Patent Application
20130248144
The present invention relates to a fan module, and more particularly to a fan module that allows at least one cross-flow fan to create largely increased air flow volume, has reduced overall volume, provides upgraded heat dissipation performance, and effectively overcomes the problems of vibration and noise caused by excessively long blades as found in the conventional fan module.
Due to the constant progress in the electronic technological fields, the density of transistors on various kinds of chips, such as the central processing unit and other executing elements, also increases to enable faster data processing speed. However, more power is consumed and more heat is produced by these chips during high-speed operation thereof. For the central processing unit to work stably, it has become an important issue as how to develop a high-efficient heat dissipation means for dissipating the produced heat.
To maintain high-efficient heat dissipating function, it is inevitable to keep increasing the volume and accordingly the weight of the heat dissipation means. However, in the design of currently very popular notebook computers, tablet computers, smart mobile phones, smart hand-held electronic devices and the like, the limited internal space thereof is always a bottleneck to the heat dissipation means design.
To meet the demands for compact, slim, and light weight electronic devices, all related elements of the electronic devices are minimized in dimensions. That is, the centrifugal fan in the fan module must also be miniaturized. However, the air flow volume that can be produced by the volume-reduced centrifugal fan is also reduced to largely adversely affect the heat removal effect thereof. Further, the miniaturized centrifugal fan usually has thin but large-area fan blades, which tend to produce more vibration and noise when the centrifugal fan operates.
As a result, it has become a target of many related manufacturers to effectively upgrade the performance of the heat radiation unit without increasing the volume thereof.
In brief, the conventional fan module has the following disadvantages: (1) having a relatively big volume; (2) providing low heat dissipation ability; and (3) tending to produce vibration and noise during operation thereof.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved fan module to overcome the drawbacks in the conventional fan module.
A primary object of the present invention is to effectively solve the above-mentioned problems by providing a fan module having at least one cross-flow fan, so that the fan module can have reduced volume while the cross-flow fan can create largely increased air flow volume.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fan module that provides upgraded heat dissipation performance and effectively overcomes the problems of vibration and noise caused by swaying of excessively long blades.
To achieve the above and other objects, the fan module according to the present invention includes a heat transfer unit, a heat radiation unit, and at least one cross-flow fan. The heat transfer unit has an end attached to a heat source. The heat radiation unit is connected to another opposite end of the heat transfer unit and has an air-in side and an air-out side communicable with the air-in side. The cross-flow fan is located against the heat radiation unit, and includes a frame and a centrifugal fan blade assembly. The frame has an air outlet facing toward the air-in side of the heat radiation unit, a plurality of air inlets, and a plurality of frame sections. The air inlets are respectively arranged between two adjacent frame sections and communicate with the air outlet. The frame sections are respectively configured as a receiving recess, and the receiving recesses are communicable with one another to together define a receiving space. The receiving space communicates with the air outlet and the air inlets, and is used to receive the centrifugal fan blade assembly therein.
The fan module with the above design can be used in a limited space, and the cross-flow fan thereof not only creates largely increased air flow volume, but also enables effectively reduced volume of the fan module. Further, the problems of vibration and noise caused by the swaying long blades as found in the conventional fan module can also be effectively improved.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.
Please refer to
The heat transfer unit 20 includes a heat-absorbing section 201 and a heat-dissipating section 202. The heat-absorbing section 201 is attached to a heat source 24, such as a central processing unit, south bridge and north bridge chipsets, a graphics chip, or an executing unit. The heat-absorbing section 201 absorbs heat produced by the heat source 24 and the absorbed heat is transferred to the heat-dissipating section 202. The heat transfer unit 20 can be a heat pipe, a heat spreader, or any element capable of transferring heat. In the illustrated first embodiment, the heat transfer unit 20 is configured as a heat pipe but is not necessarily limited thereto.
The heat radiation unit 21 is connected to the heat-dissipating section 202 of the heat transfer unit 20, and has an air-in side 213 and an air-out side 214 communicating with the air-in side 213. The heat radiation unit 21 can be a radiating fin assembly, a heat sink, or any element capable of radiating heat. In the illustrated first embodiment, the heat radiation unit 21 is configured as a radiating fin assembly but is not necessarily limited thereto. In the first embodiment, the heat radiation unit 21 includes a plurality of radiating fins 211, and any two adjacent radiating fins 211 together define an air-guiding passage 212 between them. All the air-guiding passages 212 communicate with both of the air-in side 213 and the air-out side 214.
The cross-flow fan 22 is located against the heat radiation unit 21, and includes a frame 221 and a centrifugal fan blade assembly 222. The frame 221 has an air outlet 2212 facing toward the air-in side 213 of the heat radiation unit 21, a plurality of air inlets 2211, and a plurality of frame sections 2213. The air inlets 2211 are respectively arranged between two adjacent frame sections 2213 and communicate with the air outlet 2212. The frame sections 2213 are respectively configured as a receiving recess 2213a, and the receiving recesses 2213a are communicable with one another to together define a receiving space 2214. The receiving space 2214 communicates with the air outlet 2212 and the air inlets 2211, and is used to receive the centrifugal fan blade assembly 222 therein.
The centrifugal fan blade assembly 222 includes a shaft 2221 and a plurality of impellers 2223. The impellers respectively include a plurality of blades 2223a circumferentially spaced on the shaft 2221, and are separately received in the receiving recesses 2213a of the frame sections 2213. The frame 221 further includes a first end plate 2215 and a second end plate 2216 that are separately located at two opposite ends of the frame 221. The first and the second end plate 2215, 2216 respectively have a shaft hole 2217 provided thereon. The shaft 2221 is sequentially extended through the impellers 2223 with two opposite ends of the shaft 2221 extending into the two shaft holes 2217.
The cross-flow fan 22 further includes a motor 23, which is arranged to one side of the first end plate 2215 or the second end plate 2216 and is connected to the centrifugal fan blade assembly 222 for driving the latter to rotate. When the motor 23 of the cross-flow fan 22 drives the centrifugal fan blade assembly 222 to rotate, air outside the frame 221 is guided into the receiving recesses 2213a via the air inlets 2211 to flow through the fan impellers 2223 before being blown out of the frame 221 via the air outlet 2212 and forced into the heat radiation unit 21 via the air-in side 213 thereof. The air forced into the heat radiation unit 21 flows through the air-guiding passages 212 between the radiating fins 211 toward the air-out side 214. The heat transferred from the heat-dissipating section 202 to the radiating fins 211 will be carried away by the air to dissipate into external environment via the air-out side 214, so as to provide enhanced heat dissipation performance and achieve good heat dissipation effect.
With the design of the present invention, the centrifugal fan blade assembly 222 and the shaft 2221 can still extend transversely in a limited mounting space, so that the cross-flow fan 22 not only creates largely increased air flow volume and accordingly upgraded heat dissipation performance, but also effectively enables reduced volume of the fan module 2. Further, the present invention also overcomes the problems of vibration and noise caused by the swaying long blades in the conventional fan module designed for increasing heat dissipation performance.
Please refer to
According to the above description, the fan module of the present invention is superior to the conventional one because it has largely reduced overall volume, eliminates the occurrence of vibration and noise during operation, and provides enhanced heat dissipation performance.
The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
