Patent Application
20080302507
The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus and particularly to a cooling apparatus with an adjustable heat dispersing direction to be used on electronic devices.
These days the performance and speed of electronic products improve very rapidly. With advance of material technology the electronic products have been made smaller and lighter. To build high performance in a smaller size, reliability becomes an important issue. An electronic device generates heat during high speed process that affects product reliability. As the size of the electronic device becomes smaller, heat accumulation in the interior of the device is a big problem which the industry constantly tries to figure out a better solution.
The commonly adopted cooling techniques for electronic devices at present can be divided into active cooling and passive cooling. Active cooling, such as cooling fans and water circulation, uses an extra driving source to accelerate cooling effect. Passive cooling includes heat transfer ducts and radiation fins, and does not need an external driving source. It is in contact with the electronic device to transfer heat. Through phase change of a cooling liquid contained inside and a large area of radiation surface heat can be dispersed into the atmosphere. In the present techniques the active cooling and passive cooling often are being used independently or jointly.
R.O.C. patent publication Nos. 231102,299851, 200636435, and patent Nos. M307287 and M302867 disclose techniques that couple active cooling and passive cooling. Heat generated by electronic devices is transferred by passive cooling elements, then is carried away by airflow driven by an active cooling element (cooling fan) to speed up cooling effect. On active cooling elements and passive cooling elements, cooling efficiency can be improved by mounting them on desired locations or forming them with desired shapes. However, the conventional active and passive cooling elements mostly are installed in a fixed manner, and disperse heat only in a single direction. As the internal elements of electronic products often are arranged in a complex manner and form obstacles in an irregular space, cooling airflow in one direction cannot be smoothly discharged, and turbulence often happens. As the prevailing trend demands thin and light, the internal space of electronic products has to be fully utilized. Hence heat trapping and accumulation in the small internal space becomes a serious problem.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a cooling apparatus with an adjustable heat dispersing direction to resolve the problems of airflow turbulence and heat accumulation in electronic products that occur to the conventional techniques by dispersing heat in only one direction. To achieve the foregoing object the present invention provides an adjustable cooling apparatus to be used on electronic devices to disperse heat. It mainly includes a heat transfer portion to transfer heat of an electronic device and a heat dispersing portion to receive and disperse the heat from the heat transfer portion. The heat transfer portion and the heat dispersing portion are coupled through a toggle mechanism. The toggle mechanism includes a first coupling unit connecting to the heat transfer portion and a second coupling unit connecting to the heat dispersing portion. The first and second coupling units are pivotally coupled through a shaft so that they can be swiveled relative to each other. The heat dispersing portion and the heat transfer portion may form an angle relative to each other that is adjustable through the toggle mechanism which serves as an axis. Moreover, the heat transfer portion has a base mounted onto the electronic device. The base has a turning mechanism fastened to the heat transfer portion. The turning mechanism includes a first turning unit fastened to the base and a second turning unit fastened to the heat transfer portion. Thus the swivel direction of the cooling apparatus relative to the electronic device can be adjusted. To improve cooling efficiency an air fan is installed on the heat dispersing portion to drive airflow to pass through the heat dispersing portion to speed up heat dispersion.
The adjustable cooling apparatus of the invention has the toggle mechanism and turning mechanism to adjust the heat dispersing direction. Besides adjusting the heat dispersing direction in response to the internal space of the electronic device to achieve faster cooling effect for the electronic device, the heat dispersing direction may also be adjusted and directed towards the interior or electronic elements of other electronic products to drive airflow to pass through to aid cooling effect. Hence an optimal cooling efficiency can be achieved for the entire set of electronic product.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
The cooling apparatus of the invention further has a base 30 mounted onto the electronic device. The base 30 has a turning mechanism fastened to the heat transfer portion 11. The turning mechanism includes a first turning unit 311 coupled with the base 30 and a second turning unit 312 coupled with the heat transfer member 111 of the heat transfer portion 11. The first turning unit 311 and the second turning unit 312 are swivelable relative to each other such that the heat transfer portion 11 and the heat dispersing portion 12 can be swiveled to a direction desired relative to the base 30. Moreover, the second turning unit 312 has at least one retaining means 312a connecting to the first turning unit 311 to anchor the heat transfer portion 11 in a swivel direction. The retaining means 312a has a groove to tightly hold the first turning unit 311 so that after the swivel direction of the first turning unit 311 has been adjusted it can be anchored temporarily.
Referring to
In the embodiment set forth above the heat dispersing portion 12 and the heat transfer portion 11 can be swiveled relative to each other through the toggle mechanism 13. Based on the position of the heat dispersing portion 12 a vertical swivel start position (referring to
The cooling structure of the invention, aside from dispersing heat for the mounting electronic device, because of the air fan 20 to provide driving airflow to improve cooling effect and the special design of the toggle mechanism 13 and turning mechanism to adjust direction, the heat dispersing portion 12 can be adjusted in multiple directions. Thus the airflow can be channeled to the internal space of the electronic product and other electronic devices in the surrounding. Therefore a cooperative cooling effect can be achieved. As the electronic products are increasingly made at a smaller size, the internal space is shrunk. The cooperative cooling effect provided by the invention can reduce the number of cooling apparatus to be installed, and can improve utilization of the internal space. It also can reduce electric power consumption. In short, the adjustable cooling apparatus of the invention can be adjusted in multiple directions to provide cooling effect. It offers a significant improvement over the conventional cooling apparatus (especially those adopt the active cooling technique) which provide cooling in only one direction that could result in air turbulence and trapping and accumulation of heat due to space obstacles inside the electronic device. Moreover, the adjustable cooling apparatus of the invention, aside from being used independently, also can adjust heat dispersing direction to allow the airflow to be directed to other electronic devices to aid cooling of other electronic devices nearby. As a result, the cooling efficiency of the entire electronic product set is enhanced. The internal space and power consumption of the electronic product can be reduced. It is a more practical and economic effective design.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
