Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-22
2001-05-01
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S700000, C361S702000, C174S015100, C257S706000, C257S707000, C165S080300, C165S165000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06226184
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a heat sink for a computer system, and more particularly to a heat sink system for a computer wherein the heat sink attaches to the computer system enclosure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems such as personal computers, workstations, and portable computers, typically include components housed within an enclosure. Some components, such as central processing units (CPUs) and memory chips, typically mount on circuit boards within the enclosure. Other components, such as circuit boards and disk drives, typically mount to a chassis of the computer system.
Some computer components, such as CPUs, generate heat during use. A component can only function properly when the temperature of the component is at or below a maximum operating temperature. Often, the package of a component is too small to allow enough heat transfer from the package to keep the component at or below the maximum operating temperature using only natural convection. Such components require additional cooling. If the temperature of a computer component exceeds the maximum operating temperature of the component, or if the temperature within the computer enclosure exceeds a maximum operating temperature, a reduction of computer performance may occur. Eventually, the components of the computer system can be permanently damaged or destroyed if the computer components or the computer system operate at too hot a temperature.
Trends in the computer industry include producing faster and smaller computer systems. Fast computer processors have been produced, but the amount of heat generated during use by the fast processors has also increased. Combining computer components that generate heat into a small computer system enclosure leads to problems of removing the heat from the computer components and from the computer system enclosure.
A fan or fans may be used to provide forced convection cooling of a computer component or a computer system. Adding a fan to a computer system may not be desirable. Fans can be noisy, expensive, and a fan is often the shortest-lived component of a computer system. Having a fan in a computer system may lower the reliability of the entire computer system. If the fan fails, other system components may be permanently damaged or destroyed. In some systems, the addition of a fan or fans to provide component cooling may be a necessity. In other systems, the use of heat sinks and natural convection may provide sufficient cooling.
One type of heat sink provides a thermal connection between a component being cooled and a large convection cooled surface area. Typically, such heat sinks mount directly to a component, to the component's socket on a circuit board, or to the circuit board. Practical size and weight limits exist for heat sinks that mount on the component, on the component socket, or on the circuit board. For example, a tall heat sink mounted directly on the component may not be practical. Jostling a tall heat sink mounted on a component may damage the connection between the component and the circuit board. Mishandling a tall heat sink mounted on the component may knock the heat sink off of the component. Socket and circuit board mounted heat sinks may greatly increase the assembly cost of a computer system.
Space limitations within a computer system enclosure may limit the size of heat sinks available for use in the computer system. If a heat sink is too large, it may overlap areas of the computer that require service access. Such areas include, but are not limited to EPROM, RAM modules, and test points.
A relatively inexpensive way of attaching a heat sink to a component is to purchase the computer device with the heat sink pre-attached to the device by the manufacturer. Typically, the device with the pre-attached heat sink is loaded onto a circuit board by automatic placement equipment. A disadvantage of buying a component with a pre-attached heat sink is that the component and heat sink combination might be too large to be handled by the automatic placement equipment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An enclosure mounted heat sink for a computer system component mounts on the computer system enclosure. The heat sink may press against the computer component to establish thermal contact between the heat sink and the computer component. Attaching the heat sink to a panel of the computer enclosure may minimize size, mass and placement issues associated with mounting a heat sink on a component, a component socket, or a circuit board. Attaching the heat sink to an enclosure panel may improve the ruggedness of the computer system by moving the mass of a heat sink off of fragile system components.
The enclosure mounted heat sink may directly contact the computer component to be cooled, or the enclosure mounted heat sink may contact an interface part attached to the component. The interface part may be of a size that automatic placement equipment can easily handle during assembly of the computer system. The interface part may be a heat sink that is directly mounted to the computer component. In such a case, the interface heat sink may be smaller than a heat sink sized to meet the entire heat transfer needs of the computer component. Reducing the size of a heat sink that directly mounts to a component of a computer system, the component socket or a circuit board may make the computer system more rugged and easier to assemble.
An enclosure mounted heat sink allows easy access to a circuit board during assembly of a computer system. The enclosure mounted heat sink also allows easy access to an installed circuit board during maintenance, repair, or removal of the circuit board. To provide access to the circuit board, the panel upon which the heat sink is mounted is removed from the enclosure. Removing the panel removes the heat sink from the system and provides access to the circuit board without interference from the heat sink.
The enclosure mounted heat sink may be larger and more irregularly shaped than a heat sink that mounts to the component, to a component socket, or to a circuit board. A larger, more irregularly shaped heat sink may provide more cooling surface area than a conventional heat sink. The larger, more irregularly shaped heat sink would still be able to accommodate assembly tolerances. The enclosure mounted heat sink may overlap areas of the circuit board that require service access. When service access is required, the panel upon which the heat sink is mounted may be removed to allow access to the interior of the computer system enclosure without interference from the heat sink.
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Hruska Daniel B.
Osborn Jay K.
Stolz Howard W.
Conley & Rose & Tayon P.C.
Datskovsky Michael
Picard Leo P.
Sun Microsystems Inc.
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