HEAT SINK
Disclosed is a heat sink in cooperation with a fan. The heat sink includes a connecting piece and plural air guide fins disposed on the connecting piece at intervals and each having a guiding face thereon. The guiding face functions to direct the airflow generated by the fan from a first axial direction to a second axial direction, thereby improving greatly the heat dissipation efficiency.
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This application claims the benefit of the filing date of Taiwan Patent Application No. TW 100131835, entitled “Heat Sink” and filed on Sep. 2, 2011, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat sink, especially to a heat sink with a guiding face.
2. Description of Related Art
Most of the electronic devices such as central processing units (CPU), graphic processing units (GPU) and memory devices generate heat during data processing. If an electronic device in operation can't effectively dissipate the heat, the accumulated heat will adversely affect the electronic device itself and the operation speed. Moreover, when the temperature of the electronic device increases to a certain level, the operation thereof becomes unstable, or even the electronic device breaks down. Therefore, for an electronic device usually producing a lot of heat, the heat-dissipation efficiency thereof is particularly an important issue.
A heat dissipation module is generally used as a cooling means for removing the accumulated heat of an electronic device. The heat dissipation module includes a heat sink and a fan in cooperation therewith. The heat sink includes a heat dissipation base and a plurality of heat dissipation fins disposed on the heat dissipation base at intervals. Since the surface of the electronic device is designed to be in contact with the heat dissipation base, the heat is transferred from the electronic device to the heat dissipation fins by means of the heat dissipation base. During this process, the fan generates an airflow along the direction perpendicular to the heat dissipation base and the airflow is circulated between the plurality of heat dissipation fins and will touch the surface of the heat dissipation base, thereby removing the heat from the heat dissipation base and the heat dissipation fins. However, in such configuration, the airflow will first bump into the heat dissipation base along the direction perpendicular thereto and then reflect as a counter airflow having a reverse moving direction. This results in a turbulent flow between the heat dissipation fins, increased air resistance, and decreased heat dissipation efficiency.
Hence, there is a need to solve the unsatisfactory heat dissipation effect caused by the counter airflow having the reverse moving direction counteracting the original airflow generated by the fan as mentioned above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the above, the present invention provides a heat sink that can solve the problem of insufficient heat dissipation of the heat sink mainly caused by the counter airflow.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a heat sink in cooperation with a fan generating an airflow along a first axial direction is disclosed. The heat sink includes a connecting piece and a plurality of air guide fins disposed on the connecting piece at intervals. Each of the air guide fins has an oblique guiding face that confronts the airflow in the first axial direction and directs the airflow to a second axial direction.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a heat sink in cooperation with a fan generating an airflow along a first axial direction is also disclosed. The heat sink includes a connecting piece, a plurality of heat dissipation fins and a plurality of air guide fins. The plurality of heat dissipation fins are disposed on a surface of the connecting piece at intervals. Each of the air guide fins is disposed between two adjacent heat dissipation fins and has an oblique guiding face that confronts the airflow in the first axial direction and then direct the airflow to a second axial direction.
The advantage of the present invention is that through the guiding faces of the air guide fins directing the airflow from the fan, the direction of the airflow can be directed from the first axial direction to the second axial direction. In this way, the airflow is prevented from bumping into the connecting piece of the heat sink or the electronic device located under the heat sink, and a sufficient wind pressure can be retained. Meanwhile, the airflow along the second axial direction further helps to push the airflow flowing between the plurality of the air guide fins and circulate the air around the heat sink, so the airflow generated by the fan can be fully utilized to achieve a good heat dissipation effect.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments that are illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
As shown in
Referring to
Besides, after contacting with and bumping into the guiding face 121 of the air guide fins 120 along the first axial direction A1, the airflow is directed by the guiding face 121 to move from the first axial direction A1 to a second axial direction A2 which is perpendicular or inclined to the first axial direction A1. For instance, the airflow may be made to flow along the direction parallel to the surface of the circuit board 300, so that heat generated by other electronic components 320 such as capacitors and resistors on the surface of the circuit board 300 can be dispersed at the same time. Although when the airflow flows along the first axial direction A1, part of the airflow bumps into the surface of the connecting piece 110 exposed amid the plurality of air guide fins 120 and then reflects, the reflected airflow will be affected by the airflow flowing along the second axial direction A2. Therefore, the turbulent flow caused by the onward and backward airflows may be reduced. In a preferred embodiment, the first axial direction A1 is substantially perpendicular to the second axial direction A2. In this way, when the airflow flows in the first axial direction A1, the wind resistance caused by the mutual interference between the airflow flowing towards the connecting piece 110 and flowing towards the fan 200 is reduced, so the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat sink 100 is improved.
