Patent Application
20070286256
Many aspects of the present apparatus 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 apparatus. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Referring to
The immovable portion 20 is made of material having good heat conductivity. A first heating member (not shown) such as an immersion heater, resistance coil, quartz tube and Positive temperature coefficient (PTC) material or the like is embedded in the immovable portion 20. The immovable portion 20 has a central portion thereof extending an extension 29 downwardly. The immovable portion 20 defines a hole (not shown) in the extension 29. In this case, the first heating member is an elongated cylinder. The first heating member is accommodated in the hole of the immovable portion 20. Two spaced wires 220 extend beyond the extension 29 from a bottom end of the heating member for connecting with a power supply (not shown). The immovable portion 20 has a heating groove 24 defined in a top face thereof, for receiving an evaporating section of the heat pipe to be tested therein. Two temperature sensors 26 are inserted into the immovable portion 20 from a bottom thereof so as to position detecting sections (not labeled) of the sensors 26 in the heating groove 24. The detecting sections are capable of automatically contacting the heat pipe in order to detect a temperature of the evaporating section of the heat pipe.
The movable portion 30 is also made of material having good heat conductivity. The movable portion 30 has an extension 39 extending upwardly from a middle of a top surface thereof. The movable portion 30 defines a hole 33 in the extension 39. A second heating member (not shown) is accommodated in the hole 33 of the movable portion 30. Two spaced wires 220 extend from a top end of the second heating member beyond the extension 39 for connecting with the power supply (not shown). The movable portion 30, corresponding to the heating groove 24 of the immovable portion 20, has a heating groove 32 defined therein, whereby a testing channel 50 is cooperatively defined by the heating grooves 24, 32 when the movable portion 30 moves to reach the immovable portion 20. Thus, an intimate contact between the heat pipe and the movable and immovable portions 30, 20 defining the channel 50 can be realized, thereby reducing heat resistance between the heat pipe and the movable and immovable portions 30, 20. Two temperature sensors 36 are inserted into the movable portion 30 from a top thereof to reach a position wherein detecting portions (not labeled) of the sensors 36 are located in the heating groove 32. The detecting portions are capable of automatically contacting the heat pipe to detect the temperature of the evaporating section of the heat pipe. A board 34 is positioned over the movable portion 30. Four columns 150 are secured at corresponding four corners of the movable portion 30 and extend upwardly to engage in corresponding four through holes (not labeled) defined in four corners of the board 34. A space (not labeled) is left between the extension 39 and the board 34 for extension of the wires 220 of the second heating member to connect with the power supply and wires 360 of the temperature sensors 36 to connect with a monitoring computer (not shown).
The movable portion 30 extend two elongated bars 35 downwardly and integrally from a bottom face thereof towards the immovable portion 20. The elongated bars 35 are located at two sides of the heating groove 32 of the movable portion 30. Corresponding to the bars 35 of the movable portion 30, the immovable portion 20 defines two slots 25 in a top face thereof. The bars 35 are slidably received in the corresponding slots 25. The bars 35 are always received in the slots 25 when the movable portion 30 moves toward the immovable portion 20 to reach a position wherein the bottom face of the movable portion 30 contacts the top face of the immovable portion 20. The bars 35 and the slots 25 concavo-convexly cooperate to avoid the movable portion 30 from deviating from the immovable portion 20 during test of the heat pipes, thereby ensuring the grooves 24, 32 of the immovable, movable portions 20, 30 to precisely align with each other. Accordingly, the channel 50 can be accurately formed for precisely receiving the heat pipe therein for test. Alternatively, the immovable portion 20 can have two bars slidably engaging two slots defines in the movable portion 30 to keep the immovable portion 20 aligned with the movable portion 30.
The channel 50 as shown in the preferred embodiment has a circular cross section enabling it to receive the evaporating section of the heat pipe having a correspondingly circular cross section. Alternatively, the channel 50 can have a rectangular cross section where the evaporating section of the heat pipe also has a flat rectangular configuration.
In order to ensure that the heat pipe is in close contact with the movable and immovable portions 30, 20, a supporting frame 10 is used to support and assemble the immovable and movable portions 20, 30. The immovable portion 20 is fixed on the supporting frame 10. A driving device 40 is installed on the supporting frame 10 to drive the movable portion 30 to make accurate linear movement relative to the immovable portion 20 along a vertical direction, thereby realizing the intimate contact between the heat pipe and the movable and immovable portions 30, 20. In this manner, heat resistance between the evaporating section of the heat pipe and the movable and immovable portions 30, 20 can be minimized.
