U.S. patent application number 11/016823 was filed with the patent office on 2006-05-25 for heat-dissipating fin set in combination with thermal pipe.
Invention is credited to Jia-Hao Li.
Application Number | 20060108104 11/016823 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36459889 |
Filed Date | 2006-05-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060108104 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Li; Jia-Hao |
May 25, 2006 |
Heat-dissipating fin set in combination with thermal pipe
Abstract
A heat pipe structure, having a tubular member, a support member
and a wick structure. The tubular member is hollow to accommodate
the support member and the wick structure therein. The wick
structure is located between the tubular member and the support
member. The wick structure is supported by the support member to be
attached to an interior wall of the tubular member. The material
melting point of the wick structure is lower than those of the
tubular member and the support member. Therefore, the support
member maintains good supporting function during sintering process,
such that the wick structure can be adequately attached to interior
wall of the tubular member.
Inventors: |
Li; Jia-Hao; (Kao Hsiung
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HDSL
4331 STEVENS BATTLE LANE
FAIRFAX
VA
22033
US
|
Family ID: |
36459889 |
Appl. No.: |
11/016823 |
Filed: |
November 24, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/104.33 ;
257/E23.088; 257/E23.103 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 23/3672 20130101;
F28D 15/0275 20130101; H01L 2924/00 20130101; H01L 2924/0002
20130101; F28F 2275/025 20130101; H01L 21/4882 20130101; H01L
2924/0002 20130101; H01L 23/427 20130101; F28F 1/32 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/104.33 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/00 20060101
F28D015/00 |
Claims
1. A heat-dissipating device, comprising: a heat-dissipating fin
set including a plurality of fin plates, each of the fin plates
having at least one closed through hole and an accommodating
section atop the through hole and a heat-conducting material being
placed into the accommodating section; and a thermal pipe passing
through the through hole; a thermal conductance provided between
the through hole and the thermal pipe, wherein the heat-conducting
material is molten after heating the heat-dissipating fin set and
the molten heat-conducting material filling a gap between the
through hole and the thermal pipe.
2. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 1, wherein the
accommodating section is a downward dent formed at top face of each
fin plate and the heat-conducting material is placed in the
dent.
3. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 2, wherein the
heat-conducting material is heat-conducting glue.
4. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 1, wherein the
accommodating section is a through guiding hole formed on the fin
plate and atop the through hole, the heat-conducting material is
placed in the guiding hole.
5. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the guiding
hole is of rounded shape.
6. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the guiding
hole is of tapered shape with narrow bottom.
7. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the guiding
hole is of inverted water-drop shape.
8. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the guiding
hole is of inverted triangular shape.
9. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the
heat-conducting material is tin strip.
10. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the
heat-conducting material is tin paste.
11. The heat-dissipating device as in claim 4, wherein the
heat-conducting material is wax.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a heat-dissipating fin set
in combination with thermal pipe, more particularly to a
heat-dissipating fin set in combination with thermal pipe, wherein
a heat-conducting material is filled into a gap between a through
hole of the heat-dissipating fin set and the thermal pipe.
[0002] The conventional heat-dissipating fin set generally
comprises thermal pipe with wick structure and working fluid. The
working fluid flows through the wick structure and the thermal pipe
to have heat exchange with a heat source on the heat-dissipating
fin set, thus removing heat from the heat-dissipating fin set.
[0003] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the assembly of a
heat-dissipating fin set 10a and thermal pipes 20a. At least one
closed through hole 11a is defined in each fin plate 1a of the
heat-dissipating fin set 10a. The through hole 11a has an inner
diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the thermal
pipe 20a to receive the thermal pipe 20a therein. However, gap will
be formed between the through hole 11a and the thermal pipe 20a due
to the diameter mismatch. The through hole 11a could be formed with
a diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the thermal pipe 20a
to tightly engage with the thermal pipe 20a. However, the gap is
still inevitably formed, which causes larger thermal resistance and
poor thermal conduction efficiency.
[0004] To solve above-mentioned problem, a heat-conducting material
2a is pasted on outer face of the thermal pipe 20a before the
thermal pipe 20a is assembled into the through hole 11a of the fin
plate 1a. The heat-conducting material 2a, such as heat-conducting
glue or tin paste, will be solidified in the gap to form seamless
sealing between the through hole 11a and the thermal pipe 20a.
[0005] However, the heat-conducting material 2a may be scratched
off by the inner wall of the through hole 11a during the thermal
pipe 20a being assembled into the through hole 11a. The scratched
heat-conducting material 2a is piled, with uneven thickness, around
the through hole 11a on the outmost fin plate 1a. The problem of
gap still remains and the provision of the heat-conducting material
2a cannot solve this problem.
[0006] Furthermore, the heat-conducting material 2a suffer to the
problem of deposit and storage because it should be applied before
the assembling of the thermal pipe 20a. Moreover, the
heat-conducting material 2a may drop or scatter during paste, which
causes dirt and difficulty in processing.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention is to provide a heat-dissipating fin
set in combination with thermal pipe, wherein a heat-conducting
material is filled into a gap between a through hole of the
heat-dissipating fin set and the thermal pipe to enhance thermal
conduction therebetween.
