U.S. patent application number 10/267850 was filed with the patent office on 2004-04-15 for heat radiating structure formed from quickly connectable u-sectioned fins.
Invention is credited to Yeh, Chia Ching.
Application Number | 20040069479 10/267850 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32068457 |
Filed Date | 2004-04-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040069479 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Yeh, Chia Ching |
April 15, 2004 |
Heat radiating structure formed from quickly connectable
U-sectioned fins
Abstract
A heat radiating structure is formed from at least two
sequentially connected U-sectioned fins, each of which includes a
middle portion and two vertically bent sidewall portions. The
middle portion is provided along two longitudinal edges with
insertion holes, and the sidewall portions are correspondingly
provided along outer edges with forward projected locking means. A
distance by which the locking means projects from the sidewall
portion is small or equal to a distance between the insertion hole
and the locking means. The U-sectioned fins oriented in the same
direction can be quickly connected one by one to form the heat
radiating structure by inserting the locking means on a preceding
U-sectioned fin into the insertion holes on a following U-sectioned
fin. The connected U-sectioned fins are attached to a working heat
source by means of a thermal conductive material to quickly locate
the heat radiating structure in place.
Inventors: |
Yeh, Chia Ching; (Tao Yuan
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
RABIN & BERDO, P.C.
Suite 500
1101 14th Street, N.W.
Washington
DC
20005
US
|
Family ID: |
32068457 |
Appl. No.: |
10/267850 |
Filed: |
October 10, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/185 ;
165/80.3; 257/E23.099; 257/E23.103 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 23/467 20130101;
H01L 23/3672 20130101; H01L 2924/0002 20130101; H01L 2924/0002
20130101; F28F 3/02 20130101; H01L 2924/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/185 ;
165/080.3 |
International
Class: |
F28F 007/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A heat radiating structure, comprising at least two U-sectioned
fins, each said U-sectioned fin including a flat middle portion and
two sidewall portions bent along and extended from two longitudinal
edges of said middle portion at a right angle; said middle portion
being provided near and along the two longitudinal edges with a
plurality of insertion holes, and said two sidewall portions being
formed of a plurality of forward projected locking means at
positions corresponding to said insertion holes; a distance by
which a front end of said locking means projecting from an outer
edge of said sidewall portion being small or equal to a distance
between said insertion hole and a rear end of said locking means;
the front end of said locking means being formed into two
symmetrical barbs spaced from each other to define a notch
therebetween; said notch enabling said two barbs to be elastically
compressed toward each other; whereby said at least two U-sectioned
fins, when being oriented in the same direction, can be quickly
connected to one another to form said heat radiating structure by
inserting said locking means on a preceding U-sectioned fin into
said insertion holes on a following U-sectioned fin.
2. The heat radiating structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
barbs formed at the front end of said locking means are in the
shape of an arrow.
3. The heat radiating structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
U-sectioned fins are made of a copper material.
4. The heat radiating structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
U-sectioned fins are made of a red copper material.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a heat radiating structure,
and more particularly to a heat radiating structure formed from
quickly connectable U-sectioned fins to enable quick mounting of
the heat radiating structure and effective increase of the heat
radiating areas.
[0002] Most of the heat radiating devices for use with a central
processing unit (CPU) of a computer host or a high-power transistor
are made of extruded aluminum material. FIG. 1 shows a conventional
finned radiator 1 having a flat base 11, on one side of which there
are provided a plurality of parallelly spaced radiating fins 12.
Another side of the flat base 11 does not include any radiating fin
and is attached to a surface of a working heat source, such as a
CPU or a high-power transistor, so that heat produced by the
working heat source during its operation is transmitted to the
radiating fins 12 via the base 11 and dissipates into the ambient
environment from the radiating fins 12. If it is necessary, a
cooling fan may be further provided nearby the finned radiator 1 to
produce airflows around the radiator 1. Thereby, the working heat
source may be maintained at a proper temperature to keep stable
operation thereof.
[0003] There are two major factors that have influences on the
radiating effect of a radiating fin, namely, the coefficient of
heat conduction of the radiating fin, as well as the surface area
of the radiating fin in contact with air and the fluidity of
ambient air. Among some metal materials that could be used to
produce the radiating fins, copper has a coefficient of heat
conduction much higher than that of aluminum. However, the cost of
copper per unit weight is several times as high as that of
aluminum. In consideration of the material cost, most of the
currently available finned radiators are made of aluminum
alloys.
