U.S. patent application number 12/554865 was filed with the patent office on 2011-03-10 for heat pipe assembly and heat dissipation device having the same.
Invention is credited to Chih-Hung Cheng, Ken Hsu, Chen-Hsiang Lin, Kuo-Len LIN.
Application Number | 20110056658 12/554865 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43646770 |
Filed Date | 2011-03-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110056658 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LIN; Kuo-Len ; et
al. |
March 10, 2011 |
HEAT PIPE ASSEMBLY AND HEAT DISSIPATION DEVICE HAVING THE SAME
Abstract
A heat pipe assembly includes a number of heat pipes and a
fixing seat. Each of the heat pipes includes an evaporating section
and at least a condensing section. A bottom of the evaporating
section of each of the heat pipes is flat and has a flat heat
absorbing surface. The evaporating sections of each of the heat
pipes are parallel to and adjoin with each other, whereby the flat
heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating sections of the heat
pipes being coplanar and adjoining with each other. A top surface
of the evaporating section of each of the heat pipes has a top
edge. The fixing seat has an integral structure and combines with
the top edge of the evaporating section of each of the heat pipes,
whereby the heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating sections of
the heat pipes are coplanar and adjoin with each other.
Inventors: |
LIN; Kuo-Len; (Wugu
Township, TW) ; Lin; Chen-Hsiang; (Wugu Township,
TW) ; Hsu; Ken; (Wugu Township, TW) ; Cheng;
Chih-Hung; (Wugu Township, TW) |
Family ID: |
43646770 |
Appl. No.: |
12/554865 |
Filed: |
September 4, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/104.26 ;
165/185 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28D 15/0275 20130101;
H01L 23/467 20130101; H01L 2924/0002 20130101; H01L 23/3672
20130101; H01L 23/427 20130101; H01L 2924/0002 20130101; H01L
2924/00 20130101; F28F 1/32 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/104.26 ;
165/185 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/04 20060101
F28D015/04; F28F 7/00 20060101 F28F007/00 |
Claims
1. A heat pipe assembly, comprising: a plurality of heat pipes,
each having an evaporating section and a condensing section, a
bottom of the evaporating section of each of the heat pipes being
flat and having a flat heat absorbing surface, evaporating sections
of the heat pipes being parallel to and adjoining with each other,
whereby the flat heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating
sections of the heat pipes being coplanar and adjoining with each
other, a top surface of the evaporating section of each of the heat
pipes having a top edge; and a fixing seat having an integral
structure and combing with the top edge of the evaporating section
of each of the heat pipes, whereby the heat absorbing surfaces of
the evaporating sections of the heat pipes are coplanar and adjoin
with each other.
2. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of
the heat pipes has a U-shaped configuration, a bottom portion of
the U-shaped configuration is the evaporating section, and two
lateral portions of the U-shaped configuration are condensing
sections.
3. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of
the heat pipes further comprises a curved section connected between
the evaporating section and the condensing section thereof.
4. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the curved
sections of the heat pipes are radially arranged and angled with
each other, whereby the condensing sections of the heat pipes are
spaced from each other.
5. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the fixing
seat further comprises a reinforcement portion enclosing the curved
section of each of the heat pipes.
6. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
evaporating section of each of the heat pipes has two vertical
lateral walls to enable the vertical lateral walls of the heat
pipes tightly joint each other.
7. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 6, wherein the fixing
seat further comprises an enclosing portion enclosing the lateral
walls of the two outermost heat pipes.
8. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein the
enclosing portion of the fixing seat has a bottom edge coplanar
with the heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating sections of the
heat pipes.
9. A heat dissipation device, comprising: a plurality of heat
pipes, each having an evaporating section and a condensing section,
a bottom of the evaporating section of each of the heat pipes being
flat and having a flat heat absorbing surface, evaporating sections
of the heat pipes being parallel to and adjoining with each other,
whereby the flat heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating
sections of the heat pipes being coplanar and adjoining with each
other, a top surface of the evaporating section of each of the heat
pipes having a top edge; a plurality of heat conducting fins
disposed on the condensing sections of the heat pipes; and a fixing
seat having an integral structure and combing with the top edge of
the evaporating section of each of the heat pipes, whereby the heat
absorbing surfaces of the evaporating sections of the heat pipes
are coplanar and adjoin with each other.
10. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each
of the heat pipes has a U-shaped configuration, a bottom portion of
the U-shaped configuration is the evaporating section, and two
lateral portions of the U-shaped configuration are condensing
sections.
11. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each
of the heat pipes further comprises a curved section connected
between the evaporating section and the condensing section
thereof.
12. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the
curved sections of the heat pipes are radially arranged and angled
with each other, whereby the condensing sections of the heat pipes
are spaced from each other.
13. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the
fixing seat further comprises a reinforcement portion enclosing the
curved section of each of the heat pipes.
14. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the
evaporating section of each of the heat pipes has two vertical
lateral walls to enable the vertical lateral walls of the heat
pipes tightly joint with each other.
15. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the
fixing seat further comprises an enclosing portion enclosing the
lateral walls of the two outermost heat pipes.
16. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the
enclosing portion of the fixing seat has a bottom edge coplanar
with the heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating sections of the
heat pipes.
17. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each
of the heat conducting fins defines a through hole to allow the
condensing section of each of the heat pipes pass therethrough.
18. The heat dissipation device as claimed in claim 17, wherein an
annular flange extends upwardly from a circumference edge defining
the through hole of each of the heat conducting fins.
19. A heat pipe assembly, comprising: a plurality of U-shaped heat
pipes, each having an evaporating section, two condensing sections
extending upwardly from two ends of the evaporating section and two
curved connection sections connected between each of the condensing
sections and one end of the evaporating section, the evaporating
sections being parallel to and adjoining with each other, bottom
surfaces of the evaporating sections of the heat pipes being
coplanar and adjoining with each other, a top surface of the
evaporating section of each of the heat pipes having a top edge;
and a fixing seat comprising a base and two enclosing portions
extending outwardly from two opposite ends of the base, the base
having a bottom surface combing with the top edge of the
evaporating section of each of the heat pipes, each of the two
enclosing portions enclosing the curved connections of the heat
pipes located at a corresponding side of the base of the fixing
seat.
20. The heat pipe assembly as claimed in claim 19, wherein the
fixing seat further comprises an enclosing portion enclosing the
lateral walls of the outermost two of the heat pipes.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The present invention relates to heat dissipation devices,
and particularly to a heat pipe assembly including a number of heat
pipes and a fixing structure which enables evaporating sections of
the heat pipes being parallel to and adjoining with each other, and
a heat dissipation device including such a heat pipe assembly.
[0002] With the development of computer technologies, electronic
elements run at high speed and therefore generate large amounts of
heat. In order to keep the electronic elements operating at a
normal temperature, the heat must be quickly and efficiently
removed from the electronic elements by a heat dissipation device.
Conventionally, the heat dissipation device includes a heat pipe
which uses a gas-liquid phase transition technology to dissipate
the heat generated by the electronic elements.
[0003] However, in order to increase the heat dissipation
efficiency of the heat dissipation device, a number of heat pipes
are included in the heat dissipation device. Currently, the heat
pipes are secured to a base seat or a heat conducting seat of the
heat dissipation device by welding method. Also, evaporation
sections of the heat pipes may be embedded in the grooves defined
on the base seat or the heat conducting seat of the heat
dissipation device and secured to the base seat or the heat
conducting seat. However, the welding process is not easy to
perform and the welded heat dissipation device has an unattractive
appearance. When the evaporation sections of the heat pipes are
embedded in the groves of the base seat or a heat conducting seat,
the evaporation sections must be spaced from each other and can not
be tightly adjoin with each other, whereby the evaporating sections
can not be gathered to thermally contact with a surface of a heat
generating electronic element. As a result, outermost two of the
heat pipes can not be sufficiently used, thereby the heat
dissipation device having low heat dissipation efficiency.
