Patent Application
20170231109
The present disclosure relates to the field of communication, and more particularly, to a communication system and a communication apparatus thereof.
The communication apparatus has a printed circuit board (referred to as PCB) and a variety of electronic devices therein, and thus has certain power consumption. Few of the power consumption of the variety of electronic devices is output via signal cables, while most of the power consumption converts into heat energy, which makes temperatures of the devices and the PCB rise. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a heat dissipation design for the communication apparatus so that the heat generated by the communication apparatus can be smoothly discharged to the outside of the apparatus.
The means for dissipating heat by the communication apparatus may be divided into natural heat dissipation and forced air cooling. In the forced air cooling, the heat of the devices is brought out of the communication apparatus by driving air to flow through a heating element via a fan. The natural heat dissipation does not use a fan for active heat dissipation, and is a passive heat dissipation manner. In the natural heat dissipation, the heating components transfer their heat to a radiator by installing the radiator or other methods, the radiator has a large heat dissipation surface area, and the heat is spread to the surface of the radiator, and then is conducted to the neighboring air. The change of air temperature generates a density change, thereby a natural convection is generated under the action of gravity. In another embodiment, the components and the radiator radiate a certain amount of infrared heat to the outside, and a portion of the heat is transferred to the outside by this radiation in the form of electromagnetic waves.
Both the natural heat dissipation and the forced air cooling have some advantages and disadvantages. The forced air cooling is adaptable for apparatuses having large power consumption, that is, the situations which cannot be solved by the natural heat dissipation. However, since the forced air cooling needs to install a fan, when the fan rotates, the reliability issues, such as noise, dust, fan failure and the like, are also brought about. For the conditions in which the power consumption density is between the natural heat dissipation and forced air cooling, that is, there is a certain degree of difficulty to use the conventional natural heat dissipation manner to dissipate heat, and it is unwanted to install a fan to introduce other problems, if the insufficient heat dissipation capability in the related art may be solved by using some means for strengthening the natural heat dissipation, then not only the heat dissipation problem is solved, but also drawbacks brought about by the use of the forced air cooling are avoided.
For small box-type communication apparatuses, a large part thereof adopts the conventional natural heat dissipation manner, that is, the PCB is installed in a housing of the communication apparatus through a traditional stud or bolt, or through a PCB slide, and heating elements on the PCB radiate heat through an installed radiator. The heat dissipation capacity of this heat dissipation method is limited. The radiator is installed in the housing of the apparatus. Even for a punched metal housing, there are some differences between the air temperatures inside and outside the housing. That is, the radiator is not in direct touch with the air outside the housing. In another embodiment, for some package-type devices, such as a Quad Flat No-Lead Package (referred to as QFN), a TO and other packages, the characteristic of the package is that the internal heat is conducted to the PCB preferentially. However, a thermal resistance to an upper surface is much larger than a thermal resistance to the PCB. Therefore, it is not the best way to install a radiator on the upper surface of the chip. How to spread the heat to the PCB and then efficiently discharge it out of the PCB is essential for heat dissipation of the apparatus.
The related art is characterized by the fact that the PCB board 2 is in point contact with the bottom case 1 of the apparatus, that is, only the screw holes are in contact with the riveted nuts of the bottom case 1 of the apparatus, and the rest of the PCB board 2 is suspended over the bottom case of the apparatus. This leads to a drawback that the heat of the PCB board 2 cannot be effectively conducted and diffused, and can only be naturally cooled through its own limited area.
For the above-mentioned condition in which the heat is preferentially conducted to the device package of the PCB assembly, a number of such devices may cause heat aggregation on the PCB board, which is not conducive to the heat dissipation of such packages themselves, and also affects a local temperature environment of the PCB board at which other temperature sensitive devices, such as a crystal oscillator, are located.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
It is a primary object of the present disclosure to provide a communication system and a communication apparatus thereof to solve the problem in the related art that the heat dissipation capability of the communication apparatus is poor.
In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication apparatus, including: a bottom case and a printed circuit board mounted on the bottom case, the communication apparatus further including a heat-conductive mounting strip, and the printed circuit board being mounted on the bottom case by means of the heat-conductive mounting strip, wherein a lower end surface of the heat-conductive mounting strip is connected to the bottom case, and an upper end surface of the heat-conductive mounting strip is connected to the printed circuit board.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a recess is provided on the printed circuit board, the heat-conductive mounting strip includes a support portion and a connecting portion, the printed circuit board is supported on the support portion, and the connecting portion passes through the recess and is then connected to a radiator on the printed circuit board.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, individual contact surfaces of the heat-conductive mounting strip, the printed circuit board, and the bottom case are all coated with a heat-conductive filler material.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat-conductive filler material is a heat-conductive silicone grease.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat-conductive mounting strip and the printed circuit board are connected to the bottom case by screws.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication apparatus includes a plurality of the heat-conductive mounting strips, and the plurality of heat-conductive mounting strips are provided in a circumferential direction of the printed circuit board.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the printed circuit board includes a device arranging area and a device prohibition area provided around the device arranging area, and the heat-conductive mounting strip is connected to the device prohibition area of the printed circuit board.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a surface of the device prohibition area of the printed circuit board is provided with a heat conductive layer, and the heat conductive layer is connected to a ground layer copper sheet in the printed circuit board through a first heat dissipation via hole.
