Patent Application
20190186839
The present invention relates to a protection structure for heat dissipation unit, and more particularly, to a protection structure for protecting a fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe structure provided on a heat dissipation unit, such as a vapor chamber.
A vapor chamber is a very popular heat dissipation element. Conventionally, the vapor chamber is formed of an upper plate member and a lower plate member, which are closed to each other to define a sealed chamber in between them. In the sealed chamber, a wick structure and a working fluid are provided and air is evacuated to complete the manufacturing of the vapor chamber.
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There is also provided a third conventional vapor chamber 5 having a protection bar 53 transversely extended across the notch area 52, as shown in
Further, the provision of the protection bar 53 at the notch area 52 would form a hindrance that interferes with the working fluid adding and the air evacuation via the pipe 6, causing inconvenience to workers who handle these operations.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved protection structure that protects the fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe structure provided on a heat dissipation unit and eliminates the disadvantages in the conventional pipe protection structures for vapor chambers.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a protection structure that can protect a fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe structure provided on a heat dissipation unit, so as to solve the problems in the prior art heat dissipation unit.
To achieve the above and other objects, the protection structure for heat dissipation unit according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a main body and a protection element.
The main body is divided into a working zone and a sealing zone. The sealing zone is located around an outer periphery of the working zone and is provided with a notch area, to which a fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe is connected. The protection element is a ductile structure and is correspondingly arranged at the notch area to contact with the sealing zone of the main body and the fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe. With the arrangement of the protection element, the fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe is protected against collision and impact and accordingly, the main body of the heat dissipation unit is protected against vacuum and working fluid leakage.
According to the present invention, the protection element is a ductile structure molded using any one of a thermoplastic, a thermosetting, a light-curing and an epoxy resin material for protecting the fluid-adding and air-evacuating pipe against collision or impact during transporting or installation of the heat dissipation unit, so as to avoid the occurrence of vacuum and working fluid leakage of the main body and to save of a large amount of cost of manufacturing the heat dissipation unit. And, the arrangement of the protection element does not interfere with the use of the pipe to add working fluid and evacuate the air into and from the main body.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and by referring to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.
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The main body 1 can be, for example, a vapor chamber, which is divided into a working zone 11 and a sealing zone 12. The sealing zone 12 is located around an outer periphery of the working zone 11 and is provided with a notch area 13, to which a pipe 3 for working fluid adding and air evacuation is connected. The main body 1 is formed by correspondingly closing an upper plate member la and a lower plate member lb to each other, such that a sealed chamber 14 is defined in between the closed upper and lower plate members 1a, 1b. In the sealed chamber 14, a wick structure 15, bosses or plated layers and a working fluid 16 are provided. The sealed chamber 14 is formed in the working zone 11, and the sealing zone 12 is located around outer edges of the sealed chamber 14. That is, the sealing zone 12 is an area at where the upper and lower plate members 1a, 1b are hermetically connected to each other. The pipe 3 is clamped to between the upper and the lower plate member 1a, 1b to form a part of the main body 1 and communicate with the sealed chamber 14. An outer end of the pipe 3 is a free end, which is sealed after the vapor chamber is completed.
The notch area 13 has a first side 13a, a second side 13b and a third side 13c. The second side 13b and the third side 13c are located at and connected to two opposite ends of the first side 13a; and the pipe 3 is extended through and connected to the first side 13a.
The protection element 2 is a ductile structure made of a thermoplastic, a thermosetting, a light-curing or an epoxy resin material and is correspondingly formed and located at the notch area 13 through insert molding to contact with the sealing zone 12 of the main body 1 and the pipe 3. The protection element 2 has a first edge 21, a second edge 22 and a third edge 23, which are so configured that they cover the first, the second and the third side 13a, 13b, 13c of the notch area 13, respectively.
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The light-curing material used in the present invention is obtained by adding a photosensitive agent to a specially formulated resin. When the light-curing material is exposed to a high-intensity violet ray from a light curing apparatus, the light-curing material absorbs the violet ray and produces active free radicals or radical ions to trigger the polymerization, cross-linking and grafting reactions, which bring the resin, which can be a ultraviolet (UV) paint, a UV ink, or a UV glue, to convert from a liquid-state substance into a solid-state polymer within only a few seconds. The above described conversion process is referred to as the light curing process.
In the above embodiments, when the protection element 2 made of a thermoplastic or a thermosetting material is cooled, it is associated with the main body 1 to serve as a protection structure for the notch area 3 and the pipe 3. Alternatively, in the case the protection element 2 is made of a light-curing material, it can be applied to the main body 1 at the notch area 13 and the pipe 3 to form the protection structure for the notch area 13 and the pipe 3. A main advantage of using the protection structure of the present invention is the protection of the pipe 3 against collision or impact during transporting or installation of the heat dissipation unit to avoid the occurrence of vacuum and working fluid leakage of the main body 1. The present invention also advantageously saves of a large amount of cost of manufacturing the heat dissipation unit and it does not interfere with the use of the pipe 3 to add the working fluid and evacuate the air into and from the main body 1 during the manufacturing process of the heat dissipation unit.
Further, compared to the conventional integrally formed protection structures for heat dissipation unit that require a relatively higher manufacturing cost and a plurality of molds and dies, the protection structure of the present invention is immediately formed for use after the material thereof is cooled and shaped, and can therefore be manufactured at a relatively lower cost.
The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
