Electric lamp and discharge devices – With gas or vapor – Three or more electrode discharge device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-07
2004-12-21
Patel, Nimeshkumar D. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With gas or vapor
Three or more electrode discharge device
C313S046000, C313S011000, C362S294000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06833674
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a structure for dissipating heat generated in a drive unit of a plasma display panel in a plasma display panel device.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2000-182445, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as “PDP”) a display image is generated by applying a predetermined voltage between electrodes, disposed to intersect with each other, to produce electrical discharge between the electrodes in a discharge space formed between two glass substrates.
The electrodes of the PDP have a high voltage of several hundred volts applied to them. A drive unit developing the high voltage to drive the PDP generates high heat. For this reason, the PDP device needs a heat-dissipation structure for dissipating the heat generated in the drive unit into the atmosphere.
FIG. 8
is a lateral sectional view showing a PDP device having a conventional heat-dissipation structure as explained above.
In
FIG. 8
, a PDP
1
is secured on a chassis
2
made of metal such as aluminum by an adhesive tape
3
. On the back face of the chassis
2
(the reverse of the face on which the PDP
1
is mounted), a circuit board
4
making up a drive circuit for driving the PDP
1
is installed and electrically connected to the PDP
1
through a flexible cable (not shown).
On the circuit board
4
, a plurality of electronic components E
1
and drive modules E
2
which make up the drive circuit are mounted.
The PDP
1
and the circuit board
4
which are linked by the chassis
2
are housed in a casing made up of a side case C
1
, a rear case C
2
, a front panel FP for protecting the display surface of the PDP
1
, and others.
In an upper portion of the rear case C
2
, an exhaust fan F is installed for exhausting air from the casing. Heat dissipation is performed such that the exhaust fan F is driven to dissipate the air inside the casing, which is heated by the heat generated from the electronic components E
1
and drive modules E
2
mounted on the circuit board
4
, into the atmosphere.
In the conventional PDP device as explained above, however, the electronic components E
1
and the drive modules E
2
which generate heat are mounted on one face of the single circuit board
4
, which results in a crowded arrangement of the electronic components E
1
and the drive modules E
2
on the circuit board
4
as illustrated in FIG.
9
. Hence, the conventional PDP device has a problem in which a heat-dissipating path for creating an air flow for the heat dissipation produced by the exhaust fan F cannot be provided sufficiently between the electronic components E
1
and between the drive modules E
2
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve the problem associated with heat dissipation in the conventional plasma display panel as described above.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a heat-dissipation structure capable of performing efficient heat dissipation in a plasma display panel device.
To attain the above object, a heat-dissipation structure of a plasma display panel device including a plasma display panel and a drive circuit for driving the plasma display panel, according to a first aspect of the present invention, has the feature of including a plurality of circuit boards and having electronic components, making up the drive circuit, mounted separately on the plurality of circuit boards.
With the heat-dissipation structure of the plasma display panel device of the first aspect, the electronic components making up the drive circuit for the plasma display panel are mounted separately on the plurality of individual circuit boards. For this reason, it is possible to increase each space between the adjacent electronic components as compared with the case where the electronic components are mounted on a single circuit board.
According to the first aspect, therefore, the heat dissipating path for creating an air flow in order to dissipate the heat, generated from the heat-generating electronic components, from the plasma display panel device into the atmosphere, can be provided sufficiently between the heat-generating electronic components, resulting in efficient heat dissipation.
This allows the elimination of the conventional need for installing an exhaust fan for dissipating heat. If exhaust fans are installed, it is possible to reduce the number of exhaust fans.
To attain the aforementioned object, the heat-dissipation structure of the plasma display panel according to a second aspect has, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the feature that an electronic component with the heat-generating property out of the electronic components making up the drive circuit is mounted on a required circuit board out of the plurality of circuit boards.
With this structure, it is possible to place an exhaust hole, an exhaust fan or the like above the required circuit board on which the electronic component with the heat-generating property is mounted for collective exhausting, which results in further efficiency in performing the heat dissipation.
To attain the aforementioned object, the heat-dissipation structure of the plasma display panel device according to a third aspect has, in addition to the configuration of the second aspect, the feature that the required circuit board is supported by a metal-made build-up frame which is thermally-conductively installed on a metal-made casing of the plasma display panel device and is in contact with at least part of the electronic components with the heat-generating property mounted on the required circuit board.
According to the heat dissipation structure of the plasma display panel device of the third aspect, in addition to the heat dissipation achieved by exhausting the heated air flowing between the electronic components with the heat-generating property mounted on the required circuit board, the heat generated from the electronic components, with the heat-generating property, in contact with the metal-made build-up frame is transferred through the build-up frame to the metal-made casing of the plasma display panel device and also dissipated from the metal-made casing, resulting in further efficiency in performing the heat dissipation.
To attain the aforementioned object, the heat-dissipation structure of the plasma display panel according to a fourth aspect has, in addition to the configuration of the third aspect, the feature that the electronic components having the heat-generating property are mounted separately on both faces of the required circuit board, and the electronic component mounted on one face of the required circuit board are in contact with the build-up frame.
With this structure, it is possible to further increase a width of the heat dissipating path between the electronic components having the heat-generating property. In addition, the heat generated by the electronic components mounted on the one face of the circuit board is passed through the build-up frame and dissipated from the metal-made casing of the plasma display panel device into the atmosphere, resulting in further efficiency in performing the heat dissipation.
To attain the aforementioned object, the heat-dissipation structure of the plasma display panel according to a fifth aspect has, in addition to the configuration of the third aspect, the feature that the electronic component mounted on the one face of the required circuit board and being in contact with the build-up frame is a heat-generating module.
With this structure, electronic components having the heat-generating property are designed in modules, and the heat generated by the heat-generating module significantly exhibiting heat-generating property is dissipated by means of transferring the heat to the metal-made casing of the plasma display panel device, as well as means of exhausting the heated air. This results in further efficiency in performi
Kaneko Koichi
Oishi Toshiharu
Takao Daisuke
Yokoi Sadao
Arent & Fox PLLC
Colón German
Patel Nimeshkumar D.
Pioneer Corporation
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