U.S. patent application number 10/141950 was filed with the patent office on 2002-11-21 for method of cooling devices.
This patent application is currently assigned to ANDO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Ito, Youichi.
Application Number | 20020170702 10/141950 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18992230 |
Filed Date | 2002-11-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020170702 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ito, Youichi |
November 21, 2002 |
Method of cooling devices
Abstract
It is intended to extend life spans of devices as a whole by
reducing differences of temperatures of devices which are mounted
on a printed circuit board by plural number without increasing the
volume of cooling gas. In the method of cooling multiple driver's
ICs which are continuously mounted on a printed circuit board, the
devices having heat sinks provided with multiple radiating fins
disposed thereon in parallel with one another, each radiating fin
is positioned relative to a blowing direction of cooling gas at a
given inclination angle .theta..
Inventors: |
Ito, Youichi; (Tokyo,
JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SUGHRUE MION. PLLC
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington
DC
20037-3213
US
|
Assignee: |
ANDO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
|
Family ID: |
18992230 |
Appl. No.: |
10/141950 |
Filed: |
May 10, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/80.2 ;
257/E23.099 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 2924/0002 20130101;
H01L 23/467 20130101; F28F 3/02 20130101; H01L 2924/0002 20130101;
H01L 2924/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/80.2 |
International
Class: |
F28F 007/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 16, 2001 |
JP |
2001-146613 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of cooling devices continuously mounted on a printed
circuit board, the devices having heat sinks provided with multiple
radiating fins disposed thereon in parallel with one another,
wherein each radiating fin is positioned relative to a blowing
direction of cooling gas at a given inclination angle .theta..
2. The method of cooling devices according to claim 1, wherein the
devices are driver's ICs used in a test head of a semiconductor
integrated circuit testing device for outputting testing signals to
devices under test.
3. The method of cooling devices according to claim 2, wherein the
driver's ICs are mounted in a row on a printed circuit board and
cooling gas is blown out from a given direction along the surface
of the printed circuit board.
4. The method of cooling devices according to claim 1, wherein the
heat sinks are mounted onto the devices by a heat conductive
adhesive.
5. The method of cooling devices according to claim 1, wherein the
cooling gas is air.
6. The method of cooling devices according to claim 1, wherein the
inclination angle .theta. is set at 30 degrees.
7. The method of cooling devices according to claim 2, wherein the
heat sinks are mounted onto the devices by a heat conductive
adhesive.
8. The method of cooling devices according to claim 3, wherein the
heat sinks are mounted onto the devices by a heat conductive
adhesive.
9. The method of cooling devices according to claim 2, wherein the
cooling gas is air.
10. The method of cooling devices according to claim 3, wherein the
cooling gas is air.
11. The method of cooling devices according to claim 4, wherein the
cooling gas is air.
12. The method of cooling devices according to claim 7, wherein the
cooling gas is air.
13. The method of cooling devices according to claim 8, wherein the
cooling gas is air.
14. The method of cooling devices according to claim 2, wherein the
inclination angle .theta. is set at 30 degrees.
15. The method of cooling devices according to claim 3, wherein the
inclination angle .theta. is set at 30 degrees.
16. The method of cooling devices according to claim 4, wherein the
inclination angle .theta. is set at 30 degrees.
17. The method of cooling devices according to claim 5, wherein the
inclination angle .theta. is set at 30 degrees.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a method of cooing devices,
particularly to a technique for cooling multiple devices mounted
linearly on a printed circuit board.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] In a case where many electronic devices each having a large
power capacity are used, each device is provided with a heat sink
and mounted on a printed circuit board in a given interval. In such
a case, if sufficient radiating performance is not obtained by the
heat sink, cooling gas is blown out toward each heat sink using a
fan and the like, thereby forcibly cooling each heat sink.
[0003] However, according to the conventional forcible cooling
method, it is difficult to cool multiple devices uniformly, which
causes a problem that devices which were not sufficiently cooled
are deteriorated earlier than devices which were sufficiently
cooled. This is caused by the fact that a sufficient amount of gas
is not blown out toward the heat sinks (devices) positioned
downstream relative to cooling gas. It is considered as a simple
solving means to increase the volume of cooling gas by rendering a
fan large-sized, which however invites a subsidiary issue such as
the increase of power consumption and noise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The invention has been made to solve the foregoing problems
and it is an object of the invention to extend life spans of
devices as a whole, which devices are mounted on a printed circuit
board by plural number, by reducing temperature differences between
the devices without increasing the volume of cooling gas.
[0005] Th achieve the above object, a method of cooling devices
continuously mounted on a printed circuit board, the devices having
heat sinks provided with multiple radiating fins disposed thereon
in parallel with one another according to the invention adopts
first means, wherein each radiating fin is positioned relative to a
blowing direction of cooling gas at a given inclination angle
.theta..
[0006] The invention adopts second means, wherein the devices in
the first means are ICs for a driver (hereinafter referred to as
driver's ICs) used in a test head of a semiconductor integrated
circuit testing device for outputting testing signals to devices
under test.
[0007] The invention adopts third means, wherein the driver's ICs
in the second means are mounted in a row on a printed circuit board
and cooling gas is blown out from a given direction along the
surface of the printed circuit board.
