HEAT SINK

Abstract

A heat sink includes a heat conductive portion, a plurality of fins and at least one connecting portion. The fins and connecting portion are disposed around the heat conductive portion. The connecting portion is disposed between the fins and has a fixed part. The fixed part is disposed at one side of the connecting portion and is used for connecting with a fastener.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 096218935, filed in Taiwan, Republic of China on Nov. 9, 2007, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a heat sink that can be manufactured with fewer components so as to reduce the consumption of the row material, simplify the production processes, and thus decrease the manufacturing cost.

2. Related Art

Since the performance of the electronic product and the density of electronic components in the electronic product are increased, the generated heat is increased accordingly when the electronic product operates. If the generated heat can not be dissipated properly, the performance of the electronic product may be reduced. More seriously, the electronic product may be burned out. Therefore, the heat sink has become one of the indispensable equipments in the electronic product.

Two commonly used methods for fastening a heat sink on a CPU will be described herein below with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. As shown in FIG. 1A, an X-clip 11, which is made of metal, is installed on one side of the heat sink 10 by a thermal insertion process. Then, four push pins 13a respectively pass through; the four holes on the four arms 111 of the X-chip 11 so as to fix the heat sink 10 on the CPU. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1B, a plastic circular clipper 12 is fixed and surrounding the heat sink 10, and four screws 13b respectively pass through four hollow tubes 121 connected to the plastic circular clipper 12 so as to fix the heat sink 10 on the CPU. However, the above-mentioned methods both need the additional component, such as the X-clip 11 or the plastic circular clipper 12, to fasten the heat sink 10 on the CPU. Therefore, the manufacturer must spend time to install the X-clip 11 or the plastic circular clipper 12 to fasten the heat sink 10, so that the production cost is increased. This may reduce the competitiveness of the products. In addition, the thermal insertion process for installing the X-clip 11 may cause the malfunctions of the X-clip or heat sinks, thereby decreasing the reliability of the products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, the present invention is to provide a heat sink that does not need additional connecting components so that the production cost and assembly processes can be reduced, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the product.

To achieve the above, the present invention discloses a heat sink including a plurality of fins and at least one connecting portion disposed between the fins. The connecting portion has a fixed part disposed at one side of the connecting portion for connecting with a fastener.

In the present invention, the heat sink further includes a heat conductive portion connected with the fins and the connecting portion. The fins and the connecting portion are disposed around the heat conductive portion. The fins can be arranged in a radiation way or any other ways. The heat conductive portion has a hole for accommodating a heat conductive member such as a heat pipe or a solid metal bulk. Herein, the heat conductive member can be disposed in the hole by a thermal insertion process.

In addition, the fastener can be a push pin or a spring screw. The fixed part, the connecting portion and the fins are integrally formed as a single piece. Alternatively, the connecting portion and the fixed part can be connected by way of soldering, wedging, hooking or adhering. Moreover, at least one trench is formed between the fins. The fixed part is obtained by cutting the connecting portion to form the trench, and the trench can be used for adjusting a height of the fastener installed on the heat sink. The heat sink can be formed by aluminum extrusion, clipping and jointing, stamping or other mechanical process. The heat sink can cooperate with a fan, and the heat sink directly contacts with a heat source, such as a central process unit (CPU), a transistor, a server, a high-level graphic card, a hard disk drive, a power supply, a traffic control system, a multimedia electronic device, an access point or a high-level game station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings, which are given for illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic illustrations showing two clipping and jointing ways for the heat sink;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic illustrations showing two heat sinks according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration showing the heat sink of FIG. 2A including several fasteners.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.

