This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 109111160 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Apr. 1, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a pump, more particularly to a thin pump.
As computer technology progresses, computer system can provide higher performance and, hence, more heat than lower performance devices. In order to prevent an overly high working temperature to damage internal electronic/electronic components, there is provided a passive heat exchanger, such as a heatsink, for absorbing heat generated by the electronic/electronic components. However, the heat dissipation efficiency of the heatsinks are very limited and sometimes not sufficient to catch the heat dissipation requirement of the electronic components nowadays. An alternative option is a liquid-cooling system. The liquid-cooling system is known for having a better heat dissipation performance than heatsink. A typical liquid-cooling system may include a radiator, a liquid plate, and a pump, where the radiator and the liquid plate are connected to each other, and the working fluid is pumped through the radiator and the liquid plate by the pump to form a circulation. The liquid plate can be mounted on a heat source (e.g., processor), the working fluid flowing through the liquid plate can absorb heat generated from the heat source and can be pumped to the radiator for heat dissipation.
In recent years, in order to satisfy demands for lightweight and small, designs of electronic products are developed toward being light, thin, short, and small. Some manufactures believed that to reduce the size of the pump is a solution to make the electronic products become thinner, however, in fact, the typical small-sized pumps are unable to offer sufficient hydraulic head to maintain the original function. In other words, a pump that has sufficient hydraulic head is, typically, large in size and therefore does not fit the trend. Therefore, how to make a balance between small size and performance of pump is an important topic in the field.
The present disclosure provides a thin pump in a small size while capable of providing a required performance.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a thin pump includes a casing, a rotor, and a stator. The casing has a bottom surface, an outer surface, a lower chamber, an upper chamber, an inlet channel, and an outlet channel. The outer surface is connected to the bottom surface. The upper chamber and the lower chamber are connected to each other and are surrounded by the outer surface. The upper chamber is located further away from the bottom surface than the lower chamber. One end of the inlet channel and one end of the outlet channel are located on the outer surface. The inlet channel is connected to the upper chamber, and the outlet channel is connected to the lower chamber. The rotor includes an impeller and a magnetic component. The impeller is rotatably disposed in the lower chamber of the casing. The magnetic component is disposed on the impeller. The stator is disposed in the casing. The stator corresponds to the magnetic component of the rotor so as to drive the rotor to rotate with respect to the casing.
According to the thin pump discussed above, since the inlet channel and the outlet channel are located on the outer surface instead of located on the top surface or the bottom surface; that is, the inlet channel and the outlet channel are located at radial sides instead of located at axial sides of the impeller. As such, the thickness of the thin pump along the rotation axis of the rotor has no need to consider the inlet channel and the outlet channel and thus can be designed to be small.
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not intending to limit the present disclosure and wherein:
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
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In addition, the top part 120 has an upper chamber Su, a plurality of through holes O, an inlet channel Si, a ramp St, and an outlet channel So. The upper chamber Su is surrounded by the outer surface 122. The upper chamber Su is located further away from the bottom surface 121 of the top part 120 than the lower chamber Sd. The upper chamber Su and the lower chamber Sd are connected via the through holes O. One end of the inlet channel Si is located on the outer surface 122 of the top part 120, and the inlet channel Si is served as an inlet for a working fluid. The ramp St has a first portion St1, a second portion St2, and a middle portion St3. The first portion St1 is connected to the second portion St2 via the middle portion St3. The first portion St1 of the ramp St is connected to the inlet channel Si, and the second portion St2 of the ramp St is connected to the upper chamber Su. That is, the inlet channel Si is connected to the upper chamber Su via the ramp St. The working fluid is allowed to flow into the inlet channel Si and flow to the upper chamber Su via the first portion St1, the middle portion St3, and the second portion St2 of the ramp St.
A first surface St11 of the first portion St1 of the ramp St is located closer to the bottom surface 121 of the top part 120 than a second surface St21 of the second portion St2 of the ramp St. As shown in
In this embodiment, the quantity of the through holes O of the top part 120 are plural, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the top part 120 may have only one through hole O.
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One end of the outlet channel So is located on the outer surface 122. The outlet channel So is connected to the lower chamber Sd, such that the working fluid in the lower chamber Sd can flow out of the thin pump 10 via the outlet channel So.
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In addition, in this embodiment, one end of the inlet channel Si and one end of the outlet channel So are respectively located at two opposite sides of the outer surface 122, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, one end of the inlet channel and one end of the outlet channel may be respectively located at two adjacent sides of the outer surface.
The cover 130 is disposed on the top surface 123 of the top part 120 via, for example, adhesive. The cover 130 is able to cover the upper chamber Su and the ramp St.
