cabinet
11
, the larger the distance from the inlet port
3
, the lower the speed of the cool air. That is, the wind speeds inside the cabinet
11
are in order of (wind speed at arrow A)>(wind speed at arrow B)>(wind speed at arrow C). The lower the speed of the cool air that is blown upward, the easier it is to catch the cool air. This means that it is easier for a fan
5
C arranged near the top of the cabinet
11
to catch the cool air. Conversely, it is difficult for a fan
5
A provided near the bottom of the cabinet
11
to catch the cool air because the speed of the cool air blown upward is high. That is, the amounts of the cool air caught by the fans
5
A to
5
C and supplied to the circuit boards
2
are in the order of (amount of cool air at arrow C′)>(amount of cool air at arrow B′)>(amount of cool air at arrow A′). Therefore, the cool air flowing slowly near a circuit board
2
a
installed near the bottom of the cabinet
11
does not have a sufficient cooling effect as compared with the cool air flowing somewhere else in the cabinet
11
. In some cases, the speed of the cool air falls below a predetermined level with the result that the lower-stage circuit board
2
A cannot be cooled enough.
In such a case, for blowing a wind at a predetermined speed near the lower-stage circuit board
2
A, it is required that the fans
5
are more powerful or a larger distance from the inlet port
3
to the fans
5
. However, this configuration makes the fans
5
noisier and the cabinet
11
larger.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device cooling system, which supplies winds evenly among a plurality of circuit boards in an electronic device containing multistage circuit boards arranged vertically.
One aspect of the present invention is an electronic device cooling system comprising a cabinet; a plurality of circuit boards, installed in said cabinet, having electronic parts thereon; an inlet port through which air is taken into said cabinet; and a plurality of inlet-side guides, arranged in parallel on an inlet port side of said plurality of circuit boards in a direction of a flow of the air taken in from said inlet port, guiding said air taken in from said inlet port away from the circuit boards.
Another aspect of the present invention is an electronic device cooling system comprising a cabinet; a plurality of circuit boards, installed in said cabinet, having electronic parts thereon; an exhaust port through which air is exhausted from said cabinet; a plurality of exhaust-side guides, arranged in parallel on an exhaust port side of said plurality of circuit boards in a direction of a flow of the air exhausted from said exhaust port and each inclined at a predetermined angle toward said exhaust port, guiding the air warmed by said electronic parts on said circuit boards; and a plurality of fans between the circuit boards and the exhaust-side guides exhausting the air warmed by said electronic parts on said circuit boards from said exhaust port via said plurality of exhaust-side guides.
A still another aspect of the present invention is an electronic device cooling system comprising a cabinet; a plurality of circuit boards, installed in said cabinet and having electronic parts thereon; an inlet port through which air is taken into said cabinet; a plurality of inlet-side guides, arranged in parallel in a direction of a flow of the air taken in from said inlet port and each inclined at a predetermined angle toward a side opposite to said inlet port, guiding the air taken in from said inlet port away from the circuit boards; a plurality of first fans blowing onto said circuit boards the air taken in through said inlet port and guided by said plurality of inlet-side guides; an exhaust port through which the air is exhausted from said cabinet; a plurality of exhaust-side guides, arranged in parallel in a direction of a flow of the air exhausted from said exhaust port and each inclined at a predetermined angle toward said exhaust port, guiding the air warmed by said electronic parts; and a plurality of second fans exhausting the warmed air from said exhaust port via said plurality of exhaust-side guides.
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Chervinsky Boris L.
NEC Corporation
Picard Leo P.
Young & Thompson
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