[0008] Accordingly, the present invention provides a
heat-dissipating fin set in combination with thermal pipe, the
heat-dissipating fin set comprising a plurality of fin plates, each
of the fin plates having at least one closed through hole, each of
the thermal pipe passing through the through hole. Each of the fin
plate has an accommodating section atop the through hole and used
for accommodating a heat-conducting material. The heat-conducting
material is placed into the accommodating section. The
heat-conducting material is molten after heating the
heat-dissipating fin set and the molten heat-conducting material
fills a gap between the through hole and the thermal pipe, whereby
a thermal conductance is provided between the through hole and the
thermal pipe.
[0009] The above summaries are intended to illustrate exemplary
embodiments of the invention, which will be best understood in
conjunction with the detailed description to follow, and are not
intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The features of the invention believed to be novel are set
forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention
itself however may be best understood by reference to the following
detailed description of the invention, which describes certain
exemplary embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with
the accompanying drawings in which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the assembly of a prior
art heat-dissipating fin set and thermal pipes.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the heat-dissipating
fin set according to the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the assembling of the
thermal pipe into the heat-dissipating fin set according to the
present invention.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the applying of
heat-conducting material to the heat-dissipating fin set.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the flowing of
heat-conducting material into the through hole.
[0016] FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the heat-dissipating
fin set according to another preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0017] FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the tin strip passing the
guiding hole according to another preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
[0018] FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing the molten tin strip
according to another preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0019] FIG. 9 is a front view of the fin plate according to another
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] The present invention is intended to provide a
heat-dissipating fin set in combination with thermal pipe. With
reference now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the heat-dissipating fin set 10 in
combination with the thermal pipe 20 are assembled on a
heat-generating electronic device such as a CPU, thus dissipating
the, heat generated by the device. The heat-dissipating fin set 10
comprises a plurality of sheet-shaped fin plates 1. Each of the fin
plates 1 has at least one closed through hole 11 at predetermined
location. In the shown embodiment, there are two through holes 11.
As shown in FIG. 4, two thermal pipes 20 are assembled to
corresponding through holes 11.
[0021] The present invention is characterized in that an
accommodating section 12 is formed on the fin plate 1 and atop the
through hole 11 and used to accommodate the heat-conducting
material 2. In the shown embodiment, the accommodating section 12
is a dent 121 at top of the fin plate 1 and is concave
downward.
[0022] With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, in the present invention,
the heat-conducting material 2 is extruded to the dent 121 after
the thermal pipe 20 is assembled to the heat-dissipating fin set
10. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
heat-conducting material 2 is sticky heat-conducting glue and can
be applied to the dent 121 by automatic gluing process. With
reference to FIG. 5, the heat-conducting material 2 is molten by
heating the whole heat-dissipating fin set 10, after the
heat-conducting material 2 is applied to the dent 121. The molten
heat-conducting material 2 flows downward along the lateral side of
the plate-shaped fin plates 1 due to the weight per se. The molten
heat-conducting material 2 will fill the gap between the thermal
pipe 20 and the through hole 11 in case that the inner diameter of
the through hole 11 is larger than the outer diameter of the
thermal pipe 20. The thermal pipe 20 and the through hole 11 have
tight sealing therebetween after the molten heat-conducting
material 2 is solidified. Therefore, there is excellent thermal
conduction between the thermal pipe 20 and the through hole 11.
[0023] FIGS. 6 and 7 show another preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
[0024] The accommodating section 12 is implemented by a through
guiding hole 122 atop the through hole 11. The through guiding hole
122 can be of rounded shape as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Moreover,
the through guiding hole 122 can be of inverted water-drop shape as
shown in FIG. 9, or inverted triangular shape with narrow bottom or
tapered shape with narrow bottom. The through guiding hole 122 can
facilitate the flowing of the molten heat-conducting material 2'
into the through hole 11. The heat-conducting material 2' in solid
status can fill into the through guiding hole 122 after the
heat-dissipating fin set 10 is assembled. The heat-conducting
material 2' can be tin strip, tin paste or wax. As shown in FIG. 8,
the heat-conducting material 2' in solid status becomes molten
heat-conducting material 2' after heating. The molten
heat-conducting material 2 flows downward along the lateral side of
the plate-shaped fin plates 1. The molten heat-conducting material
2' will fill the gap between the thermal pipe 20 and the through
hole 11. Therefore, there is excellent thermal conduction between
the thermal pipe 20 and the through hole 11.
[0025] As can be seen in above description, the provision of the
accommodating section 12 facilitates the molten heat-conducting
material 2, 2' flowing downward along the lateral side of the
plate-shaped fin plates 1 and filling the gap between the thermal
pipe 20 and the through hole 11. Therefore, there is excellent
thermal conduction between the thermal pipe 20 and the through hole
11.
[0026] Moreover, the through hole is a closed hole to provide
mechanical robustness. The thermal pipe can be tightly engaged and
secured. The heat-conducting material can be applied from top side
of the fin plate to simplify process.
[0027] Although the present invention has been described with
reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be
understood that the invention is not limited to the details
thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have suggested in
the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of
ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and
modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.
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