Positioning structure for heat dissipating fins

Details Positioning structure for heat dissipating fins Positioning structure for heat dissipating fins

2002-07-29

2003-08-19

Bennett, Henry (Department: 3743)

Heat exchange

Heat transmitter

C165S080300, C361S704000, C361S709000, C174S016300, C257S722000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06607028

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a positioning structure for heat dissipating fins and in particular, a high-density buckling mechanism for a stack of heat dissipating fins comprising a plurality of metal plates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As computer technology advances to deep sub-micron age, the dimension of microchips dramatically shrinks and the speed of these chips largely increases. This causes a heat problem when operating such high-density microchips. To dissipate the heat generated by the operating microchips and to avoid the chips from burning down, heat dissipating fins having large heat: dissipating area are typically combined with the microchips. Generally, according to their fabrication method, there are three types of them: aluminum extrusion type, pressing molding type, and folded stack type. The aluminum extrusion type and pressing molding type heat dissipating fins are superseding folded stack type heat dissipating fins these days since the former provides limited heat dissipating area due to fabrication ability. The later provides higher packing density and thus has higher heat dissipating performance.
FIG. 1
illustrates a typical view of a prior art folded stack type heat dissipating fin structure. The prior art folded stack type heat dissipating fin structure
10
a
comprises a plurality of metal plates
11
a
each of which is formed by means of conventional mechanical pressing method and has similar size. The metal plate
11
a
is made of metal materials with high thermal conductivity such as copper or aluminum. Typically, the metal plate
11
a
is shaped into a U-shape or approximate L shape. The metal plate
11
a
comprises a main body
12
a
connected with an upper folded side and lower folded side
13
a
arranged in a parallel manner. The metal plates
11
a
are connected with a heat dissipating substrate
20
a
by soldering the lower folded side
13
a
with the surface of the substrate
20
a
. The substrate
20
a
is typically made of high thermal conductive metal materials such as copper or aluminum.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1
, to position the metal plates
11
a
, there are provided protruding portions
14
a
and corresponding recess portions
15
a
on each of the upper and lower folded sides
13
a
. The metal plates
11
a
are stacked in position by engaging the protruding portions
14
a
with the corresponding recess portions
15
a
. However, such prior art positioning mechanism provides poor combination. Sometimes, metal plates
11
a
fall off due to collision.
FIG. 2
shows another prior art folded stack type heat dissipating fin structure, the heat dissipating fins
30
a
comprises a plurality of metal plates
31
a
having at least one pair of buckling pieces
32
a
disposed at two opposite sides of each of the metal plates
31
a
. Each of the buckling pieces
32
a
defines a locking opening thereof. With such configuration, the metal plates
31
a
are stacked in approximately equal spacing for the sake of convection. An extending heat conducting strip
33
a
is combined at the lower side of each of the, metal plates
31
a
. When assembling, the extending heat conducting strip.
33
a
provides more heat dissipating area.
Unfortunately, the above-mentioned prior art cannot provide firmly joint between two metal plates. Accordingly, there is a strong need for an improved positioning structure for heat dissipating fins which are simplified and have good reliability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the invention is to provide an improved positioning structure for heat dissipating fins to solve the above-mentioned problems.
In accordance with the present invention, a positioning structure for heat dissipating fins is provided. The heat dissipating fins is comprised of multiple metal plates, each of which comprising a main body, and a folded side portion connected to one or two sides of the main body. The positioning structure is disposed on each of the metal plates. The positioning structure comprises a protrusion located on the main body of the metal plate, an aperture being formed on the main body, the protrusion formed in the aperture; and a resilient snapping piece located on the folded side portion, the snapping piece corresponding to the protrusion and defining a buckling opening therein, the buckling opening being connected to a front opening having a width normally smaller than the width of the protrusion.


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