[0004] With the highly developed computer technologies in recent
years, people demand for further increased CPU operation speed and
even enhanced power provided by the high-power transistors. While
various working heat sources are designed to meet these demands,
they also produce very high temperature during operation. To remove
the large amount of heat produced by the working heat sources, the
radiating devices have been requested to provide upgraded radiating
effect. Therefore, it is an important issue among many radiating
fin makers to effectively increase the air-contacting area of the
radiating fins within a limited working space to enhance the
overall radiating effect without increasing the manufacturing cost
thereof.
[0005] In the conventional extruded aluminum finned radiator 1
shown in FIG. 1, the radiating fins 12 have thickness and spacing
between them that could not be largely reduced due to limitations
in molds and molding conditions for making the aluminum-extruded
finned radiator. That is, under the limitations in the molds and
manufacturing techniques for extruded aluminum products, the
thickness and the spacing of the fins 12 of the radiator 1 having
predetermined dimensions could not be ideally reduced to increase
the air-contacting areas on the radiator. As a result, the
conventional aluminum-extruded finned radiator 1 has only a limited
radiating effect that fails to satisfy the current requirements for
compact volume and high radiating efficiency of the heat-radiating
devices.
[0006] Moreover, the conventional finned radiator 1 shown in FIG. 1
can only be used with a main board of a desktop computer, and
requires additional fastening elements to mount it on the main
board corresponding to the CPU. That is, the mounting of the
conventional finned radiator 1 is very inconvenient and
troublesome. When the conventional finned radiator 1 is applied to
the notebook computer that has only limited mounting space, it must
have a largely reduced volume and which necessitates an unfavorable
increase of radiating power thereof. Moreover, the limited mounting
space in the notebook computer also requires the omission of the
above-mentioned fastening elements. Thus, in the currently employed
techniques, bonding agent is usually used to connect the radiating
means to the heat source.
[0007] It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a novel
heat radiating structure formed from quickly connectable
U-sectioned fins, the number of which may be determined depending
on actual need, so that the heat radiating structure can be formed
at reduced cost to provide largely increased air-contacting areas
and effectively upgraded radiating efficiency and effect without
being restrained by molds.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a
heat radiating structure formed from quickly connectable
U-sectioned fins, the number of which may be decided according to
actual need, to enable quick mounting of the heat radiating
structure, upgraded radiating efficiency, and reduced manufacturing
and mounting costs.
[0009] To achieve the above and other objects, the heat radiating
structure of the present invention includes at least two
sequentially connected U-sectioned fins, each of which includes a
middle portion and two vertically bent sidewall portions. The
middle portion is provided along two longitudinal edges with
insertion holes, and the sidewall portions are correspondingly
provided along outer edges with forward projected locking means. A
distance by which the locking means projects from the sidewall
portion is small or equal to a space between the insertion hole and
the locking means. The U-sectioned fins oriented in the same
direction can be quickly connected one by one to form the heat
radiating structure by inserting the locking means on a preceding
U-sectioned fin into the insertion holes on a following U-sectioned
fin. The connected U-sectioned fins are attached to a working heat
source by means of a thermal conducting agent to quickly locate the
heat radiating structure in place.
[0010] To enable quick connection of one U-sectioned fin to another
one, an outer end of the locking means is formed into two spaced
arrow-shaped barbs to define a notch between them. The notch allows
the two barbs to be elastically compressed to move toward each
other for easily passing through the insertion hole.
[0011] The U-sectioned fins may be made of a general copper
material, such as a red copper.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] 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
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional finned
radiator;
[0014] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a heat
radiating structure formed from quickly connectable U-sectioned
fins according to the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the heat radiating structure
of the present invention formed from a plurality of the U-sectioned
fins;
[0016] FIG. 4 shows a most preferred manner of using the heat
radiating structure of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 5 shows another manner of using the radiating structure
of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line A-A' of FIG. 5;
and
[0019] FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line B-B' of FIG.
5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] Please refer to FIG. 2 that is a perspective view showing
two separated U-sectioned fins 2 for forming a heat radiating
structure of the present invention. As shown, the heat radiating
structure of the present invention is formed from at least two
U-sectioned fins 2. The U-sectioned fin 2 is made of a sheet
material having good thermal conductivity, such as copper sheet,
aluminum sheet, etc., and includes a flat middle portion and two
sidewall portions 21 integrally bent along and extended from two
longitudinal edges of the middle portion at a right angle. The
middle portion of the U-sectioned fin 2 is provided near and along
the two longitudinal edges with a plurality of insertion holes 22,
and the two sidewall portions 21 are formed of a plurality of
forward projected locking means 23 at positions corresponding to
the insertion holes 22. A distance by which a front end of the
locking means 23 projects from an outer edge of the sidewall
portion 21 is small or equal to a distance between the insertion
hole 22 and a rear end of the locking means 23. The front end of
the locking means 23 is formed into two symmetrical arrow-shaped
barbs 231 spaced from each other to define a notch 232 between
them. With the notch 232, the two barbs 231 could be elastically
compressed to move toward each other.
