1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed generally to cooling electronic devices and, more particularly, to an air-cooling system configuration for electronic devices arranged at places where sufficient cooling/exhaust air movement is not readily available, such as wall mounted touch screens or other electronic displays.
2. Related Art
It is widely known and recognized in the electronics industry that heat dissipation is a serious consideration in the design and operation of electronic devices. This is especially true for densely packaged electronic circuit components and in particular integrated circuit (IC) components together with printed circuit boards (PCB). It is known, for example, that to operate IC components at full power capability, there should be no or very little temperature difference between the IC components and ambient air. To achieve this, various techniques have been applied to cooling of the IC components, including blowing cooling air over the IC components. However, in many applications where forced air may be available, it may not be used because the amount of air is limited or insufficient, or enough space to implement an air-cooling system may not be available without elaborate structural reconfiguration.
Consumer electronic devices, for example, flat panel display devices such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma monitors/television sets and the like, are typically stand alone type devices that are allowed to freely intake air from their surroundings to cool the internal IC components and PCBs, and hence are usually configured such that they do not have an internal cooling system. However, when these devices are situated where the amount of intake air is limited or insufficient and/or not enough space is readily available for implementing a proper cooling system, heat will build up and the device performance and life span often will be adversely affected.
In this same regard, it has become a trend for consumer electronic devices to become part of a building's structure including the mounting of televisions or other displays to a wall surface, and the like. Being in close association with the building structure creates additional disadvantages in the area of cooling the device. For example, when a flat panel display is mounted on or inserted in a compartment formed in a wall, the majority of its rear side where major ventilation and heat dissipation occur is blocked, thereby increasing the internal temperature.
With the advent of higher-end, faster operating, and more complex electronic devices, there is a need to cool these devices in a way that was not previously contemplated by either the stand alone devices or the other prior art approaches. Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient air-cooling system configuration for electronic devices used in situations where a sufficient amount of air is not readily available for heat dissipation, such as wall-mounted devices.
The invention meets the foregoing need and provides sufficient cooling of electronic devices despite confining arrangements and/or a limited cooling-air source for proper heat dissipation, such as wall-mounted devices and that furthermore includes other advantages apparent from this discussion herein.
Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention, a cooling system for an electrical device includes a receptacle unit having a main opening with an inner chamber, a cooling unit operably associated with the electrical device and arranged in the chamber of the receptacle unit, intake and exhaust openings arranged between the electronic device and the receptacle unit, an intake path extending from the intake opening to the cooling unit via the chamber of the receptacle unit and an exhaust path extending from the cooling unit to the exhaust opening via the inner space of the receptacle unit.
According to another aspect of the invention, a cooling system for an electronic device includes means for cooling the electronic device, means for receiving the electronic device, the cooling means being in an enclosed spaced having limited airflow, means for providing cooling air to the cooling means in the receiving means, means for removing exhaust air from the cooling means, and means for separating the providing means and the removing means.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method of cooling an electronic device arranged in an enclosed space having limited air flow, the electronic device having a cooling unit associated therewith, includes intaking cooling air from outside the electronic device to the cooling unit, cooling the electronic device using the cooling air, and expelling the exhaust air generated by heat of the electronic device from the electronic device, and separating the exhaust air from the cooling air.
Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the invention may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the detailed description serve to explain the principles of the invention. No attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention and the various ways in which it may be practiced. In the drawings:
The embodiments of the invention and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments and examples that are described and/or illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and features of one embodiment may be employed with other embodiments as the skilled artisan would recognize, even if not explicitly stated herein. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques may be omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments of the invention. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the invention may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments of the invention. Accordingly, the examples and embodiments herein should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the appended claims and applicable law. Moreover, it is noted that like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
In an embodiment, the electronic device 110 may be a flat panel display device (e.g., LCD or plasma monitor or television set or the like). For example, the electronic device 110 may be a touch screen device that may be installed on or in a wall and configured to display information on its screen and receive instructions from a user by sensing the location on the screen touched by the user. The touch screen device 110 may be used to control a convergence and automation system, which is described in Applicants' co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/738,305, filed on Apr. 20, 2007, entitled TOUCH SCREEN FOR CONVERGENCE AND AUTOMATION SYSTEM, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Of course, the invention contemplates any other type of electronic device for use with the air-cooling system and configuration described herein including, but not limited to, computer systems, audio systems, video systems, or the like.