The supporting frame 10 comprises a seat 12. The seat 12 comprises a first plate 14 at a top thereof and two feet 120 depending from the first plate 14. A space 122 is defined between the two feet 120 for extension of the wires 220 and wires (not labeled) of the temperature sensors 26. The supporting frame 10 has a second plate 16 hovering over the first plate 14. Pluralities of supporting rods 15 interconnect the first and second plates 14, 16 for supporting the second plate 16 above the first plate 14. The seat 12, the second plate 16 and the rods 15 constitute the supporting frame 10 for assembling and positioning the immovable and movable portions 20, 30 therein. The immovable portion 20 is fixed on the first plate 14. In order to prevent heat in the immovable portion 20 from spreading to the first plate 14, an insulating member 28 is located at the bottom of the immovable portion 20. The insulating member 28 has a configuration substantially like a tank. The bottom of the immovable portion 20 is contained in the insulating member 28. The insulating member 28, corresponding to the extension 29 of the immovable portion 20, defines a concave 289 receiving the extension 29 therein. At two sides of the concave 289, a plurality of ribs 282 extends from a bottom of the insulating member 28 to support the bottom of the immovable portion 20 thereon. The insulating member 28 defines corresponding through holes (not shown) for the wires 220 of the first heat member and the wires of the temperature sensors 26 of the immovable portion 20 to extend therethrough. The first plate 14 of the supporting frame 10 defines a corresponding hole 140 and spaced apertures 142 to allow the wires 220 of the heating member and the wires of the temperature sensors 26 to extend therethrough to connect with the power supply and a monitoring computer (not shown).
The driving device 40 in this preferred embodiment is a step motor, although it can be easily apprehended by those skilled in the art that the driving device 40 can also be a pneumatic cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder. The driving device 40 is installed on the second plate 16 of the supporting frame 10. The driving device 40 is fixed to the second plate 16 above the movable portion 30. A shaft (not labeled) of the driving device 40 extends through the second plate 16 of the supporting frame 10. The shaft has a threaded end (not shown) threadedly engaging with a bolt 42 secured to the board 34 of the movable portion 30. When the shaft rotates, the bolt 42 with the board 34 and the movable portion 30 move upwardly or downwardly. In use, the driving device 40 accurately drives the movable portion 30 to move linearly relative to the immovable portion 20. For example, the movable portion 30 can be driven to depart a certain distance such as 5 millimeters from the immovable portion 20 to facilitate the insertion of the evaporating section of the heat pipe being tested into the channel 50 or withdrawn from the channel 50 after the heat pipe has been tested. On the other hand, the movable portion 30 can be driven to move toward the immovable portion 20 to thereby realize an intimate contact between the evaporating section of the heat pipe and the immovable and movable portions 20, 30 during the test. Accordingly, the requirements for testing, i.e. accuracy, ease of use and speed, can be realized by the testing apparatus in accordance with the present invention.
It can be understood, positions of the immovable portion 20 and the movable portion 30 can be exchanged, i.e., the movable portion 30 is located on the first plate 14 of the supporting frame 10, and the immovable portion 20 is fixed to the second plate 16 of the supporting frame 10, and the driving device 40 is positioned to be adjacent to the movable portion 20. Alternatively, the driving device 40 can be installed to the immovable portion 20. In addition, each of the immovable and movable portions 20, 30 may have one driving device 40 installed thereon to move them toward/away from each other.
In use, the evaporating section of the heat pipe is received in the channel 50 when the movable portion 30 moves away from the top face of the immovable portion 20 with the bars 35 sliding in the slots 25. The evaporating section of the heat pipe is put in the heating groove 24 of the immovable portion 20. Then the movable portion 30 moves to reach the top face of the immovable portion 20 so that the evaporating section of the heat pipe is tightly fitted into the channel 50. The sensors 26, 36 are in thermal contact with the evaporating section of the heat pipe; therefore, the sensors 26, 36 work to accurately send detected temperatures from the evaporating section of the heat pipe to the monitoring computer. Based on the temperatures obtained by the plurality of sensors 26, 36, an average temperature can be obtained by the monitoring computer very quickly; therefore, performance of the heat pipe can be quickly decided.
Referring to
Additionally, in the present invention, in order to lower cost of the testing apparatus, the insulating member 28 and the board 34 can be made from low-cost material such as PE (Polyethylene), ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), PF (Phenol-Formaldehyde), PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) and so on. The immovable portion 20 and movable portion 30 can be made from copper (Cu) or aluminum (Al). The immovable portion 20 and movable portion 30 can have silver (Ag) or nickel (Ni) plated on inner faces defining the heating grooves 24, 32 to prevent the oxidization of the inner faces.
It is believed that the present embodiments and their 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200610061079.4 | Jun 2006 | CN | national |
