The invention relates to a heat dissipation device.
An electronic device such as a desktop computer requires a heat dissipation device such as a fan.
A conventional heat dissipation device mainly employs two control methods, a temperature control method and a pulse width modulation control method, shown in
In
Either the fan 10 or the fan 10′ is controlled by a unitary control method. This, however, limits the applicability of the fan to various electronic devices using different control methods.
Thus, a fan provided with several control modes is required for various applications.
Accordingly, embodiments of the invention provide a heat dissipation device with several control modes adaptable for various electronic devices.
The heat dissipation device of an embodiment of the invention for cooling an electronic device comprises a fan, a controller connected to the fan and coupled to the electronic device and a sensor connected to the controller. A first signal is sent to the controller by detecting temperature variation of the electronic device, and the electronic device sends a second signal to the controller. The controller changes the speed of the fan according to either the first signal or the second signal. The controller changes the speed of the fan according to the second signal instead of the first signal when the controller receives the second signal. The second signal can be a pulse width modulation signal or a voltage signal.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiments of the invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
a is a block diagram of a conventional heat dissipation device;
b is a block diagram of another conventional heat dissipation device;
First Embodiment
A heat dissipation device 100 of this embodiment combines the temperature control mode and the PWM control mode. The heat dissipation device 100 comprises a fan 102, a controller 104 connected to the fan 102 controlling speed thereof and a temperature sensor 106 connected to the controller 104, detecting the temperature variation in an electronic device 5000 and sending a first signal 120 to the controller 104 to controll the fan speed.
The electronic device 5000 is also connected to the controller 104 and can output a second signal 140 to the controller 104. The second signal 140 can be a PWM signal. In the described configuration, the fan speed is controlled by the controller 104 according to the first signal 120 from the temperature sensor 106. When the electronic device 5000, however, has some particular requirements, for example a sudden rise in temperature of certain elements thereof, the second signal 140 is input to the controller 104 by the electronic device 5000. The controller 104 changes the fan speed according to the second signal 140 instead of the first signal 120 for the particular cooling requirement of the electronic device 5000.
Thereby, both the temperature control mode and PWM control mode can be applied to the heat dissipation device 100.
Second Embodiment
Referring to
Third Embodiment
In embodiments of the invention, various control modes such as a temperature control mode, a PWM control mode and a voltage control mode are combined into a heat dissipation device. The heat dissipation device of this embodiment can have broader application than the conventional.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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093114746 | May 2004 | TW | national |