[0004] Therefore, what is needed is a heat pipe assembly and a heat
dissipation device including such a heat pipe assembly, thereby
overcoming the above-described problems.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0005] The present invention provides a heat pipe assembly and a
heat dissipation device including the heat pipe assembly. The heat
pipe assembly includes a number of evaporation sections and a
molded fixing seat. By the fixing structure, the evaporating
sections of the heat pipe assembly are parallel to and adjoin with
each other, whereby heat absorb surfaces of the evaporating
sections are coplanar and adjoin with each other to thereby form a
large-area heat absorbing surface to thermally contact with a heat
generating electronic element.
[0006] The heat pipe assembly includes a number of heat pipes and a
fixing seat engaging with evaporating sections of the heat pipes.
Each of the heat pipes includes an evaporating section and at least
a condensing section. A bottom of the evaporation section of each
of the heat pipes is flat and has a flat heat absorbing surface.
The evaporating sections of the heat pipes are parallel to and
adjoin with each other, whereby the heat absorbing surfaces thereof
are coplanar and adjoin with each other. A top surface of the
evaporating section of each of the heat pipes has a top edge. The
fixing seat has an integral structure and combines with the top
edges of the evaporating sections of the heat pipes, thereby
facilitating the heat absorbing surfaces of the evaporating
sections of the heat pipes being coplanar and adjoining with each
other.
[0007] A heat dissipation device including above-described heat
pipe assembly is provided. The heat dissipation device further
comprises a number of heat conducting fins disposed on the
condensing sections of the heat pipes.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] These and other features and advantages of the various
embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect
to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers
refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a schematic, isometric view of a heat pipe
assembly, according to a first embodiment of the present
disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 2 is a schematic, isometric view of the heat pipe
assembly from a visual angle different from FIG. 1.
[0011] FIG. 3 is a partially, cross-sectional view of FIG. 1.
[0012] FIG. 4 is a partially, cross-sectional view of FIG. 2.
[0013] FIG. 5 is a partially, cross-sectional view of a heat pipe
assembly, according to a second embodiment of the present
disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a partially, exploded view of a heat dissipation
device of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic, isometric views of a heat pipe
assembly of the present invention in different visual angles. The
heat pipe assembly includes a number of heat pipes 1 and a fixing
seat 2.
[0016] Each of the heat pipes 1 is heat conducting element and
includes a vacuous tubular body, a capillary structure disposed
inside the tubular body and a working fluid contained in the
tubular body and soaking the capillary structure. The tubular body
of each of the heat pipes 1 is an integral structure and has a
certain length. The heat pipes 1 each include an evaporating
section 10 and at least a condensing section 11 connected with the
evaporating section 10. In the present embodiment, each of the heat
pipes 1 has a U-shaped configuration, a bottom portion of the
U-shaped configuration is the evaporating section 10, and two
lateral portions of the U-shaped configuration are two condensing
sections 11. A curved section 12 is connected between the
evaporation section 10 and each condensing section 11. Thus, the
evaporation section 10, two condensing sections 11 and two curved
sections 12 cooperatively form each of the heat pipes 1. In
addition, a bottom of the evaporation section 10 of each of the
heat pipes 1 is flat and has a flat heat absorbing surface 100.
Evaporating sections 10 of the heat pipes 1 are parallel to and
adjoin with each other, whereby the heat absorb surfaces 100 of the
evaporating sections 10 are coplanar and adjoin with each other to
thereby form a large-area heat absorbing surface.