The touch screen 110 may include a front frame 112 and rear frame 114 joined to the front frame 112 with an LCD panel 20 (shown in
The cooling unit 150 may be arranged adjacent to the electronic device 110 for cooling the internal components that may generate heat under the normal operation. For example, as shown in
In order to mount the assembly 100 to the receptacle unit 300 in a stable manner, the air-cooling system 10 may be implemented with a locking structure. For example, as shown in
The receptacle unit 300 may be configured so that the electronic device 110 may house another device which may have a different size and configuration. For example,
In particular,
Similar to the assembly 100, the receptacle unit 300 may include structures formed on an edge thereof for cooling air entry to and exhaust air exit from the air-cooling system 10. For example, as shown in
As shown in
In particular, as shown in
The receptacle unit 300 may be mountable in a wall of a house, business space, boat, luxury vehicle, academic space, and the like. For example, the receptacle unit 300 may be inserted into an opening in the wall or may be fixed on the wall using one or more fastening structures. For example, the receptacle unit 300 may include holes 380 formed on the rim 330 as shown in
The touch screen 110 may include the LCD panel 20, driving circuitry 30, cooling unit 150, front frame 112, rear frame 114 and/or the like. The LCD panel 20 may have the screen 22 or the front side thereof. The driving circuitry 30 may be arranged on the rear side of the LCD panel 20. The front and rear frames 112, 114 may be conjoined to fix the LCD panel 20 and driving circuitry 30 therebetween. The driving circuitry 30 may be covered by the rear compartment 130. The cooling unit 150 may be arranged on the rear compartment 130 to take heat generated from the driving circuitry 30. The cooling unit 150 may include the fan 40 which may receive the intake air via the intake path 510 (shown in
As mentioned above, according to the invention, the intake and exhaust ports 360 and 370 are exposed to room air such that a constant stream of the cooling air may be provided to the cooling unit 150 while the exhaust air may be removed from the air-cooling system 10. Thus, even when the electronic device 110 is installed at places where movement of the cooling and exhaust air is substantially obstructed, the invention ensures a flow of the cooling and exhaust air to/from the electronic device 110, thereby avoiding any malfunctions thereof due to an elevated temperature therein and the like.
Moreover, the intake and exhaust ports 360 and 370 may be discreetly arranged on the air cooling system 10 such that the air is brought into and exhausted from the electronic device 110 at locations below the device thus making a more attractive front surface of the electronic device 110. Of course, the particular location of the intake and exhaust ports 360 and 370 described hereinabove is merely exemplary. In this regard, the intake and exhaust ports 360 and 370 may be arranged at any position on the receptacle 300.
