Patent Application
20120000625
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to heat dissipation devices, and particularly to a heat dissipation device for dissipating heat of an electronic component.
2. Description of Related Art
With the continuing development of electronics technology, electronic components, such as CPUs (central processing units) and others, generate more heat in operation than previously. The heat is required to be dissipated immediately. Conventionally, metallic heat sinks are mounted on electronic components to dissipate heat therefrom.
A typical heat sink includes a base, and a plurality of heat dissipation fins extending upward from the base. A heat dissipation efficiency of the heat sink depends on the size of the heat sink. A heat sink with a large size generally has a high heat dissipation efficiency. However, when a large heat sink is mounted on the electronic component, it may interfere with the nearby components. This situation occurs more often in small sized electronic devices, such as in a server rack unit of a server system, or a notebook computer. A heat sink with a small size may not interfere with other components, but the heat dissipation efficiency may not properly satisfy the heat dissipation requirements of the electronic component.
For at least these reasons, a heat dissipation device which can overcome the described limitations is desired.
Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Referring to
The first heat sink 10 and the second heat sink 20 are made of heat conductive material, such as aluminum or aluminum alloy. The first heat sink 10 and the second heat sink 20 can be manufactured through aluminum extrusion or through fin soldering. In this embodiment, the first heat sink 10 and the second heat sink 20 are manufactured through aluminum extrusion. The fasteners 30 can be any kind of detachable fasteners, such as bolts with nuts, threaded screws, etc. In the illustrated embodiment, the fasteners 30 are threaded screws threadedly engaged in the first heat sink 10.
The first heat sink 10 includes a first base plate 11, and a number of first heat dissipation fins 12 formed on the first base plate 11. The first base plate 11 includes a first fin disposition section 112, and a first connecting section 111 beside the first fin disposition section 112. The first heat dissipation fins 12 extend upward from the first fin disposition section 112 of the first base plate 11, and are all parallel to one another. The first connecting section 111 is without fins formed thereon, and defines two through holes 1111 therein. A bottom surface of the first base plate 11 is configured for attaching with an electronic component 40 (see
The second heat sink 20 has a size smaller than that of the first heat sink 10. The second heat sink 20 includes a second base plate 21, and a number of second heat dissipation fins 22 formed on the second base plate 21. The second base plate 21 includes a second fin disposition section 212, and a second connecting section 211 beside the second fin disposition section 212. The second heat dissipation fins 22 extend upward from the second fin disposition section 212 of the second base plate 21, and are all parallel to one another. The second connecting section 211 is bare without fins, and defines two mounting holes 2111 therein corresponding to the through holes 1111 of the first heat sink 10. Each of the first and second base plates 11 and 21 is substantially rectangular. A length of the second base plate 21 is equal to that of the first base plate 11. A width of the second base plate 21 is less than that of the first base plate 11. A height of the second heat dissipation fins 22 extending above the second fin disposition section 212 is less than that of the first heat dissipation fins 12 extending above the first fin disposition section 112. A length of each second heat dissipation fin 22 is equal to that of each first heat dissipation fin 12.
When the second heat sink 20 is assembled on the first heat sink 10, the second connecting section 211 of the second heat sink 20 is superposed on the first connecting section 112 of the first heat sink 10, with the mounting holes 2111 of the second connecting section 211 respectively aligned with the through holes 1111 of the first connecting section 111. Two fasteners 30 are extended through the mounting holes 2111 and the through holes 1111, and thereby the second heat sink 20 is mounted to the first heat sink 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the first heat dissipation fins 12 are parallel to the second heat dissipation fins 22. The first heat dissipation fins 12 define a first top face (not labeled), the second heat dissipation fins 22 define a second top face (not labeled), and the second top face is lower than the first top face. To achieve a close contact between the second connecting section 211 of the second heat sink 20 and the first connecting section 111 of the first heat sink 10, a layer of thermal interface material, such as heat conductive silicon grease, can be disposed between the second connecting section 211 of the second heat sink 20 and the first connecting section 111 of the first heat sink 10.
Referring to
Since the second heat sink 20 has a smaller size than the first heat sink 10 and can be detachably connected to the lateral side of the first heat sink 10, the second heat sink 20 is available to be mounted to the first heat sink 10 in certain environments in which the heat dissipation device 100 may be applied. In the example illustrated in
In addition, the heat dissipation device 100 can also resolve a heat sink redesign problem that may be caused by an upgrading of the electronic component 40. For example, originally, a heat dissipation efficiency of the first heat sink 10 is designed to satisfy a heat dissipation requirement of the electronic component 40, and the first heat sink 10 alone is mounted on the electronic component 40 to dissipate the heat of the electronic component 40. When the electronic component 40 is upgraded to have a higher power, a redesign or upgrade of the first heat sink 10 may not be necessary. This is because the second heat sink 20 can be attached to the first heat sink 10 to satisfy the added heat dissipation requirement of the upgraded electronic component 40. Furthermore, the second heat sink 20 can be manufactured through a simple procedure, such as aluminum extrusion, thus minimizing a cost of the heat dissipation device 100.
To further promote the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat dissipation device 100, two or more second heat sinks 20 can be mounted to the first heat sink 10.
It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99122076 | Jul 2010 | TW | national |
