Heat sink
A heat sink for coolers is provided. The heat sink contains a heat conductive element, a heat dissipating shell covering over the heat conductive element, and a plurality of heat dissipating fins installed on the heat dissipating shell. The heat conductive element includes a heat conductive plate and a heat conductive block installed at the center thereof. The area of the bottom surface of the heat conductive block is greater than that of the topmost surface thereof. When the lower surface of the heat conductive plate is in contact with a device that needs heat dissipation, the heat conductive block increases the heat conducting volume at the center of the heat conductive plate, so that the heat produced by the device can be released at an optimal rate.
This application is a Division of co-pending application Ser. No. 10/339,488, filed on Jan. 10, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120.
FIELD OF INVENTIONThe invention relates to a heat sink and, in particular to a heat sink with a heat dissipating base that has a three-dimensional curved surface.
Related ArtWith the increasing efficiency of electronic devices, the heat dissipating device or system becomes indispensable equipment. If the heat produced by an electronic device is not released to the environment properly, the efficiency may deteriorate or the device may burn out. Therefore, the heat dissipating device is of particular importance to microelectronic devices (e.g. IC). With the increase in the density of elements and advance in the packaging technology, the IC's have even smaller areas. At the same time, the heat accumulated in each unit area grows. Therefore, highly efficient heat sinks always form an important research subject in the electronics industry.
Generally speaking, the heat dissipating device is installed on the surface of a heat-generating device to remove the heat form the device. According to the shape of the base, the heat dissipating devices can be categorized as planar and cylindrical ones.
Please refer to
The heat-producing device releases a lot of heat during operations. Since copper has an extremely good heat conductive property, the released heat rapidly flows toward the heat dissipating shell 26 and to the fins 22 through the heat conductive plate 24. The fan 12 further blows the heat on the fins 22 away, thereby achieving the heat dissipation effect. However, the produced heat forms a heat flow field (see
To improve the heat dissipation effect in the central region of the heat conductive plate 24, a cylindrical heat sink is proposed in the prior art. Please refer to
As the heat-producing device is in direct contact with the heat sink surface 40, the heat released during the operation of the heat-producing device quickly flows to the heat conductive cylinder 44, the heat dissipating shell 46, and the fins 42. Through the cylindrical design, the heat flows along the heat conductive cylinder 44, the shell 46, and the fins 42 in the axial direction toward to fan 12. The fan then provides air convection to bring out the heat.
From the above description, one sees that the cylindrical heat sink 40 indeed solves the unsatisfactory heat dissipation effect in the central region of the planar heat sink 20. However, it is easily seen from the heat flow field in
Furthermore, the heat conductive plate 24 of the heat sink 20 and the heat conductive cylinder 44 of the heat sink 40 are connected to the heat dissipating shell 26, 46 by soldering, bonding, or high-pressure mounting, respectively. If the precision of the heat conductive plate 24, he heat conductive cylinder 44, and the heat sinks 26, 46 is not high enough, air gaps may appear at the connection interfaces. Besides, soldering often increases the thermal resistance of the contact interface, also affecting the heat conduction effect of the heat sinks 20, 40.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention provides an improved heat sink with a heat dissipating base that has a three-dimensional curved surface. By tight connection between the heat dissipating base and the heat dissipating shell using the disclosed connector, an optimal heat conduction effect can be achieved.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
The disclosed heat sink is mounted on a heat-producing device, which can be a microprocessor or a central processing unit (CPU). As shown in
It should be emphasized that the heat sink 60 in the first embodiment is featured in that: the heat conductive plate 64 of the heat dissipating base 70 is installed with an approximately cylindrical heat conductive block 66 on the top surface 61. That is, the bottom surface area of the block 66 is greater than its topmost surface area. The heat conductive block 66 and the heat conductive plate 64 are formed together using aluminum, aluminum alloys, copper, copper alloys that have high coefficient of thermal conduction to form a heat dissipating base 70 with a three-dimensional curved surface. The fins 62 on the heat dissipating base 70 are soldered or formed together with the heat dissipating base 70.
The shape of the heat conductive block 66 is designed according to the heat flow field distribution inside the heat conductor and the coefficient of thermal conduction obtained in experiment. Here we only use simple texts and associated figures to describe the manufacturing and formation of the disclosed heat conductive block 66. Please refer to
As shown in
When the lower surface 67 of the heat conductive plate 64 in the first embodiment is attached to a heat-producing device (not shown), the heat produced by the device can be transferred to each of the fins 62 through the disclosed heat conductive block 66. The axial-flow fan 12 then provides air convection to bring away the heat.
With reference to
It should be emphasized here that the side surface of the heat conductive block does not need to be a plane. It can be a smooth and curved surface. The fins can be made into other shapes that have larger heat dissipating areas. These modifications are still within the scope of the invention but not further described herein.