The shaft 400 and the rotor 200 are located in the lower chamber Sd. The shaft 400 is fixed between the bottom part 110 and the top part 120 of the casing 100. The rotor 200 includes an impeller 210, a magnetic component 220, and an iron plate 230. The impeller 210 is fixed on the shaft 400 so that the impeller is rotatably disposed in the casing 100. The magnetic component 220 is disposed on the impeller 210 via the iron plate 230. That is, the iron plate 230 is located between the impeller 210 and the magnetic component 220. The iron plate 230 is configured to reduce magnetic flux leakage so as to increase excitation efficiency.
The washers 500 are sleeved on the shaft 400 and are respectively located at two opposite sides of the impeller 210. The washers 500 are respectively clamped between the impeller 210 and the bottom part 110 and between the impeller 210 and the top part 120, such that the impeller 210, the bottom part 110, and the top part 120 are spaced apart from one another to prevent them from hitting each other during rotation of the impeller 210. In addition, the washers 500 has a wear resistance greater than the casing 100 and therefore can improve the durability and life span of the thin pump 10.
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The stator 300 is disposed in the casing 100. The stator 300 corresponds to the magnetic component 220 of the rotor 200 so as to drive the rotor 200 to rotate with respect to the casing 100. Specifically, the bottom part 110 has an accommodating space 112 which is a recess formed on the bottom surface 111. The stator 300 is located in the accommodating space 112. As shown in
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Note that the position of the inlet channel Si is not restricted. In some embodiments, defining a base line L equidistant from the upper surface 211 and the lower surface 310, a distance between the center line C1 of the inlet channel Si and the base line L may be less than 5 percent of a distance between the upper surface 211 and the lower surface 310. In some other embodiments, the inlet channel may be located between a plane where the upper surface of the impeller is located and a plane where the bottom surface of the top part is located.
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In this embodiment, the inlet channel Si and the outlet channel So are located on the outer surface 122 instead of located on the top surface 123 or the bottom surface 121; that is, the inlet channel Si and the outlet channel So are located at radial sides instead of located at axial sides of the impeller 210. As such, the thickness of the thin pump 10 along the rotation axis AA of the rotor 200 has no need to consider the inlet channel Si and the outlet channel So and thus can be designed to be small. In addition, as mentioned, the working fluid flows along the ramp St, which can reduce the flow resistance of the working fluid to increase the driving efficiency of the thin pump 10. Furthermore, the working fluid flowing down to the impeller 210 from the upper chamber Su can create an impact force due to the height of the ramp St, and the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the impeller 210 can pressure the working fluid in the lower chamber Sd. As the working fluid flows out of the thin pump 10 from the outlet channel So, the working fluid is pressurized to have a hydraulic head the same as or greater than the conventional axial flow pump (e.g., more than 2 meters).
Note that the description of the location of the inlet channel Si is defined by the bottom surface 121 of the top part 120, but it can be also defined by the bottom surface 111 of the bottom part 110, since the bottom surface 121 of the top part 120 and the bottom surface 111 of the bottom part 110 are substantially coplanar. In some embodiments, the bottom surface of the top part and the bottom surface of the bottom part may not be coplanar. In such case, the one of the two bottom surfaces which is located further away from the top surface of the top part than the other one would be used to define and describe the location of the inlet channel.
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According to the thin pump discussed above, since the inlet channel and the outlet channel are located on the outer surface instead of located on the top surface or the bottom surface; that is, the inlet channel and the outlet channel are located at radial sides instead of located at axial sides of the impeller. As such, the thickness of the thin pump along the rotation axis of the rotor has no need to consider the inlet channel and the outlet channel and thus can be designed to be small. In addition, the working fluid flows along the ramp, which can reduce the flow resistance of the working fluid to increase the driving efficiency of the thin pump. Furthermore, the working fluid flowing down to the impeller from the upper chamber can create an impact force due to the height of the ramp, and the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the impeller can pressure the working fluid in the lower chamber. As the working fluid flows out of the thin pump from the outlet channel, the working fluid is pressurized to have a hydraulic head the same as or greater than the conventional axial flow pump (e.g., more than 2 meters).
The embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present disclosure and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art best utilize the present disclosure and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use being contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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109111160 | Apr 2020 | TW | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20040240179 | Koga | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20070231135 | Wampler | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20140205480 | Nakano | Jul 2014 | A1 |
20140369824 | Guo | Dec 2014 | A1 |
20160025099 | Nakagawa | Jan 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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113107864 | Feb 2021 | CN |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210308346 A1 | Oct 2021 | US |