[0008] The invention adopts fourth means, wherein the heat sinks
are mounted onto the devices by a heat conductive adhesive.
[0009] The invention adopts fifth means, wherein the cooling gas
according to any of the first and fourth is air.
[0010] The invention adopts sixth means, wherein the inclination
angle .theta. according to any of first to fifth means is set at 30
degrees.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a view showing an arrangement of devices in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a view showing temperature characteristics of
respective driver's ICs in the case where an inclination angle
.theta. is set at 30 degrees
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0013] A method of cooling devices according to a preferred
embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to the
attached drawings. The preferred embodiment is a case where the
invention is applied to a method of cooling driver's ICs to be
mounted in a test head of a semiconductor integrated circuit
testing device. Multiple driver's ICs are mounted inside a test
head for outputting test signals to respective terminals of DUTs
which are objects to be tested.
[0014] FIG. 1 is a view showing an arrangement of devices in
accordance with the preferred embodiment. In FIG. 1, depicted by 1
is a printed circuit board, 2A to 2H are heat sinks, 3 is radiating
fins, 4A to 4H are driver's ICs and each A is a blowing direction
of cooling air (cooling gas).
[0015] The
[0016] printed circuit board 1 is formed rectangular as shown in
FIG. 1 and multiple driver's ICs 4A to 4H having heat sinks 2A to
2H attached thereto are mounted in a row on the printed circuit
board 1.
[0017] The heat sinks 2A to 2H have respectively multiple radiating
fins 3 which are arranged in parallel with one another, and they
are attached to the upper surfaces of the driver's ICs 4A to 4H via
silicon glass or heat conductive adhesive. The heat sinks 2A to 2H
and the driver's ICs 4A to 4H are in a tight heat connected state
using silicon glass or heat conductive adhesive set forth
above.
[0018] The heat sinks 2A to 2H are attached to the driver's ICs 4A
to 4H while they are set in posture to be directed to each blowing
direction A of cooling gas at an inclination angle .theta. relative
to the radiating fins 3. The setting of postures of the heat sinks
2A to 2H relative to the blowing direction A of the cooling gas is
an eminent feature of the invention.
[0019] The radiating fins 3 are formed, as well known, on the heat
sinks 2A to 2H as protrusions which are arranged in parallel with
one another in a given interval and they efficiently radiates heat
generated in the driver's ICs 4A to 4H. The driver's ICs 4A to 4H
are provided for outputting test signals (pattern signals) to
respective terminals of the DUTs and have relatively large heating
amount when they are operated. Accordingly, the heat sinks 2A to 2H
have to be attached to the driver's ICs 4A to 4H for operating the
driver's ICs 4A to 4H with a prescribed performance.
[0020] Each blowing direction A of cooing air is set to conform to
the arranging direction of the driver's ICs 4A to 4H which are
mounted in a row on the printed circuit board 1, namely, set in
parallel with the arranging direction of the driver's ICs 4A to 4H.
There is provided a fan beside the printed circuit board 1 for
blowing out cooling air toward the driver's ICs 4A to 4H. By the
operation of the fan, the cooling air is blown from the direction
parallel with the arranging direction of the driver's ICs 4A to 4H
toward the driver's ICs 4A to 4H along the surface of the printed
circuit board 1.
[0021] According to the preferred embodiment of the invention,
since the direction of the radiating fins 3 is inclined relative to
each blowing directions A of cooling air at the inclination angle
.theta., the cooling air passes through the radiating fins 3 of the
heat sinks 2A to 2H relatively uniformly That is, the cooling air
removes heat uniformly from the heat sinks 2A to 2H compared with a
case where the radiating fins 3 of the heat sinks 2A to 2H are all
set in parallel with each blowing direction of cooling air so that
the temperatures of the driver's ICs 4A to 4H are made uniform.
[0022] FIG. 2 shows temperature characteristics of respective
driver's ICs wherein the measured values of temperatures of the
driver's ICs 4A to 4H in the case where the inclination angle
.theta. is set at 30 degrees are compared with those of the prior
art. In FIG. 2, T1 represents temperature characteristics of the
preferred embodiment, and T2 represents temperature characteristics
of the prior art. Although the difference between the maximum
temperature and the minimum temperature of the driver's ICs 4A to
4H is 20 degrees according to the preferred embodiment, while it is
29 degrees in the prior art. That is, since the increase of the
temperatures of the driver's ICs (e.g. driver's ICs 4E to 4H) which
are positioned more downstream relative to the cooling air is
restrained, the difference between the maximum temperature and the
minimum temperature according to the preferred embodiment is
smaller than the prior art by 9 degrees.
[0023] Although the preferred embodiment is applied to the cooling
of the driver's ICs 4A to 4H to be mounted inside the test head,
the scope of application of the invention is not limited to this
preferred embodiment. The invention can be applied to the cooling
of various deices if they are continuously mounted in a printed
circuit board in a state where the heat sinks are attached to the
devices. Further, the devices may be mounted on a board other than
the printed circuit board.
[0024] As mentioned in detail above, the cooling gas can strike
more uniformly against the respective radiating fins of the heat
sinks of the devices without increasing the volume of air.
Accordingly, the respective devices can be maintained at a more
uniform temperature, and hence electric performance of each device
is improved and life span of each device is extended.
* * * * *