[0017] The fixing seat 2 has an integral configuration and is made
of plastic materials, such as, PC, PP, PE, PU or the like. The
fixing seat 2 is made by integral molding process, e.g., injection
molding, gel-casting molding, perfusion molding, die casting,
dipping and so on. The fixing seat 2 engages with the evaporating
sections 10 of the heat pipes 1. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the
fixing seat 3 has a base 20, a top surface the evaporation section
10 of each of the heat pipes 1 has a top edge 101. The base 20 has
a bottom surface combining with the top edge 101 of the top surface
of the evaporation section 10 of each of the heat pipes 1, whereby
the evaporation sections 10 of the heat pipes 1 can be secured to
enable the heat absorbing surfaces 100 of the evaporation sections
10 of the heat pipes 1 being parallel to and adjoining with each
other. As a result, the heat absorbing surfaces 100 are coplanar
and adjoin with each other to form a large-area surface, thereby
facilitating thermally contacting with heat-generating sources (not
shown). In addition, in order to increase a contact area between
the fixing seat 2 and the heat pipes 1, the fixing seat 2 further
includes two reinforcement portions 21 respectively extending
outwardly from two lateral ends of the base 20. The reinforcement
portion 21 located at right side of the base 20 of the fixing seat
2 encloses all of the curved sections 12 of the heat pipes 1
located at right side of the base 20 of the fixing seat 2; the
reinforcement portion 21 located at left side of the base 20 of the
fixing seat 2 encloses all of the curved sections 12 of the heat
pipes 1 located at left side of the base 20 of the fixing seat 2;
thereby enhancing a bonding strength between the fixing seat 2 and
the heat pipes 1.
[0018] In order to ensure the evaporation sections 10 of the heat
pipes 1 being parallel to and adjoining with each other, a cross
section of each of the evaporation sections 10 is square or
rectangular, as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, each of the evaporation
sections 10 has two vertical lateral walls 102, and the lateral
walls 102 of adjacent evaporation sections 10 tightly joint with
each other. As a result, the evaporation sections 10 of the heat
pipes 1 can be gathered together to facilitate the evaporation
sections 10 of the heat pipes 1 exchanging heat, whereby the heat
pipes 1 can be evenly heated. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the
curved sections 12 of the heat pipes 1 are radially arranged
relative to an assembly of the evaporation sections 10 of the heat
pipes, that is, adjacent curved sections 12 are angled with each
other, whereby the condensing sections 11 of the heat pipes 1 are
spaced from each other. In the illustrated embodiment, the
condensing sections 11 of the heat pipes 1 are vertical to the
evaporating sections 10 of the heat pipes 1.
[0019] Referring to FIG. 5, the fixing seat 2 includes two
enclosing portions 200 extending downwardly from the base 20 to
respectively enclose the lateral walls 102 of the two outermost
heat pipes 1, thereby enhancing the bonding strength among the
evaporating sections 10 of the heat pipes 1. The enclosing portions
200 each include a bottom edge 201 not protrude downwardly relative
to the heat absorbing surfaces 100. In the present embodiment, the
bottom edges 201 of the enclosing portions 200 are coplanar with
the heat absorbing surfaces 100.
[0020] Referring to FIG. 6, a heat sink having the above-described
heat pipe assembly of FIG. 1 is illustrated. The heat sink includes
a number of heat conducting fins 3. The heat conducting fins 3 are
parallel to and equidistantly spaced from each other. Two lateral
portions of each of the heat conducting fins 3 defines a number of
through holes 30 to allow the condensing sections 11 of the heat
pipes 1 passing therethrough. An annular protruded flange 31
extends upwardly from an circumference edge defining each of the
through holes 30 to enable adjacent heat conducting fins 3 spaces a
certain distance. Thus, the heat conducting fins 3 define a number
of airflow passages to increase heat dissipation efficiency. In
assembly, the condensing sections 11 of the heat pipes 1
respectively extend the through holes 30 of the heat conducting
fins 3 to enable an assembly of the heat conducting fins 3 locating
over the evaporation sections 10 of the heat pipes 1.
[0021] Therefore, the heat pipes 1 and the fixing seat 2
cooperatively constitute the heat pipe assembly; the heat pipe
assembly and the heat conducting fins 3 are construct the heat
sink.
[0022] The above description is given by way of example, and not
limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art
could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the
invention disclosed herein, including configurations ways of the
recessed portions and materials and/or designs of the attaching
structures. Further, the various features of the embodiments
disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with
each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific
combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not
to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.
* * * * *