U.S. patent application number 14/925667 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-04 for vapor chamber and upper housing thereof.
The applicant listed for this patent is TAIWAN MICROLOOPS CORP.. Invention is credited to Chun-Hung LIN.
Application Number | 20170122671 14/925667 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58638289 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170122671 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LIN; Chun-Hung |
May 4, 2017 |
VAPOR CHAMBER AND UPPER HOUSING THEREOF
Abstract
In a vapor chamber and an upper housing, the vapor chamber
includes a lower housing, an upper housing and a working fluid. The
upper housing is sealed with the lower housing correspondingly. A
chamber is formed to circumference between the upper housing and
the lower housing. The upper housing includes a substrate and a
plurality of heat dissipating fins. The substrate includes an outer
surface and an inner wall formed on a rear side of the outer
surface. Each one of the heat dissipating fins extends from the
outer surface and is integrally formed thereon, and the inner wall
includes a fluid retaining structure formed thereon. The working
fluid is filled into the chamber. Therefore, all water molecules
condensed can be uniformly dropped onto the heated portion of the
lower housing.
Inventors: |
LIN; Chun-Hung; (New Taipei
City, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
TAIWAN MICROLOOPS CORP. |
New Taipei City |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
58638289 |
Appl. No.: |
14/925667 |
Filed: |
October 28, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28F 3/048 20130101;
F28D 15/0233 20130101; F28D 15/046 20130101 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/02 20060101
F28D015/02; F28D 15/04 20060101 F28D015/04 |
Claims
1. A vapor chamber, comprising: a lower housing; an upper housing,
correspondingly sealed onto the lower housing, having a chamber
formed to circumference between the upper housing and the lower
housing, the upper housing comprising a substrate and a plurality
of heat dissipating fins, the substrate having an outer surface and
an inner wall formed on a rear side of the outer surface, each one
of the heat dissipating fins being extended from the outer housing
and integrally formed thereon, the inner wall having a fluid
retaining structure formed thereon; and a working fluid filled into
the chamber.
2. The vapor chamber according to claim 1, wherein the fluid
retaining structure is a rough surface constructed by a plurality
of protruding and indented points.
3. The vapor chamber according to claim 2, wherein a surface
roughness value of the rough surface is between
Ra0.01.about.10(mm).
4. The vapor chamber according to claim 3, wherein the surface
roughness value is between Ra0.05.about.3(mm).
5. The vapor chamber according to claim 2, wherein the fluid
retaining structure is formed by mechanical machining process or
chemical etching process.
6. The vapor chamber according to claim 5, wherein the mechanical
machining process is a sand blasting process or a knurling
process.
7. The vapor chamber according to claim 1, wherein each one of the
heat dissipating fins is formed to space apart from one another by
an extrusion process or a cutting process.
8. The vapor chamber according to claim 1, further comprising a
capillary structure, and the capillary structure being disposed at
an internal of the lower housing.
9. The vapor chamber according to claim 8, wherein the capillary
structure is a metal mesh, a porous metal powder sintering article
or a fiber bundle.
10. An upper structure of a vapor chamber, comprising a substrate
and a plurality of heat dissipating fins, the substrate having an
outer surface and an inner surface formed on a rear side of the
outer surface, each one of the heat dissipating fins being extended
from the outer surface and integrally formed thereon, the inner
wall having a fluid retaining structure formed thereon.
11. The vapor chamber according to claim 10, wherein the fluid
retaining structure is a rough surface constructed by a plurality
of protruding and indented points.
12. The vapor chamber according to claim 11, wherein a surface
roughness value of the rough surface is between
Ra0.01.about.10(mm).
13. The vapor chamber according to claim 12, wherein the surface
roughness value is between Ra0.05.about.3(mm).
14. The vapor chamber according to claim 11, wherein the fluid
retaining structure is formed by mechanical machining process or
chemical etching process.
15. The vapor chamber according to claim 14, wherein the mechanical
machining process is a sand blasting process or a knurling
process.
