This application claims the priority benefits of Taiwan application serial no. 106201419, filed on Jan. 25, 2017, and Taiwan application serial no. 106130266, filed on Sep. 5, 2017. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The invention relates to a power supply apparatus and more particularly, to a power supply apparatus with a favorable heat dissipation effect.
Generally, the heat from the internal of a power supply apparatus is dissipated mainly in a fan-cooling dissipation manner. In the fan-cooling dissipation manner, elements (for example, passive devices and semiconductor devices) capable of generating the heat contact a metal dissipation block, and the heat from is dissipated from the metal dissipation block is dissipated through fans. However, the increase in output power of the power supply apparatus causes increase in an internal temperature. For example, for a power supply apparatus having output power more than 1000 watts, an air flow of the fans also have to be increased, such that the additional waste heat can be exhausted out of the power apparatus through the strong air flow. A method for increasing the air flow includes nothing but increasing the rotation speed or the number of the fans. Nevertheless, when the rotation speed of the fans is increased, or multiple fans operate simultaneously, issues, such as high noise, high vibration and high power consumption, usually occur, which influence overall efficiency of the power supply apparatus and cause discomfort to users.
In order to solve the aforementioned issues, a current power supply apparatus adopts a liquid-cooling dissipation manner in replacement for the conventional fan-cooling dissipation manner. However, in the recent liquid-cooling dissipation manner, internal liquid-cooling dissipation pipes are mainly disposed in a case of the power supply apparatus, wherein all the internal liquid-cooling dissipation pipes have to be made of a metal material and directly contact the heating elements for effectively dissipating the heat. Thus, the internal liquid-cooling dissipation pipes, when contacting primary-side heating elements and secondary-side heating elements of the circuit, is subject to the occurrence of arc discharge between the primary-side heating elements and the secondary-side heating elements and therefore, may tend to safety concerns. Additionally, the disposition of the internal liquid-cooling dissipation pipes also requires to be arranged together with a circuit design and the disposition of the internal elements of the case, which relatively lacks use flexibility and may not be adapted for all types of power supply apparatuses.
The invention provides a power supply apparatus which can achieve a favorable heat dissipation effect and avoid the occurrence of high noise.
A power supply apparatus of the invention includes a case, a circuit board, at least one heating element and at least one internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure. The circuit board is disposed in the case. The heating element is disposed in the case and electrically connected to the circuit board. The internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure is disposed in the case and located in at least one of manners which include being located between the case and the circuit board and being between the case and the heating element. The internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure includes a tank and a heat conducting sheet. The tank includes an internal pipe, wherein a working fluid is adapted to be filled in the internal pipe. The heat conducting sheet is assembled to the tank, wherein the heat generated by the heating element is transmitted to the tank through the heat conducting sheet and is dissipated by the working fluid circulating in the internal pipe.
In an embodiment of the invention, the power supply apparatus further includes at least one insulating and heat conducting structure disposed in the case and located in at least one of manners which include being located between the circuit board and the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure and being located between the heating element and the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure.
In an embodiment of the invention, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure is located between the case and the circuit board, the insulating and heat conducting structure is located between the circuit board and the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure, and two opposite surfaces of the insulating and heat conducting structure directly contact the circuit board and heat conducting sheet, respectively.
In an embodiment of the invention, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure is located between the case and the heating element, the insulating and heat conducting structure is located between the heating element and the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure, and the two opposite surfaces of the insulating and heat conducting structure directly contact the heating element and the heat conducting sheet, respectively.
In an embodiment of the invention, the tank of the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure further includes a temperature sensor disposed on a surface of the tank and employed to sense a temperature of the tank.
In an embodiment of the invention, the tank of the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure further includes a LED module disposed on the surface of the tank and employed to indicate different colors according to levels of the temperature.
In an embodiment of the invention, the LED module is electrically connected to the circuit board through a connector.
In an embodiment of the invention, the power supply apparatus further includes at least one fan module, assembled in the case, electrically connected with the circuit board and employed to operate in different rotation speeds according to levels of the temperature.
In an embodiment of the invention, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure further includes a liquid cooling head, and the power supply apparatus further includes at least one external liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure disposed outside the case and including a heat sink, a cooling fan, a motor, a liquid cooling tank and an external pipe. The liquid cooling head is connected with the external pipe, the cooling fan is assembled to the heat sink, and the liquid cooling tank is connected with the motor. The external pipe is connected between the liquid cooling head and the liquid cooling tank, between the motor and the heat sink and between the heat sink and the liquid cooling head.
In an embodiment of the invention, the external liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure is connected with the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure for form a loop. The working fluid circulates in the loop by the motor of the external liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure.
In an embodiment of the invention, the heating element is a passive device or a semiconductor device.
In an embodiment of the invention, a material of the heat conducting sheet includes metal.
In an embodiment of the invention, the working fluid includes pure water, deionized water, liquid metal or an organic fluorocarbon liquid.
