The present invention is related to a thermoelectric heat dissipation device and a method for fabricating the thermoelectric heat dissipation device. More particularly, the present invention is related to a thermoelectric heat dissipation device including a combination of a cryogenic chip and a heat sink in form of fins or flat plates and a method for fabricating the heat dissipation device.
The technology of electronic components is developed very fast, especially, the main component of a computer, central processing unit (CPU). The size of CPU is tended to miniaturize but the performance and the efficiency thereof is progressed. Due to the miniaturization of CPU, the heat generated from the power consumption when the CPU is operating is rapidly accumulated so as to increase the temperature of the CPU. Thus, if the heat is not adequately removed from the CPU, the CPU is overheated to levels that degrade the life and reliability of the computer, or worse to crash the CPU. Thus, heat dissipation of CPU is a significant issue during the operation of computers.
One of the heat dissipation devices on the market is utilization of a fan to couple to the enclosure of electronic apparatus. This heat dissipation device is designed to exhaust the hot air from the enclosure of the apparatus in order to replenish it with fresh air. Thus, the heat generated from the operation of the electronic components in the enclosure of an electronic apparatus will be dissipated. However, the efficiency of the heat dissipation of this kind of one-way fan is not satisfied because the environment temperature may not be lower than the interior temperature in the enclosure of an electronic apparatus, such as in summer time, the room temperature is high as 35 centigrade degrees. Thus, utilization of one-way fan for air-convection with high-temperature fresh air is inefficient, because the electronic components are still operated in an environment with high temperature. The efficiency cannot be improved by adding one-way fans to the apparatus.
Another one commercial heat dissipater for removing the heat generated from the electronic component is a device combined a base and a heat sink. The heat sink is coupled to the surface of the electronic components via the base for heat transfer. The heat is conducted via the heat sink and then transferred to the environment. A fan can be added to the heat sink to improve the efficiency of the heat transfer of the heat sink.
There is another one commercial electric heat dissipation device. As shown in
The present invention is to provide a method for fabricating a thermoelectric heat dissipation device. The method includes the steps of providing a base plate, a thermoelectric semiconductive element connected to the base plate and a heat sink in form of plates or fins with one surface coated an electric insulation coating and patterned conductive lines, and adhering the heat sink to the thermoelectric semiconductive element. This thermoelectric heat dissipation device conducts the heat dissipation by direct heat transfer.
The present invention is further to provide a thermoelectric heat dissipation device. The present device includes a theremoelectric semiconductive element as a cryogenic chip and a heat sink. The cooling surface of the cryogenic chip is directly electrically connected to the heat sink which is in form of plates or fins, and the other surface of the cryogenic chip is adhered to a base plate. The base plate of the device is utilized to connect to the surface an electronic component for heat exchange.
Because the heat sink of the thermoelectric heat dissipation device is directly connected to the heat dissipating surface of the thermoelectric semiconductive element for transferring the heat exchanged from the electronic component to the semiconductive element, the efficiency of heat dissipation of the device is enhanced and the cost thereof is lowered compared with the prior thermoelectric device.
These and other objectives of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings therein:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
FIGS. 2 to 5 are shown a preferred embodiment of the present invention to fabricate a thermoelectric heat dissipation device. The process of the present invention includes the step of providing a base plate 1. The upper surface of the base plate 1 is patterned a plurality of conductive lines 41 for connecting with a thermoelectric semiconductive element 2 and providing the electrical connection of multiple P-N posts of semiconductive material 21 and 22, as shown in
The thermoelectric element 2 is connected to one surface of the base plate 1 by a cooling surface 23 thereof, as shown in
Furthermore, a heat conductive element 3 is provided. The heat conductive element 3 is made of material with high heat conductivity but without electric conductivity. In a preferred embodiment, the heat conductive element 3 can be made of a metal with high heat conductivity. The surface 31 of the heat conductive element 3 for combining with the thermoelectric semiconductive element 2 is coated an inert coating 33, such as an anodic coating. Thus, the coating 31 is heat conductive but is not electric conductive, as shown in
The surface 31 of the heat conductive element 3 with the patterned conductive lines 42 is combined to the top surface 24 of the thermoelectric element 2. The P-N posts of the semiconductive material are electrically connected to the surface 31 via the patterned lines 42, as shown in
According to the above description, a thermoelectric heat dissipation device is fabricated, as shown in
A thermoelectric heat dissipation device fabricated by the above method is described hereinafter. The construction of the thermoelectric heat dissipation device is shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, as a preferred embodiment.
The thermoelectric semiconductive element 2 includes a plurality of sets of P-N posts 21, 22. The element 2 is so called a cryogenic chip. For heat change, the P-N posts 21, 22 are able to absorb the heat from one end and transfer the heat to the other end under electricity. In a preferred embodiment, the thermoelectric seminconductive element 2 includes a cooling end 23 for adhere to the surface of the base plate 1 and a dissipation end 24.
The heat sink 3, in a preferred embodiment, is made from material with high heat conductivity but is electrically insulated. In another embodiment, as shown in
The heat sink 3 described hereinbefore, as shown in
The thermoelectric heat dissipation device fabricated by the method describe herein is able to enhance the efficiency of heat dissipation when comparing with the combination of cryogenic chip and heat sink of prior art because the heat sink 3 is directly adhered to the heat dissipation surface 24 of the thermoelectric semiconductive element 2 for heat exchange the heat from the surface 24 to heat sink 3.
While an illustrative and presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations except insofar as limited by the prior art.