In the embodiment of the disclosure, the printed circuit board is welded with a component, a welding part between the component and the printed circuit board is provided with a second heat dissipation via hole, and the component is connected to the ground layer copper sheet in the printed circuit board through the second heat dissipation via hole.
According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system including a cabinet and a communication apparatus installed in the cabinet, the communication apparatus being the above-described communication apparatus.
According to the technical solution of the present disclosure, the communication apparatus of the present disclosure connects an edge of the printed circuit board with the bottom case through the heat-conductive mounting strip, so that the point contact of the printed circuit board with the bottom case in the related art becomes a surface contact, thus improving a path for conducting and diffusing heat from the printed circuit board to the bottom case, and improving the heat dissipation capacity of the communication apparatus.
This section provides a summary of various implementations or examples of the technology described in the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of the full scope or all features of the disclosed technology.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, are intended to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and illustrative embodiments of the disclosure and its description are intended to be illustrative of the disclosure and are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure. In the drawings:
The above drawings include the following reference numerals:
1. bottom case; 2. PCB board; 3. communication apparatus; 10. bottom case; 20. printed circuit board; 21. recess; 22. heat conductive layer; 23. ground layer copper sheet; 24. first heat dissipation via hole; 25. second heat dissipation via hole; 30. heat-conductive mounting strip; 31. support portion; 32. connecting portion; 40. radiator.
It is to be noted that without conflict, the embodiments and features in the embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other. Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are merely part of the embodiments of present disclosure, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in the present disclosure without inventive labor are within the scope of the present disclosure.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication apparatus. Referring to
As can be seen from the above technical solution, the communication apparatus of the present disclosure connects an edge of the printed circuit board 20 with the bottom case 10 through the heat-conductive mounting strip 30, so that the point contact between the printed circuit board 20 and the bottom case 10 in the related art becomes a surface contact, the path for transferring and spreading heat from the printed circuit board 20 to the bottom case 10 is improved, and the heat dissipation capacity of the communication apparatus is improved.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the printed circuit board 20 is provided with a recess 21. The heat-conductive mounting strip 30 includes a support portion 31 and a connecting portion 32. The printed circuit board 20 is supported on the support portion 31, and the connecting portion 32 passes through the recess 21 and then is connected to a radiator 40 on the printed circuit board 20.
In the present application, on the basis of the foregoing embodiments, the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 may provide an additional contact heat conduction for the radiator 40 on a top surface of the board while providing a surface touch between a bottom surface at an edge of the printed circuit board 20 and the bottom case 10 of the apparatus. As shown in
The relative relationships between the radiator 40 and the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 and the printed circuit board 20 may be more clearly shown in
On the basis of this, for some of the components which are mainly cooled by the radiator 40, such as BGA packages, the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 may be extended to the other side of the printed circuit board and touch the radiator 40 by opening a window or notch (recess 21) at the corresponding position of the printed circuit board, so as to enhance the heat dissipation of the radiator 40. In this way, the problem of lacking the outwardly conductive path of the printed circuit board 20 in the related art has been solved, and the heat dissipation capacity of the device radiator 40 in the related art has been improved.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat-conductive mounting strip 30, the printed circuit board 20, and the bottom case 10 are coated with a heat-conductive filler material on their touch surfaces. The roughness of respective touch surfaces of the heat-conductive mounting strip 30, the printed circuit board 20, and the bottom case 10 is relatively large. After being coated with the heat-conductive filler material, the smoothness of the respective contact surfaces can be improved, and the heat conduction performance of individual components is improved.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat-conductive filler material is a heat-conductive silicone grease. According to the actual situation, other materials may be used as the heat-conductive filler material.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 and the printed circuit board 20 are connected to the bottom case 10 by screws. In this way, the fastening performance between the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 and the printed circuit board 20 and the bottom case 10 can be improved.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication apparatus includes a plurality of heat-conductive mounting strips 30, and the plurality of heat-conductive mounting strips 30 are provided in a circumferential direction of the printed circuit board 20.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the printed circuit board 20 includes a device arranging area and a device prohibition area provided around the device arranging area, and the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 is connected to the device prohibition area of the printed circuit board 20. In general, the edge of the printed circuit board 20 is the device prohibition area. On the edge area of the printed circuit board 20, a plane to be in surface contact with other structure may be formed without affecting the layout of the devices on the printed circuit board 20. The width of the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 generally does not exceed the board edge prohibition size of the printed circuit board.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a heat conductive layer 22 is provided on the surface of the device prohibition area of the printed circuit board 20, and the heat conductive layer 22 is connected to the ground layer copper sheet 23 in the printed circuit board 20 through a first heat dissipation via hole 24. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat conductive layer 22 is a copper layer. In this way, the ground layer copper sheet 23 in the printed circuit board 20 may be connected to the bottom case 10 through the first heat dissipation via hole 24 and the heat conductive layer 22, thereby improving the heat dissipation performance of the printed circuit board 20.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the printed circuit board 20 is soldered with a component, and a second heat dissipation via hole 25 is provided at a welding part between the component and the printed circuit board 20. The component is connected to the ground layer copper sheet 23 in the printed circuit board 20 through the second heat dissipation via hole 25. The edge of the printed circuit board 20 connects the heat conductive layer 22 acting as a surface layer heat conductive contact surface with the inner ground layer copper sheet 23 through the first heat dissipation via hole 24, and the heat on the printed circuit board 20 is mainly diffused in a planar direction via the ground layer copper sheet 23 with a large area within the inner ground layer. In this way, the component, such as the QFN and TO package devices, on the printed circuit board 20 is connected to the ground layer copper sheet 23 by a via hole. The heat of such components may be spread and transferred to the edge of the printed circuit board 20, then is transferred to the heat-conductive mounting strip 30, and then is diffused to the bottom case 10 of the apparatus.