Based on the above, in the design of the power supply apparatus of the invention, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure is disposed in the case and located in at least one of the manners which include being located between the case and the circuit board and being located between the case and the heating elements. The working fluid is adapted to be filled in the internal pipe, and the heat generated by the heating elements can be transmitted to the tank through the heat conducting sheet and be dissipated by the working fluid circulating in the internal pipe. In brief, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure of the invention can be adapted to various types of power supply apparatuses. The power supply apparatus of the invention can dissipate the heat in a liquid-cooling dissipation manner, which can achieve not only a favorable heat dissipation effect but also higher use safety and can avoid the occurrence of high noise.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the invention more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Referring first to
Specifically, the heating elements 130 of the present embodiment are capacitors or transformers and certainly, may be other passive devices or other semiconductor devices, which are not limited herein. In addition, the working fluid F filled in the internal pipe 143 of the tank 142a may be, for example, pure water, deionized water, liquid metal or an organic fluorocarbon liquid. For instance, if the working fluid F is the pure water or the deionized water, due to water having a specific heat capacity which is much greater than that of the air or other liquids, which is about 4200 J/(kg·K), the water employed as a heat-dissipation medium has preferable thermal performance to the conventional systems using the air and fans. In addition, the heat conducting sheet 144a of the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure 140a of the present embodiment is embodied as a copper sheet or any other metal sheet which transmits the heat generated by the heating elements 130 to the external of the power supply apparatus 100a by means of conduction.
As illustrated in
In addition, the power supply apparatus 100a of the present embodiment further includes at least one insulating and heat conducting structure 150a disposed in the case 110 and located between the circuit board 120 and the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure 140a, wherein the insulating and heat conducting structure 150a is capable of conducting the heat and transmitting the heat generated by the heating elements 130 to the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure 140a. As illustrated in
Additionally, in order to further promote the heat dissipation effect of the power supply apparatus 100a, the power supply apparatus 100a of the present embodiment may further include at least one fan module 160 assembled in the case 110, electrically connected with the circuit board 120 and employed to operate in different rotation speeds according to levels of the temperature. As illustrated in
It is to be mentioned that the power supply apparatus 100a of the present embodiment is not limited to dissipating the heat simultaneously in the liquid-cooling dissipation manner and the fan-cooling dissipation manner. The heat power supply apparatus 100a may also dissipate the heat solely in the liquid-cooling dissipation manner. For example, the power supply apparatus 100a, after using the two types of dissipation, may turn off the fan module 160 for the fan-cooling dissipation through a circuit design in an occasion of a low load or less heat-dissipation demand. In this circumstance, the power supply apparatus 100a dissipates the heat solely in the liquid-cooling dissipation manner, thereby not only saving energy consumption but also achieving a completely mute effect.
An experiment example in a power condition where an input voltage is 99 VAC, and an output load is 1200 W is provided. The temperature of the heating elements of the present embodiment where the power supply apparatus 100a adopts the liquid-cooling dissipation manner is compared with the temperature of the heating elements of the conventional power supply apparatus adopting the fan-cooling dissipation manner. It can be learned from the experiment data listed in the below table.
By being compared with the heating elements (e.g., EMI-cores or isolation transformers) in the conventional power supply apparatus, the heating elements 130 (e.g., EMI-cores or isolation transformers) in the power supply apparatus 100a of the present embodiment have lower temperatures, and the temperatures of the heating elements may be reduced by 2° C. to 9° C. Namely, in the same condition, the power supply apparatus 100a of the present embodiment, compared with the conventional power supply apparatus adopting the fan-cooling dissipation manner, may achieve not only a preferable heat dissipation effect, but also preventing the occurrence of high noise.
It should be noted that the embodiments provided below use the reference numerals and part of the content of the embodiment above, where the same or similar elements are represented by using the same reference numerals and the description related to the same technical content is omitted. The description related to the omitted part may refer to that of the embodiment above and will not be repeated hereinafter.
Additionally, in another embodiment which is not shown, the power supply apparatus may also include a plurality of internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structures, for example, two internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structures, where one of them is disposed between the case and the circuit board, and the other is disposed between the case and the heating element, which also falls within the scope to be protected by the invention. A person skilled in the art may achieve the desired technical effect with reference to the descriptions related to the embodiments set forth above and according to actual demands.
In light of the foregoing, in the design of the power supply apparatus of the invention, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure is disposed in the case and located in one of the manners which include being located in between the case and the circuit board and being located between the case and the heating elements, wherein the working fluid is adapted to be filled in the internal pipe, and the heat generated by the heating elements is transmitted to the tank through the heat conducting sheet and is dissipated by the working fluid circulating in the internal pipe. In brief, the internal liquid cooling heat-dissipation structure of the invention can be applied in various types of power supply apparatuses, and the power supply apparatus of the invention can achieve heat-dissipation in the liquid-cooling dissipation manner. In this way, not only a favorable heat dissipation effect, but also higher use safety can be obtained, and the occurrence of high noise can be prevented.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention will be defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed descriptions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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106201419 | Jan 2017 | TW | national |
106130266 | Sep 2017 | TW | national |