16. The vapor chamber according to claim 10, wherein each one of
the heat dissipating fins is formed to space apart from one another
by an extrusion process or a cutting process.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention is related to a vapor chamber, in
particular, to a vapor chamber and an upper housing thereof for an
electronic heat generation component.
[0003] Description of Related Art
[0004] As the computing speed of electronic component continues to
increase, the thermal energy generated thereby also increases
extensively. To effectively solve the problem of generating such a
large amount of heat, vapor chambers of excellent heat conductivity
has been widely used in the industry. However, there are still lots
of rooms for the improvements on the thermal conduction
performance, manufacturing costs and feasibility of the
manufacturing associated such known vapor chambers.
[0005] For a known vapor chamber, it mainly comprises an upper
housing and a lower housing, and a capillary structure is installed
in the internal spaces of the upper housing and lower housing
respectively, following which the upper housing and the lower
housing are then soldered onto each other correspondingly. Then, a
working fluid is filled into the internal of the upper housing and
the lower housing. Finally, the air is extracted from the vapor
chamber and openings are then sealed such that the manufacturing
process is complete.
[0006] Nevertheless, despite the fact that for such known vapor
chamber is of the thermal conduction performance, the following
problems are found to exist in the actual uses thereof In addition
to the application in the processors of computer mainframes and
notebook computers for thermal conduction, vapor chambers are also
being gradually applied to electronic products of portable tablet
computers and smartphones. Since such portable electronic products
are not placed in a flat manner during the operation thereof and,
for most of the time, they are used in tilted manners during the
operations in addition to the operations in the vertical direction,
the working fluid inside the vapor chamber then has the problem of
being uniformly dropped onto the heated portion of the lower
housing, which causes the thermal conduction to significantly
reduce in performance. As a result, there is a need for an
improvement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] An objective of the present invention is to provide a vapor
chamber and an upper housing thereof, which utilizes the
configuration of each fluid retaining structure to allow each water
molecule condensed to be uniformly dropped onto the lower
housing.
[0008] To achieve the aforementioned objective, the present
invention provides a vapor chamber, comprising a lower housing, an
upper housing and a working fluid. The upper housing is
correspondingly sealed onto the lower housing and includes a
chamber formed to circumference between the upper housing and the
lower housing. The upper housing comprises a substrate and a
plurality of heat dissipating fins. The substrate includes an outer
surface and an inner wall formed on a rear side of the outer
surface. Each one of the heat dissipating fins is extended from the
outer housing and integrally formed thereon. The inner wall
includes a fluid retaining structure formed thereon. The working
fluid is filled into the chamber.
[0009] To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the present
invention provides an upper structure of a vapor chamber,
comprising a substrate and a plurality of heat dissipating fins.
The substrate includes an outer surface and an inner surface formed
on a rear side of the outer surface. Each one of the heat
dissipating fins is extended from the outer surface and integrally
formed thereon. The inner wall includes a fluid retaining structure
formed thereon.
[0010] The present invention is also of the following technical
effects. Since the fluid retaining structure is able to destroy the
cohesive force of the water molecules, each water molecule
condensed to attach onto the fluid retaining structure would not
create an aggregated flow; as a result, each water molecule is
allowed to uniformly drop onto the heated portion of the lower
housing entirely.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective assembly view of the upper housing
of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the upper housing of the
present invention;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective exploded view of the vapor chamber
of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 4 is an illustration showing the assembly of the vapor
chamber of the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the assembly of the
vapor chamber of the present invention; and
[0016] FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged cross sectional view showing
a state of use of the vapor chamber of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The following provides a detailed description on the
embodiments and technical content related to the present invention
along with the accompanied drawings. However, it shall be
understood that the accompanied drawings are provided for
illustration purposes only and shall not be treated as limitations
of the present invention.
[0018] Please refer to FIG. 5. The present invention provides a
vapor chamber and an upper housing thereof, wherein the vapor
chamber mainly comprises a lower housing 10, an upper housing 20
and a working fluid 30.
