Patent Application
20110103023
1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to heat dissipation devices and, more particularly, to a heat dissipation device having a locking device which secures a heat sink of the heat dissipation device to an electronic component mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known that, during operation of a computer, electronic components such as central processing units (CPUs) frequently generate large amounts of heat. The heat must be quickly removed from the electronic component to prevent it from becoming unstable or being damaged. A heat dissipation device is utilized to dissipate the heat from the electronic component. The heat dissipation device comprises a heat sink attached to an outer face of the electronic component. The heat sink absorbs the heat from the electronic component and dissipates it to ambient air.
In order to keep the heat sink in intimate contact with the electronic component, a locking device is used to secure the heat sink to the electronic component. Referring to
However, when detaching the heat sink 20 from the electronic component 40, a tool must be used to turn the barbs of the plug 16 to enter into the hole 32 of the printed circuit board 30 and the hole 24 of the heat sink 20, which is very inconvenient. Otherwise, in order to detach the heat sink 20 from the electronic component 40, the plug 16 must be cut away from the pole 14, which is a waste of material and will increase the cost.
What is needed, therefore, is a heat dissipation device having a locking device which can overcome the above-described limitations.
Many aspects of the present 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 being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Referring to
Also referring to
In this embodiment, the head portion 112 of the shaft member 110 has a columnar configuration. In other embodiments, the head portion 112 of the shaft member 110 may be elliptical or other shape, so long as the head portion 112 can block the helical spring 120 from escaping from the body portion 114 at the head portion 112.
The foot portion 116 has a T-shaped vertical cross section. The foot portion 116 comprises a square columnar positioning part 1161, a bucking part 1164, and two positioning poles 1162 extending upwardly from a top surface of the bucking part 1164. The positioning part 1161 is located at an end of the body portion 114. The bucking part 1164 has two opposite ends thereof extending beyond the positioning part 1161 and has two opposite sides thereof coplanar with two opposite sides of the positioning part 1161. A horizontal cross section of the bucking part 1164 is rectangular in this embodiment. The bucking part 1164 has a width identical to the width of the positioning part 1161, and a length larger than the width of the bucking part 1164. In other embodiments, the bucking part 1164 may be some other shape, such as elliptical, to make sure that the opposite ends of the bucking part 1164 abut against a bottom of the PCB 300. The foot portion 116 has a bottom end thereof tapered downwardly to form a guiding surface 1165 to facilitate the foot portion 116 extending through the heat sink 200 and the PCB 300. The positioning poles 1162 are located at two opposite sides of the body portion 114 of the shaft member 110, respectively. Each of the positioning poles 1162 is spaced from the positioning part 1161. In other embodiments, only one positioning pole 1162 is disposed at one side of the body portion 114. Alternatively, the positioning pole 1162 may be a wedge. In this embodiment, the positioning parts 1161 are taller than the positioning poles 1162. In other embodiments, the positioning parts 1161 are equal to or shorter than the positioning poles 1162.
The heat sink 200 comprises a base 230 attached to the outer face of the electronic component 400 and a plurality of fins 232 arranged on the base 230. The base 230 extends two ears 210 outwardly from two diagonally opposite corners thereof. The ears 210 extend outwardly beyond the fins 232. Each of the ears 210 defines an extending hole 220 adjacent to a distal end thereof and extending vertically through the ear 210. The extending hole 220 has a shape basically identical to and slightly larger than the foot portion 116, for allowing extension of the foot portion 116 therethrough. The fins 232 are spaced from each other to form a plurality of air passages 250 arranged in a crisscross pattern. The fins 232 define two receiving spaces 240 adjacent to corresponding ears 210 for facilitating operation of the shaft member 110.
The PCB 300 defines two through holes 310 at two sides of the electronic component 400 and corresponding to the extending holes 220 of the heat sink 200. The PCB 300 defines two receiving portions 312 at two opposite sides of each of the through holes 310. The receiving portions 312 correspond to the positioning poles 1162 of the foot portion 116 for receiving the positioning poles 1162 therein. In this embodiment, each of the receiving portions 312 is a receiving hole extending vertically through the PCB 300 for receiving a corresponding positioning pole 1162. In other embodiments, each of the receiving portions 312 may be a blind hole or a groove defined in a bottom surface of the PCB 300. A width of the positioning part 1161 of the foot portion 116 each of the shaft members 110 is slightly less than that of a corresponding through hole 310 defined in the PCB 300 so that the corresponding through hole 310 receives and limits the positioning part 1161 from rotating in a horizontal direction.
Referring to
When removing the heat sink 200 from the electronic component 400, the shaft members 110 are pressed downwardly to make the positioning parts 1161 of the foot portions 116 extend beyond the bottom surface of the PCB 300, and are rotated 90 degrees to make the positioning poles 1162 of the foot portions 116 align with the through holes 310 of the PCB 300. The pressing force on the shaft members 110 is removed, and under a spring force of the springs 120, the foot portions 116 move upwardly to exit the through holes 310 and the extending holes 220 of the heat sink 200; here, the heat sink 200 can be removed from the electronic component 400.
It is convenient to press or lift and then rotate the shaft members 110 in order to assemble or disassemble the heat sink 200 to/from the electronic component 400. The locking devices 100 are reusable. In addition, when the positioning poles 1162 of the shaft members 110 of the locking devices 100 are received in the receiving portions 312 of the PCB 300, and the positioning parts 1161 of the locking devices 100 are received in the through holes 310 of the PCB 300, the shaft members 110 are prevented from rotating relative to the PCB 300.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of certain 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200910309109.2 | Oct 2009 | CN | national |