While the invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modifications in the spirit and scope of the appended claims. These examples given above are merely illustrative and are not meant to be an exhaustive list of all possible designs, embodiments, applications or modifications of the invention.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/747,726 filed on May 19, 2006, entitled COOLING DEVICE FOR A TOUCH SCREEN AND THE LIKE, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4567557 | Burns | Jan 1986 | A |
4808841 | Ito et al. | Feb 1989 | A |
4989081 | Miyagawa | Jan 1991 | A |
5086385 | Launey et al. | Feb 1992 | A |
5105186 | May | Apr 1992 | A |
5218552 | Stirk | Jun 1993 | A |
5237305 | Ishikuro et al. | Aug 1993 | A |
5410373 | Sagues et al. | Apr 1995 | A |
5502618 | Chiou | Mar 1996 | A |
5579221 | Mun | Nov 1996 | A |
5598523 | Fujita | Jan 1997 | A |
5621662 | Humphries et al. | Apr 1997 | A |
5623392 | Ma | Apr 1997 | A |
5666172 | Ida et al. | Sep 1997 | A |
5706191 | Bassett et al. | Jan 1998 | A |
5706290 | Shaw et al. | Jan 1998 | A |
5748444 | Honda et al. | May 1998 | A |
5787259 | Haroun | Jul 1998 | A |
5831823 | Hoedl | Nov 1998 | A |
5850340 | York | Dec 1998 | A |
5877957 | Bennett | Mar 1999 | A |
5922047 | Newlin et al. | Jul 1999 | A |
5956025 | Goulden et al. | Sep 1999 | A |
6020881 | Naughton et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6029092 | Stein | Feb 2000 | A |
6061602 | Meyer | May 2000 | A |
6112127 | Bennett | Aug 2000 | A |
6139177 | Venkatraman et al. | Oct 2000 | A |
6147601 | Sandelman et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6154681 | Drees et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6160477 | Sandelman et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6175872 | Neumann et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6182094 | Humpleman et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6192282 | Smith et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6198479 | Humpleman et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6201523 | Akiyama et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6222729 | Yoshikawa | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6243707 | Humpleman et al. | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6263260 | Bodmer et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6275922 | Bertsch | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6278676 | Anderson et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6288716 | Humpleman et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6313990 | Cheon | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6314326 | Fuchu | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6353853 | Gravlin | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6385495 | Bennett | May 2002 | B1 |
6389331 | Jensen et al. | May 2002 | B1 |
6402109 | Dittmer | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6405103 | Ryan et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6456892 | Dara-Abrams et al. | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6462654 | Sandelman et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6473661 | Wollner | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6480243 | Yamamoto | Nov 2002 | B2 |
6496575 | Vasell et al. | Dec 2002 | B1 |
6522346 | Meyer | Feb 2003 | B1 |
6523696 | Saito et al. | Feb 2003 | B1 |
6526581 | Edson | Feb 2003 | B1 |
6546419 | Humpleman | Apr 2003 | B1 |
6580950 | Johnson et al. | Jun 2003 | B1 |
6587739 | Abrams et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
6609038 | Croswell et al. | Aug 2003 | B1 |
6615088 | Myer et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
6633781 | Lee et al. | Oct 2003 | B1 |
6640141 | Bennett | Oct 2003 | B2 |
6663781 | Huling | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6690411 | Naidoo et al. | Feb 2004 | B2 |
6690979 | Smith | Feb 2004 | B1 |
6735619 | Sawada | May 2004 | B1 |
6756998 | Bilger | Jun 2004 | B1 |
6763040 | Hite et al. | Jul 2004 | B1 |
6778868 | Imamura et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6782294 | Reich et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6792319 | Bilger | Sep 2004 | B1 |
6792323 | Krzyzanowski et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6792480 | Chaiken et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6823223 | Gonzales et al. | Nov 2004 | B2 |
6834208 | Gonzales et al. | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6838978 | Aizu et al. | Jan 2005 | B2 |
6845275 | Gasiorek et al. | Jan 2005 | B2 |
6850149 | Park | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6859669 | An | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6865428 | Gonzales et al. | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6868292 | Ficco | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6868293 | Schurr et al. | Mar 2005 | B1 |
6870555 | Sekiguchi | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6891838 | Petite | May 2005 | B1 |
6912429 | Bilger | Jun 2005 | B1 |
6924727 | Nagaoka et al. | Aug 2005 | B2 |
6928576 | Sekiguchi | Aug 2005 | B2 |
6930599 | Naidoo et al. | Aug 2005 | B2 |
6957110 | Wewalaarachchi et al. | Oct 2005 | B2 |
6957275 | Sekiguchi | Oct 2005 | B1 |
6961763 | Wang et al. | Nov 2005 | B1 |
6965935 | Diong | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6967565 | Lingermann | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6980868 | Huang et al. | Dec 2005 | B2 |
6990379 | Gonzales et al. | Jan 2006 | B2 |
7047092 | Wimsatt | May 2006 | B2 |
7143599 | Wo | Dec 2006 | B2 |
7170422 | Nelson et al. | Jan 2007 | B2 |
7175152 | Dittmer | Feb 2007 | B2 |
7201356 | Huang | Apr 2007 | B2 |
7203486 | Patel | Apr 2007 | B2 |
7380250 | Schechter et al. | May 2008 | B2 |
7453685 | Lube | Nov 2008 | B2 |
20010034754 | Elwahab et al. | Oct 2001 | A1 |
20010036192 | Chiles et al. | Nov 2001 | A1 |
20010039460 | Aisa | Nov 2001 | A1 |
20020000092 | Sharood et al. | Jan 2002 | A1 |
20020016639 | Smith | Feb 2002 | A1 |