Furthermore, although two guiding faces 121 are used for exemplary illustration for each of the air guide fins 120 in the first embodiment of the present invention, while in another embodiment of this invention, a single guiding face 121 is disposed for each of the air guide fins 120 at the same side as shown in
As shown in
In practice, the heat sink 100 is disposed on a circuit board 300 together with a fan 200. The connecting piece 110 of the heat sink 100 attached to a main electronic component 310 on the circuit board 300 and the plurality of air guide fins 120 are located between the circuit board 300 and the fan 200. A plurality of heat dissipation fins 130 are arranged on the circuit board 300 at intervals to form an airflow channel 131 between two adjacent heat dissipation fins 130. The plurality of the heat dissipation fins 130 can be placed on one side or two opposite sides of the plurality of air guide fins 120 respectively (as shown in
Hence, when the fan 200 produces an airflow towards the air guide fins 120 along a first axial direction A1 parallel to the axle of the fan 200, air between the plurality of air guide fins 120 is subject to disturbance and heat exchange of the air with the surrounding occurs. The heat from the main electronic component 310 on the circuit board 300 is dispersed to the outside and the temperature of the main electronic component 310 is decreased. In more detail, the airflow is directed by the guiding face 121 of the air guide fin 120 from the first axial direction A1 to a second axial direction A2 parallel to the surface of the circuit board 300 and further into the airflow channel 131 of the heat dissipation fin 130. Afterwards, and the airflow flows over the surface of the circuit board 300 along the airflow channel 131 that functions to collect and guide the airflow.
Therefore, in the heat sink 100 of the second embodiment of the present invention, on one hand, the wind resistance caused by the airflow above the surface of the connecting piece 110 of the heat sink 100 or the surface of the circuit board 300 can be directed from the first axial direction A1 to the second axial direction A2 by the guiding faces 121 of the air guide fins 120; on the other hand, the heat exchange effect of the airflow moving above the surface of the circuit board 300 is improved. In addition, the airflow will blow over other electronic components 320 on the circuit board 300 intensively, which increases the range of the heat dissipation for the circuit board 300.
As shown in
The heat dissipation fins 130 are “sandwiched” between the plurality of air guide fins 120 respectively and similarly arranged on the surface of the connecting piece 110. More specifically, the plurality of heat dissipation fins 130 are located between the plurality of the air guide fins 120 along a first axial direction A1 from the end of the air guide fins 120 away from the connecting piece 110 to the end connected with the connecting piece 110. Moreover, the two opposite ends of the plurality of heat dissipation fins 130 respectively extend along a second axial direction A2 perpendicular to the first axial direction A1 to form a narrow gap like a corridor between the heat dissipation fins 130 acting as an airflow channel 131 for guiding the airflow.
Referring to
Referring to
Each of the plurality of air guide fins 120 is disposed detachably in the airflow channel 131 between two adjacent heat dissipation fins 130 or connected to the surface of the connecting piece 110 in a detachable way, wherein the area of the air guide fin 120 is smaller than the area of the heat dissipation fin 130. Besides, for each air guide fin 120, a guiding face 121 is obliquely formed at the side of opposite to the connecting piece 110. The guiding face 121 may have a profile of triangle or trapezoid with an inclined plane thereon.
As shown in
The airflow generated by the fan 200 not only disturbs the air in the airflow channels 131 but also confronts and bumps into the air guide fins 120 in the airflow channels 131 along the first axial direction A1. Each of the air guide fins 120 is provided with a guiding face 121 capable of directing the airflow from the first axial direction A1 (e.g. the direction perpendicular to the surface of the circuit board 300) to a second axial direction A2 (e.g. the direction parallel to the surface of the circuit board 300), Then the airflow is further guided by the airflow channels 131 to flow outside the heat sink 100. However, part of the airflow will reflect when confronting the circuit board 300 or the main electronic component 310. The reflected airflow will flow in the second axial direction A2 under the influence of the airflow flowing along the second axial direction A2. Hence, occurrence of the turbulent flow in the airflow channels 131 can be reduced. In addition, with the heat dissipation fins 130 arranged on the connecting piece 110 in an annular or radial way, the airflow may flow away from the main electronic component 310 by the guidance of the guiding faces 121 of the air guide fins 120 and spread over the surface of the circuit board 300 radially. This helps to expand the reachable range for the airflow generated by the fan 200.
