1. Field
The present invention relates generally to heat dissipation devices for removing heat from heat-generating devices such as electronic packages, and particularly to a heat dissipation device having improved structure for mounting an electric fan to a heat sink of the heat dissipating device.
2. Prior Art
As the electronics technology advances rapidly, electronic packages are able to process at a high speed. As a result, such electronic packages generate substantial amounts of heat. The heat must be removed from the electronic packages efficiently; otherwise, the electronic packages would malfunction. Thus, heat dissipation devices are attached to electronic packages to remove heat therefrom.
However, the conventional heat dissipation device 5 has several drawbacks. The first drawback of the conventional heat dissipation device 5 is that during the process of fastening the fixing devices 54, the fixing devices 54 might deform the fins 511. The deformation of the fins 511 may damage the fins 511 and affect the heat dissipating effectiveness of the fins 511. Therefore, the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat dissipation device 5 is lowered. The fan mounting structure 52 relies on the lower plates 5212 inserted into the grooves to secure on the heat sink 51; however, the weak structure of the lower plates 5212 can be deformed during the assembly and unable to secure the fan mounting structure 52 to the heat sink 51. Once the lower plates 5212 are deformed, the fan 53 can not be seated on the fan mounting structure 52 securely and the fan 53 gains a space to vibrate when it is activated; thus noise is created when the fan 53 is activated. Moreover, the lower plate 5212 only engages in the corresponding groove with a part of a length of the groove; such a partial engagement between the lower plate 5212 and the groove can not ensure a sufficient connection between the lower plate 5212 and the heat sink 51, and thereby, the fan fastener 521 is possible to separate from the heat sink 51 by the vibration of the fan 53. Finally, each of the upper plate 5211 is consisted of a single layer which is a weak structure and has the drawback of unable to hold the fan stably for a long period. The fan 53 generally vibrates when it's activated. The vibration of the fan 53 would exert a large force on the upper plate 5211 which would deform the upper plate 5211 and hence gain a space between the upper plate 5211 and the fan 53. As the result, noise would be created when the fan 53 is activated and vibrates. Furthermore, the engagement of the fixing devices 54 with the single-layer upper plates 5211 may be loosen due to the vibration of the activated fan 53. Such a conventional heat dissipation device 5 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,373.
Therefore, a novel design of a heat dissipation device is desired to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, and increase the heat dissipation effect thereof.
Accordingly, what is needed a heat dissipating which removes heat to atmosphere rapidly and has a satisfactory heat dissipation effect.
A heat dissipation device for dissipating heat from an electronic package in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a heat sink, a fan mounting structure and a fan. The heat sink has a main body including fins, a pair of grooves defined on two opposite lateral sides of the main body, and a cutout defined on top of each corner of the main body. The fan mounting structure comprises a pair of fan fasteners each consisting of an upper plate, which contains fixing holes, and a lower plate inserted to a respective groove with a whole length of the respective groove. The fan is seated on the upper plates. A plurality of fixing devices, i.e. screws, fix the fan to the fan mounting structure, wherein the fixing devices extend through the fixing holes of the upper plates into the cutouts, respectively; thus, the fixing devices would not damage the fins. Furthermore, the fan mounting structure is firmly attached to the heat sink by the lower plates inserted into the grooves along the whole length of the grooves.
The upper plate comprises an upper portion and a lower portion bent from the upper portion toward a rear of the fan fastener, hence the strength of the upper plate is reinforced. The lower portion of the dual-layer structure of the upper plate creates a downward pull force on the fixing device, whereby the fixing devices can more securely connect the fan to the fan mounting structure. The fan is more securely fixed upon the mounting structure in accordance with the present invention; thus the mounting structure in accordance with the present invention leaves the fan with no room for vibrating when it is active and eliminates the noise made by the fan from vibration.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail.
Referring
Referring to
The fan mounting structure 13 includes a pair of fan fasteners 131 wherein each fan fastener 131 has an upper plate 1311 which has two fixing holes 1313 on top, and three plates extended downward from three sides of the upper plate 1311, respectively, thereby forming a pair of side plates 1315 on two opposite sides, and a back plate 1317 on the rear side. A lower plate 1319 extends frontward from a bottom of the back plate 1317, and is generally parallel to the upper plate 1311. Each fan fastener 131 is attached to the heat sink 11 by inserting the lower plate 1319 into the corresponding groove 1115 with the whole length of the corresponding groove 1115, and having the side plates 1315 positioned beside the corresponding cutouts 1117, respectively, and engaging with other two lateral sides of the main body 111, thereby to secure the fan fasteners 131 to an upper portion of the heat sink 11. The upper plates 1311 of the fan fasteners 131 covers a top of the main body 111 of the heat sink 11 above the grooves 1115, wherein each fixing hole 1313 is located just above the corresponding cutout 1117.
A fan 15 with a plurality of positioning holes 151 on each corner mounts on the fan mounting structure 13 by placing the fan 15 on the upper plates 1311 wherein the positioning holes 151 match the corresponding fixing holes 1313, and having the fixing devices 17, such as screws, fasten the fan 15 on the fan mounting structure 13. Each of the fixing devices 17, such as screws, extends through the corresponding positioning hole 151, the corresponding fixing hole 1313 and into the corresponding cutout 1117, and does not engage with the fins 1113; therefore, the fixing devices 17 would not damage the fins 1113 during the assembly.
Referring to
Referring to
It is believed that the present invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004 2 0102396 | Dec 2004 | CN | national |
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