[0019] As shown in FIG.1 and FIG. 2, the upper housing 20 can be
made of a copper, an aluminum or an alloy thereof, which mainly
comprises a rectangular substrate 21 and a plurality of heat
dissipating fins 22. The substrate 21 includes an outer surface 211
and an inner wall 212 formed on a rear side of the outer surface
211. Each one of the heat dissipating funs 22 extends from the
outer surface 211 and is integrally formed thereon. Each one of the
heat dissipating fins 22 can be formed to space apart from each
other by a machining process of an extrusion process or a cutting
process.
[0020] The inner wall 212 can be formed to include a fluid
retaining structure 213 disposed entirely thereon by a machining
process, wherein the machining process can be a sand blasting
process or a knurling process. In addition the fluid retaining
structure 213 is a rough surface formed by a plurality of
protruding and indented points, and its surface roughness value is
between Ra0.01.about.10(mm), wherein the surface roughness value is
preferably to be Ra0.05.about.3(mm). When the surface roughness
value is smaller than Ra0.01(mm), it is unable to effectively
prevent the flowing and aggregation of the internal working fluid
30 after condensation. Furthermore, when the surface roughness
value is greater than Ra10(mm), the overall height is too high such
that it cannot satisfy the requirement to be used in an electronic
component. Moreover, the machining process of the inner wall 212
can be achieved by a chemical etching process. Additionally, the
upper housing 20 further comprises an upper surrounding plate 23
extended from a perimeter of the substrate 21 to bend downward and
an attachment plate 24 extended from a perimeter the upper
surrounding plate 23 to bend laterally.
[0021] As shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5, the lower housing 10 can also
be made of a copper, an aluminum or an alloy thereof, which
includes a rectangular base plate 11, a lower surrounding plate 12
extended from a perimeter of the base plate 11 to bend upward and
an engagement plate 13 extended from a perimeter of the lower
surrounding plate 12 to bend laterally. During the assembly, the
upper housing 20 is covered onto the lower housing 10
correspondingly such that the attachment plate 24 and the
engagement plate 13 are stacked onto each other as well as soldered
and sealed onto each other by a soldering process. Therefore, a
chamber A is formed to circumference between the upper housing 20
and the lower housing 10. Following the above, an air and liquid
transportation pipe (not shown in the drawings) is used to fill a
working fluid 30 into the chamber A, and the machining steps of air
extraction and sealing are then performed in order to complete the
manufacturing of a vapor chamber.
[0022] Furthermore, the vapor chamber of the present invention
further comprises a capillary structure 40, which can be a metal
mesh, a porous metal power sintering article or a fiber bundle. The
capillary structure 40 is disposed on top of the base plate 11 of
the lower housing 10.
[0023] As shown in FIG. 6, during the use of the present invention,
the base plate 11 of the lower housing 10 is used as the heated
portion, and the base plate 11 is directly in thermal contact with
an electronic heat generation source (not shown in the drawings)
which generates heat during the computation, and such heat is
transferred to the base plate 11 and the working fluid 30 in liquid
phase. Once the working fluid 30 in liquid phase is heated, the
working fluid 30 is transformed into a vapor phase due to
vaporization. When the aforementioned working fluid 30 in vapor
phase flows toward the direction of the inner wall 212 of the
substrate 21, since the substrate 21 uses the heat dissipation
effect of each one of the heat dissipating fins 22, it is able to
attach onto the fluid retaining structure 213 such that after the
aforementioned working fluid 30 in vapor phase contacts with each
one of the fluid retaining structure 213, it is distributed and
condensed into a plurality of water molecules. In addition, since
the fluid retaining structure 213 is able to destroy the cohesive
force of the water molecules, water molecules attached on the fluid
retaining structure 213 would not generate an aggregated flow;
therefore, all of the water molecules can be uniformly and entirely
dropped onto the heated portion (i.e. the base plate 11) of the
lower housing.
[0024] In view of the above, the vapor chamber and the upper
housing thereof of the present invention are able to achieve the
expected objective of use while overcoming the drawbacks of the
prior arts, which is of novelty and inventive step as well as
complies with the requirement for the application of an invention
patent. The present invention is, therefore, legitimately applied
and seeks for the grant of the patent right for protection of the
invention and the right of the inventor.
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