As shown in
In assembly of the heat sink 100, the connecting piece 110 provided with a screw 111 on one end is used to pass through the air guide fins 120 near the side with a shorter length, and a nut 112 is used at the other end of the connecting piece 110 to fasten the air guide fins 120, as indicated in
Alternatively, regarding the assembly of the heat sink 100, the air guide fins 120 and the heat dissipation fins 130 may be disposed interlacedly first, and then the connecting piece 110 provided with a screw 111 is used to pass through the plurality of air guide fins 120, making the plurality of air guide fins 120 and the plurality of heat dissipation fins 130 serially connected on the connecting piece 110 at intervals. After that, a nut 112 is used to at the other end of the connecting piece 110 to fasten the air guide fins 120 and the heat dissipation fins 130, so that the air guide fins 120 and the heat dissipation fins 130 are fixed on the connecting piece 110, and the longer sides of the air guide fins 120 and one side of the heat dissipation fins 130 form a contact face 140 together (as shown in
Referring to
During the aforementioned process, since the airflow generated by the fan 200 is compelled to change the flow direction from the first axial direction A1 to the second axial direction A2, followed by being guided by the airflow channels 131 of the heat dissipation fins 130, the flow rate of the airflow in the second axial direction A2 is increased on the whole. Therefore, when part of the airflow flows between the heat dissipation fins 130 and bumps into the surface of the air guide fins 120 and is reflected along the first axial direction A1, the reflected airflow moving towards the fan 200 along the first axial direction A1 will be driven by the above-mentioned airflow moving in the second axial direction A2 to flow along the second axial direction A2. Accordingly, the wind resistance of the airflow in the first axial direction can be effectively reduced, and occurrence of the turbulent flow on the surface of the air guide fins 120 or the surface of the circuit board 300 can be avoided. Therefore, the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat sink 100 is improved in terms of the main electronic component 310 and other electronic components 320 on the circuit board 300.
With the guiding faces of the air guide fins, the heat sink of the present invention diminishes effectively the wind resistance of the airflow resulted from the reflection from the heat sink or the circuit board. Also, the airflow guided by the guiding faces of the air guide fins can further disturb the air around the heat sink and the airflow flowing between the heat dissipation fins, thereby increasing the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat sink. Besides, through the contact between the air guide fins and the heat dissipation fins together with the utilization of different materials thereof, the thermal conductivity and heat dissipation efficiency of the heat sink can be further improved.
The aforementioned descriptions represent merely the preferred embodiment of the present invention, without any intention to limit the scope of the present invention thereto. Various equivalent changes, alterations, or modifications based on the claims of present invention are all consequently viewed as being embraced by the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A heat sink in cooperation with a fan capable of generating an airflow along a first axial direction, the heat sink comprising:
- a connecting piece; and
- a plurality of air guide fins disposed on the connecting piece at intervals, wherein each of the air guide fins has a guiding face that confronts the airflow in the first axial direction and directs the airflow to a second axial direction.
2. The heat sink of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of heat dissipation fins set at one side of the plurality of air guide fins respectively and extending towards the second axial direction, wherein each of the guiding faces leads the airflow to circulate between adjacent two of the heat dissipation fins along the second axial direction.
3. The heat sink of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of heat dissipation fins each sandwiched between adjacent two of the air guide fins and extending towards the second axial direction, wherein each of the guiding faces leads the airflow to circulate between adjacent two of the heat dissipation fins along the second axial direction.
4. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the air guide fins is serially connected on the connecting piece.
5. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the connecting piece and the plurality of air guide fins are formed integrally.
6. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the connecting piece and the plurality of air guide fins are made of metal or plastic.
7. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the guiding face is a curved surface or an inclined plane.
8. A heat sink in cooperation with a fan capable of generating an airflow along a first axial direction, the heat sink comprising:
- a connecting piece;
- a plurality of heat dissipation fins set around a surface of the connecting piece at intervals; and
- a plurality of air guide fins set between adjacent two of the heat dissipation fins respectively, each of the air guide fins having a guiding face that confronts the airflow in the first axial direction and directs the airflow to a second axial direction.
9. The heat sink of claim 8, wherein the plurality of heat dissipation fins and the connecting piece are formed integrally.
10. The heat sink of claim 8, wherein the guiding face is a curved surface or an inclined plane.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 29, 2012
Publication Date: Mar 7, 2013
Applicant:
Inventor: Tai Chuan Mao (New Taipei City)
Application Number: 13/597,265
International Classification: F28D 15/00 (20060101);