20020029085 | Park | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020031120 | Rakib | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020033760 | Kobayashi | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020035404 | Ficco et al. | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020044042 | Christensen | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020047774 | Christensen | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020111698 | Graziano et al. | Aug 2002 | A1 |
20020126443 | Zodnik | Sep 2002 | A1 |
20020152311 | Veltman et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20020165953 | Diong | Nov 2002 | A1 |
20020180579 | Nagaoka et al. | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20020194328 | Hallenbeck | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20020196158 | Lee | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20030009515 | Lee et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030028270 | Peterson et al. | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030033028 | Bennett | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030037166 | Ueno et al. | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030040812 | Gonzales et al. | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030040813 | Gonzales et al. | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030040819 | Gonzales | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030065407 | Johnson et al. | Apr 2003 | A1 |
20030074088 | Gonzales | Apr 2003 | A1 |
20030083758 | Williamson | May 2003 | A1 |
20030101304 | King et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030198938 | Murray | Oct 2003 | A1 |
20030200009 | von Kannewurff | Oct 2003 | A1 |
20040003051 | Krzyzanowski et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040004810 | Kim | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040010327 | Terashima et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040010561 | Kim | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040039459 | Daugherty et al. | Feb 2004 | A1 |
20040092282 | Kim et al. | May 2004 | A1 |
20040133314 | Ehlers | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040138768 | Murray | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040143629 | Bodin et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040176877 | Hesse | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040213384 | Alles | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040215694 | Podolsky | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040215778 | Hesse et al. | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040215816 | Hayes et al. | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040237107 | Staples | Nov 2004 | A1 |
20040243257 | Theimer | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040249922 | Hackman | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040260407 | Wimsatt | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040260427 | Wimsatt | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040267385 | Lingemann | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040267876 | Kakivaya et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040267909 | Autret | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20050009498 | Ho | Jan 2005 | A1 |
20050021805 | De Petris et al. | Jan 2005 | A1 |
20050035717 | Adamson | Feb 2005 | A1 |
20050055108 | Gonzales | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050071419 | Lewontin | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050080879 | Kim et al. | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050085930 | Gonzales | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050090915 | Geiwitz | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050096753 | Arling et al. | May 2005 | A1 |
20050107897 | Callaghan | May 2005 | A1 |
20050108091 | Sotak | May 2005 | A1 |
20050113021 | Gosieski, Jr. et al. | May 2005 | A1 |
20050113943 | Nian | May 2005 | A1 |
20050119767 | Kiwimagi et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050119793 | Amundson et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050125083 | Kiko | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050131551 | Ruutu | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050131553 | Yoon et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050131558 | Braithwaite | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050132405 | AbiEzzi | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050149758 | Park | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050159823 | Hayes et al. | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050198063 | Thomas et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050198188 | Hickman | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050198304 | Oliver et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050232583 | Kubota | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050262227 | Heller et al. | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050267605 | Lee et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20050271355 | Gilor | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20060004920 | Hallenbeck | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060009861 | Bonasia et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060020353 | Gonzales et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060053234 | Kumar et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060058900 | Johanson et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060106933 | Huang et al. | May 2006 | A1 |
20060118694 | Lee et al. | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060126646 | Bedingfield, Sr. | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060155802 | He et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20070053376 | Oshima et al. | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070083679 | Kikuchi | Apr 2007 | A1 |
20070104332 | Clemens et al. | May 2007 | A1 |
20070153459 | Wohlford et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070247800 | Smith et al. | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20080108439 | Cole | May 2008 | A1 |
20090032010 | Hoffmeier | Feb 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20070268667 A1 | Nov 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
60747726 | May 2006 | US |