[0021] Two pieces of the U-sectioned fins 2 oriented in the same
direction can be quickly connected to each other by inserting the
locking means 23 on the first fin 2 into the insertion holes 22 on
the second fin 2, so that the two barbs 231 of each locking means
23 of the first fin 2 firmly abut against an inner surface of the
middle portion at two ends of the insertion hole 22 of the second
fin 2. FIG. 3 shows a plurality of the U-sectioned fins 2 are
connected in the above-described manner to form a heat radiating
structure of the present invention.
[0022] Please refer to FIG. 4 that shows a preferred manner of
using the heat radiating structure of the present invention. The
heat radiating structure formed from the U-sectioned fins is
particularly designed for use in a narrow space in, for example, a
notebook computer. In this case, a predetermined number of the
U-sectioned fins 2 are sequentially connected beforehand in the
above-described manner. The heat radiating structure so formed is
then horizontally positioned on one side of a radiating plate 3
attached to a heat source (not shown) with a plane formed from the
sidewall portions 21 at one side of the sequentially connected
U-sectioned fins 2 flatly contacting with the radiating plate 3. A
layer of thermal conductive material is applied between the heat
radiating structure of the present invention and the radiating
plate 3 to bond them together. And, a cooling fan 4 is mounted on
the radiating plate 3 to face toward a plurality of parallel spaces
formed between the adjacent U-sectioned fins 2 on the heat
radiating structure. The radiating plate 3 may be fitly attached at
another side at any position thereof to a top of a central
processing unit (CPU) of the notebook computer to quickly transmit
heat produced by the CPU to the U-sectioned fins 2. The cooling fan
4 produces airflows that quickly pass through the spaces between
the U-sectioned fins 2 to carry away the heat transmitted from the
radiating plate 3 to the fins 2.
[0023] FIG. 5 shows another manner of using the heat radiating
structure of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are sectional
views respectively taken along lines A-A' and B-B' of FIG. 5.
Please refer to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 at the same time. A predetermined
number of the U-sectioned fins 2 are sequentially connected
beforehand in the previously described manner to form a heat
radiating structure of the present invention. The heat radiating
structure so formed is then vertically positioned above a working
heat source 5 with the locking means 23 of the lowest fin 2
downward extended through insertion holes 52 correspondingly
preformed on a member 51, such as a main board, to which the
working heat source 5 is attached, so that the heat radiating
structure is quickly installed on the member 51. Alternatively, the
heat radiating structure may be otherwise mounted above the working
heat source 5 by stacking the U-sectioned fins 2 one by one from
bottom to top on the member 51.
[0024] With the above-described arrangements, the heat radiating
structure formed from U-sectioned fins can be quickly and firmly
assembled and mounted in particularly a notebook computer to
radiate heat produced by the CPU to overcome the problem of
mounting space.
[0025] Moreover, the U-sectioned fin 2 can be manufactured without
being restricted by the technique of making injection-molding
molds. That is, the U-sectioned fin 2 may have a largely reduced
thickness and the space needed to mount the heat radiating
structure formed therefrom is reduced, accordingly. In other words,
the heat radiating structure of the present invention includes more
pieces of U-sectioned thin fins in one unit area to produce
increased air-contacting areas, and therefore provides largely
enhanced heat radiating effect while meets the current requirement
for minimized volume of the radiating fins.
[0026] When the present invention is employed on the main board of
a general desktop computer, threaded holes may be correspondingly
provided on the surface of a topmost or all U-sectioned fins 2 for
mounting a cooling fan thereto with screws.
[0027] The heat radiating structure formed from u-sectioned fins
according to the present invention has at least the following
advantages:
[0028] 1. All the U-sectioned fins 2 have the same simple
structure, enabling the fins 2 to be easily produced and quickly
mounted. Since the fins 2 do not require high manufacturing
accuracy, the production and installation costs thereof can be
largely reduced.
[0029] 2. The U-sectioned fins 2 have reduced thickness to enable
increased number of fins 2 in the same unit area and accordingly
largely increased air-contacting areas to provide enhanced heat
radiating effect.
[0030] 3. The U-sectioned fins 2 can be sequentially connected one
by one without using additional fastening elements to further
reduce the installation cost thereof.
* * * * *