Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-14
2001-07-03
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S707000, C361S695000, C165S126000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256197
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical systems and devices with cooling means, more particularly to electrical systems and devices using air for cooling, and most specifically to electrical systems and devices using a fan or blower for cooling.
2. General Background
The current widespread use of computers in the home is considered to have originated with the advent of the IBM (International Business Machines) PC (Personal Computer) in the early 1980s. Subsequent to this introduction diverse companies manufactured and sold what are commonly known as IBM Compatible PCs which are characterized by use of a DOS (Disk Operating System), particularly MS (MicroSoft) DOS and Windows operating systems developed and licensed by Microsoft Corporation. The growth of this industry is considered to have been fueled by the development of faster and more powerful microprocessors such as those developed in the early 1990s by Intel Corporation and others including AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).
The more recent history of this continuing development also is allied with the more recent popularity of the Internet which was first developed by the U.S. Department of Defence and aided by the advent of internet access providers such as AOL (America On ine and internet search engines such as Netscape. This and other capabilities are not of direct concern to the present invention but are merely illustrative of the increased popularity of PCs generally which development has been characterized by the use of faster and more powerful microprocessors which support expanded capabilities for the PC which term is used hereinafter to denote a computer which uses a microprocessor as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and which are further characterized by the use of a DOS which is inclusive of the Windows operating systems which currently dominate the PC market.
Microprocessors, which are invariably utilized as CPUs in PCs, are electronic devices as are the various solid state transistor based printed circuit boards or ‘chips’ or ‘cards’ typically found in a PC. All of these electronic and the other components of a PC except for the case or housing, known herein as a PC enclosure, including the HDD (Hard Disk Drive), ‘floppy’ disk drives, laser or CD (Compact Disk) drives, generate heat, particularly the A.C. (alternating current) to D.C. (direct current) electrical transformer which, in a PC, is commonly known as the power supply. The amount of heat generated or dissipated by all of these electric components is considerable. One relatively recent PC is noted as using and therefor dissipating 325 W (Watts) of power of which the CPU uses 30 W (U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,608, Abstract).
The operating temperature of the CPU of a PC is considered critical to the speed at which the entire PC operates. Hence while the removal of heat from the case enclosing the PC generally is beneficial and necessary to normal functioning of a PC it is the operating temperature of the CPU which is generally determinative of the speed at which the PC operates. As the microprocessors utilized as the CPU in a PC have become faster and more powerful the operating temperature of the same has become more important. It is stressed that the CPU, along with all the other components of a PC, are enclosed in a case and therefor the ambient temperature inside that case has been of primary concern. It is also stressed that the transformer comprising the power supply of a PC is invariably the greatest source of beat generation in a PC.
It is also noted that virtually all PCs are equipped with at least one fan or blower for cooling the inside of the enclosure provided by the casing of a PC. If only one fan or blower is utilized it is generally an exhaust fan and virtually all PCs have an exhaust fan which is hence considered a given or assumed characteristic of a PC. Additional fans or blowers have also been utilized in PCs including additional devices, i.e. retrofit devices, which may be added to a PC. Such retrofit devices are typically blowers which are adapted for disposal within the space reserved for additional disk drives.
Discussion of the Prior Art
Retrofit devices, such as those sold by Windtek, position a blower in the space typically reserved for additional disk drives and provide forced air cooling of the HDD installed in a PC in particular and intake air for the enclosure generally. The disk drives, and the space reserved for additional disk drives, are invariably located at the front of a PC. The power supply is located in the back of a PC and the CPU is located in the middle of the PC. Most importantly, perhaps, a retrofit blower fitting in the space reserved for an additional disk drive denies the use of that space for the installation of an additional disk drive. For this reason these devices are considered undesirable.
Certain devices are also known which promote air flow through the enclosure of a PC. U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,245 issued to Smoot, III et al. discloses such a device which provides a blower in an open top base upon which the PC is placed and which directs air “across a base member up through the computer thus cooling the circuit board” (Abstract). Another such device is disclosed by U.S. U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,154 issued to Dodson which uses an interior enclosure about the power supply with two blowers mounted on a forward inclined surface of the same which intakes air from inside the PC enclosure, forces this air against the power supply and other components contained in the interior enclosure, expelling the air out the back of the PC casing or enclosure.
Various baffle constructions are also known which are intended to direct the air from either an intake fan, an exhaust fan, or both, to certain components within a PC such as the power supply, CPU, particular printed circuit boards, et cetera. One example is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,456 issued to Benck et al. and assigned to IBM which uses an intake and an exhaust fan with a baffle therebetween. These constructions are characterized by air flow throughout the enclosure and are considered to provide a less than satisfactory cooling as a result. It is considered that unless air flow is directed specifically to the CPU in particular the ability to lower the operating temperature of the same with regard to the ambient temperature inside the enclosure is severely reduced. Japan Patent #3-135098 issued Oct. 6, 1991 to Miyamoto and assigned to Hitachi Ltd. uses “a guide 7
a
for altering the direction of the flow of the air 10 at an angle . . . to efficiently cool the board 2” (Abstract). However, the air used is that which is first passed through the power supply which, as earlier mentioned, generates the most heat of any component of a PC.
Japan Patent #6-21677 issued Jul. 7, 1994 to Suzuki and assigned to Mitsubishi Electric Corporation discloses an arrangement whereby a duct encloses the power supply and is provided at one end with an intake blower and the printed circuit board is specifically disposed outside this duct within the larger enclosure which has separate ventilation so that the two cooling systems are separated and the heat dissipated by the power supply is removed from the PC enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,787 issued Jun. 6, 1995 to Gourdine and assigned to Energy Innovations, Inc. discloses a “dedicated air flow” for a “heat generating electronic component” within an enclosure possessing an exhaust fan with tubing connecting an interior enclosure about the component concerned with a passive intake and a second interior partial, i.e. perforated, enclosure about the exhaust fan.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,673 issued Sep. 24, 1996 to Gagnon et al. discloses a system for providing “fitered air under a positive air pressure to such components in the computer, as the electrical power supply and microprocessor, as well as other components” (Abstract) whereby an exhaust fan inducts air through ducting having inlets placed proximate the components to be cooled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,915 issued Jun. 13, 1995
Duong Hung Van
Gibson Peter
Picard Leo P.
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