In comparison with the prior art, a distinct characteristic of the invention is that: all the heat sinks 60, 80, 100 in the embodiments of the invention have heat dissipating bases 70, 90 with a three-dimensional curved surface. They are designed according to the heat flow field inside the heat conductors and data of coefficient of thermal conduction obtained from experiments. Therefore, they solve the problems of inferior heat dissipation in the conventional planar and the cylindrical heat sinks. With the connecting element introduced in the third embodiment, the heat dissipation effect of the disclosed heat sink can be further improved.
Claims
1. A heat sink comprising:
- a heat dissipating base, which has a heat conductive plate and a heat conductive block, the heat conductive plate and the heat conductive block being separately formed, the heat conductive block having a flat top side and a flat bottom side, the flat bottom side of the heat conductive block being disposed at the top side of the heat conductive plate; and
- a plurality of heat dissipating fins, installed perpendicular to the heat conductive plate and the flat top side of the heat conductive block, the heat dissipating fins being disposed on and directly connected to the heat conductive plate and the flat top side of the heat conductive block;
- wherein the flat bottom side of the heat conductive block has a larger area than the flat top side of the heat conductive block.
2. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fins on the heat conductive block is installed on a side surface of the heat conductive block.
3. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fins, the heat conductive plate, and the heat conductive block are made by aluminum, aluminum alloys, copper, and copper alloys or a material with high coefficient of thermal conduction.
4. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fins are connected to the heat dissipating base by soldering, or formed together with the heat dissipating base.
5. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein the height of the heat conductive block is not greater than the height of the fins on the heat dissipating base.
6. The heat sink of claim 1, wherein a side surface of the heat conductive block is a smooth curved surface, or a plane surface.
7. A heat sink, comprising:
- a heat dissipating base, which has a heat conductive plate and a heat conductive block, the heat conductive plate and the heat conductive block being separately formed, the heat conductive block having a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side of the heat conductive block being disposed on a top side of the heat conductive plate; and
- a plurality of heat dissipating fins disposed on and directly connected to the top side of the heat conductive plate and the top side of the heat conductive block;
- wherein the bottom side of the heat conductive block has a larger area than the top side of the heat conductive block.
8. A heat dissipating device, comprising:
- a fan; and
- a heat sink coupled to the fan, wherein the heat sink comprises: a heat dissipating base, which has a heat conductive plate and a heat conductive block, the heat conductive block having a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side of the heat conductive block being disposed on a top side of the heat conductive plate; and a plurality of heat dissipating fins disposed on the top side of the heat conductive plate; wherein the bottom side of the heat conductive block has a larger area than the top side of the heat conductive block.
9. The heat dissipating device of claim 8, wherein the heat dissipating base further has a heat dissipating shell covering over the heat conductive plate and the heat conductive block, and the heat dissipating fins are installed to the heat dissipating shell.
10. The heat dissipating device of claim 9, wherein the heat dissipating shell and the heat conductive block are made of different metal materials.
11. The heat dissipating device of claim 10, wherein the heat dissipating shell is made of aluminum, and the heat conductive block is made of copper.
12. The heat dissipating device of claim 9, wherein the heat dissipating shell and the heat conductive block are made by aluminum, aluminum alloys, copper, and copper alloys or a material with high coefficient of thermal conduction.
13. The heat dissipating device of claim 9, wherein the heat conductive block is covered by the heat dissipating shell by soldering or high-pressure mounting.
14. The heat dissipating device of claim 9, wherein the sink has a screw for connecting the heat dissipating shell and the heat conductive block.
15. The heat dissipating device of claim 9, wherein the heat dissipating fins are formed together with the dissipating shell.
16. The heat dissipating device of claim 9, wherein the heat dissipating fins are only formed on a topmost surface and a side surface of the dissipating shell.
17. The heat dissipating device of claim 8, wherein the heat sink is used for dissipating a heat-producing device and a bottom surface of the heat conductive plate is in direct contact with the heat-producing device.
18. The heat dissipating device of claim 8, wherein the fan is fixed onto the heat sink using a plurality of fixing elements on the fins at corners of the heat sink.
19. The heat dissipating device of claim 8, wherein a cross section width of a bottom surface of the conductive block is smaller than a cross section width of the heat conductive plate.
20. The heat dissipating device of claim 8, wherein a vertical height of the heat dissipating base is smaller than or equal to a vertical height from a lower surface of the heat dissipating base to a top of the fins.
21. The heat dissipating device of claim 8, wherein an angle between the bottom side and a side surface of the conductive block is small than 90 degrees.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 6, 2006
Publication Date: Jan 4, 2007
Inventors: Li-Kuang Tan (Taoyuan Hsien), Yu-Hung Huang (Ilan Hsien), Wei-Fan Wu (Taichung Hsien), Kuo-Cheng Lin (Taoyuan Hsien), Wen-Shi Huang (Taoyuan Hsien)
Application Number: 11/515,786
International Classification: H05K 7/20 (20060101);