Patent Application
20060260787
The present invention relates generally to a contact cooling module, and more particularly to a flattened contact cooling module that has a reduced height (thickness) so as to reduce the occupation space of the cooling module in an electronic product.
The thumb rule of modem technology is to develop lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller electronic products. Thus, the user can easily carry and store the electronic products.
Such lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller electronic products are made of lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller component parts. In addition, it is often necessary to install cooling devices on such electronic products so as to dissipate the heat generated from the component parts, thereby assuring the normal operation of the electronic products.
However, the installation of cooling devices often requires the electronic product to have a larger thickness. As shown in
However, the heat conducting plate 101, the heat pipe 103 and the elastic member 104 of the cooling device described above form a certain thickness after they are being assembled. In order to fit the cooling device into an electronic product, more space is needed in the electronic product, thereby increasing the thickness of the electronic product. For this reason, it is difficult for electronic products to become lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller.
The present invention is to provide a flattened contact cooling module that has a reduced height (thickness), such that the overall thickness of an electronic product is reduced.
In order to achieve the above and other objectives, the cooling module includes a heat conducting plate having a sagged portion, an elastic member disposed on the heat conducting plate, and a first cooling device disposed on the sagged portion. The heat conducting plate is adhered to the electronic element, so as to effectively dissipate heat generated therefrom.
In order to better understanding the features and technical contents of the present invention, the present invention is hereinafter described in detail by incorporating with the accompanying drawings. However, the accompanying drawings are only for the convenience of illustration and description, no limitation is intended thereto.
Referring to
The heat conducting plate 1 described above are made of heat conducting metallic materials, which includes a sagged portion 1. Two sides of the sagged portion 11 includes a connection hole 13 formed on a protrusive portion 12 thereof.
The elastic member 2 includes a connection portion 21 pressed on the protrusive portion 12 described above. The connection portion 21 includes a hole 23 for penetrating therethrough a fastening element 22, e.g. a screw. Two ends of the connection portion 21 includes an elastic portion 24 extensively formed thereon. The elastic portion 24 is fastened to a fastening structure of a circuit board (not shown), thereby allowing the elastic member 2 to securely be pressed on the heat conducting plate 1.
The first cooling element 3 is composed of a flattened heat pipe. The heat reception end 31 of the first cooling element 3 is assembled to the sagged portion 11 of the heat conducting plate 1 through the opening 21 of the elastic member 2. The heat absorbed by the heat conducting plate 1 is then conducted to the heat reception end 31. The heat is then conducted to the second cooling element 4 connected to the cooling end 32.
The second cooling element 4 is composed of a plurality of cooling fins, which can dissipate the heat from the cooling end 32 of the first cooling element 3.
Referring to
The surface of the heat conducting plate 1 to be contacted with the electronic element 5, e.g. central processing unit, is coated with heat conducting material (not shown), and then adhered to the electronic element 5. The elastic portion 24 of the elastic member 2 is then fastened to the circuit board 6 via the fastening structure 7. The elastic member 2 is thus securely pressed on the heat conducting plate 1 and is adhered with the electronic element 5. The heat reception end 31 of the first cooling element is then disposed to the sagged portion 11 of the heat conducting plate 1. The heat generated from the operation of the electronic element 5 is then conducted to the heat conducting plate 1, and then to the heat reception end 31 of the first cooling device 3. Further, the heat is conducted to the cooling end 32 from the heat reception end 31, and dissipated through the second cooling element 4.
According to the assembly of the heat conducting plate 1, the elastic member 2 and the first cooling element 3 described above, the overall thickness has been significantly reduced. Therefore, the thickness of the computer main frame is also reduced accordingly.
Referring to
The elastic member 2a includes a connection portion 21a connected to the protrusive potion 12a described above. The connection portion 21a includes a positioning hole 22a formed on the positioning point described above. The elastic member 2a includes a plurality of elastic portions 23a.
The conducting plate 1a is first assembled with the connection portion 21a of the elastic member 2a. After the surface of the heat conducting plate 1a to be contacted with the electronic element is coated with heat conducting materials, the heat conducting plate 1a is adhered to the electronic element. The elastic portion 23a of the elastic member 2a is fastened to the circuit board via the fastening structure. The elastic member 2a is thus securely pressed on the heat conducting plate 1a, and contacts the electronic element. The heat reception end 31 of the first cooling element 3 is then disposed to the sagged portion 11 of the heat conducting plate 1. The heat generated from the operation of the electronic element is then conducted to the heat conducting plate 1 and to the heat reception end 31 of the first cooling device 3. Further, the heat is conducted from the heat reception end 31 to the cooling end 32, and is dissipated through the second cooling element 4.
Moreover, the connection between the heat conducting plate 1 and the elastic member 2 is not limited to employing the fastening element, other connections means such as adhesion, soldering, embedding and nailing are also applicable.
Since, any person having ordinary skill in the art may readily find various equivalent alterations or modifications in light of the features as disclosed above, it is appreciated that the scope of the present invention is defined in the following claims. Therefore, all such equivalent alterations or modifications without departing from the subject matter as set forth in the following claims is considered within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