According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system including a cabinet and a communication apparatus installed in the cabinet, the communication apparatus being the above-described communication apparatus. The communication system has a perfect heat dissipation performance.
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a small box-type communication apparatus as shown in
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the material of the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 is preferably aluminum, and the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 may be preferentially mounted on the bottom case 10 as an assembly of the bottom case 10 of the apparatus. An interface material for reducing a thermal contact resistance, such as a heat-conductive silicone grease, may be coated on a touch surface between the heat-conductive mounting strip 30 and the bottom case 10. The heat-conductive mounting strip 30 may also be preferentially mounted on the bottom surface of the printed circuit board 20 as an assembly of the printed circuit board 20, and then the entire printed circuit board assembly is installed to the bottom case of the apparatus.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, the edge of the printed circuit board 20 is coated with the copper sheet (heat conductive layer 22) on the surface according to the actual requirement.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, a large number of heat via holes are provided within a copper-coated area on the surface layer at the edge of the printed circuit board 20.
Since the material of the printed circuit board 20 is mainly composed of a copper (a ground layer copper sheet 23) having a good thermal conductivity and a FR4 having a poor thermal conductivity, the printed circuit board 20 is a layered-printed multilayer material and has a poor thermal conductivity between layers. The thermal conductivities within the layer plane differ according to an area and a range of the copper sheet. Therefore, the thermal conductivity of the printed circuit board in a thickness direction is generally much smaller than the thermal conductivity of the printed circuit board in a plane direction.
By adding the heat via holes, the ground layer copper sheets 23 between different layers of the printed circuit board 20 may be connected so as to improve the thermal conduction between the different layers in the thickness direction of the printed circuit board 20. The size of the first heat dissipation via hole 24 at the edge of the board is generally greater than that of a normal signal via hole, and preferably is 90 mil in outer diameter, and 50 mil in diameter, but it is not limited thereto.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, the ground layer of the printed circuit board 20 is covered with a large area of copper, while the ground layer copper sheet 23 extends to the edge of the printed circuit board 20, and is connected to the surface layer copper sheet 23 (the heat conductive layer 22) at the edge of the printed circuit board 20 through the first heat dissipation via hole 24.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, the bottoms of some components (e.g., the QFN and TO packages) on the printed circuit board 20 have a heat dissipation pad. When the components are soldered on the printed circuit board, the heat of the components is conducted through the pad to the soldered copper sheet on the surface layer of the printed circuit board 20, and is then transferred to the ground layer copper sheet 23 of the printed circuit board 20 through the second heat dissipation via hole 25 on the printed circuit board 20. At this time, the components—the edge of the printed circuit board 20—the heat-conductive mounting strip 30—the bottom case 10 forms a complete heat transfer path.
From the above description, it can be seen that the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure have the following technical effects.
As can be seen from the above technical solutions, the communication apparatus of the present disclosure connects the edge of the printed circuit board with the bottom case through the heat-conductive mounting strip so that the point contact between the printed circuit board and the bottom case in the conventional technical solution becomes a surface contact. Thus, the path for conducting and diffusing heat from the printed circuit board to the bottom case is improved, and the heat dissipation capacity of the communication apparatus is improved.
The foregoing is merely illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, and the like within the spirit and principles of the disclosure are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.
According to the above-described technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication apparatus connects the edge of the printed circuit board with the bottom case through the heat-conductive mounting strip so that the point contact of the printed circuit board with the bottom case in the conventional technical solution becomes a surface contact. Thus, the path for conducting and diffusing heat from the printed circuit board to the bottom case is improved, and the heat dissipation capacity of the communication apparatus is improved.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201410555066.7 | Oct 2014 | CN | national |
This application is the 371 application of PCT Application No. PCT/CN2015/081196, filed Jun. 10, 2015, which is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201410555066.7, filed Oct. 17, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2015/081196 | 6/10/2015 | WO | 00 |