With reference to FIGS. 2A and 3, a heat sink 2 includes a plurality of fins 201, at least one connecting portion 202 and a heat conductive portion 25. The fins 201 and the connecting portions 202 are disposed around the heat conductive portion 25 and are connected together. The fins 201 can be disposed in a radiation way or any other way. In the embodiment, each fin 201 is extended outwardly from the heat conductive portion 25, and has a bifurcated portion disposed at one end of the fin 201 away from the heat conductive portion 25. In addition, the fins 201 can be curved as shown in FIG. 2A, so that the total surface area of the heat sink 2 can be increased.

In addition, the heat conductive portion 25 has a hole. Therefore, a heat conductive member 25, such as a heat pipe or a solid metal bulk, can be disposed in the hole by a thermal insertion process. Then, the heat conductive member 25 directly contacts with a heat source, so that the heat of the heat source can be dissipated rapidly. In this case, the heat source can be, for example but not limited to, a central process unit (CPU), a transistor, a server, a high-level graphic card, a hard disk drive, a power supply, a traffic control system, a multimedia electronic device, an access point, a high-level game station, and so on.

As mentioned above, in order to avoid using additional connecting tools such as the X-clip or the plastic circular clipper, the heat sink 2 including the connecting portion 202 and the fins 201 is formed by way of aluminum extrusion, clipping and jointing, stamping or other mechanical process. As shown in FIG. 3, the connecting portion 202 is disposed between the fins 201 and has a fixed part 21 disposed at a side of the connecting member 202. The fixed part 21 is used for combining with a fastener 23. To be noted, the manufacturing method the heat sink 2 is not limited to the method described hereinabove. For example, the fixed part 21, the connecting portion 202 and the fins 201 are integrally formed as a single piece. Alternatively, the connecting portion 202 and the fixed part 21 can also be connected by way of soldering, wedging, hooking or adhering. When the heat sink 2 is directly contacted with the heat source, it can be installed by simply utilizing the fastener 23 such as a push pin or a spring screw. Therefore, the additional connecting tools used in the prior art are not needed. Compared with the prior art, the installation procedure of the heat sink 2 of the embodiment can be simplified.

In addition, regarding to the installing force, the heat sink 2 can further include at least one trench 203 disposed between the fins 201 as shown in FIG. 2B. The fixed part 21 is obtained by cutting the connecting portion 202 to form a trench 203, and the trench 203 can be used for adjusting a height of the fastener 23 installed on the heat sink 2, thereby increasing the practicability of the product.

In the heat sink 2 of the embodiment, the size of the connecting portion 202 can be designed as large as that of the fins 201. Then, the fixed part 21 can be arranged depending on the actual need. Accordingly, the manufacturing process of the heat sink 2 can be simplified and the density of the fins 201 can be increased, thereby enhancing the heat dissipation effect. Moreover, a fan can be installed on the heat sink 2. Thus, the fan rotates to generate airflows for further enhancing the heat dissipation effect of the heat sink 2.

In summary, the manufacturing method for the heat sink of the present invention is flexible. The connection mechanism of the present invention utilizes the fixed part and the connecting portion, so that the additional connecting tool and processes of the prior art are unnecessary. Therefore, the material cost can be reduced and the reliability of the product can be increased, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the product.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A heat sink, comprising:

a plurality of fins; and

at least one connecting portion disposed between the fins, wherein the connecting portion has a fixed part disposed at one side of the connecting portion for connecting with a fastener.

2. The heat sink according to claim 1, further comprising a heat conductive portion connected with the fins and the connecting portion.

3. The heat sink according to claim 2, wherein the fins and the connecting portion are disposed around the heat conductive portion.

4. The heat sink according to claim 3, wherein the fins are arranged in a radiation way.

5. The heat sink according to claim 2, wherein the fins are curved.

6. The heat sink according to claim 2, wherein each of the fins has a bifurcated portion.

7. The heat sink according to claim 6, wherein each of the fins is extended outwardly from the heat conductive portion, and the bifurcated portion is disposed at one end of the fin away from the heat conductive portion.

8. The heat sink according to claim 2, wherein the heat conductive portion has a hole for accommodating a heat conductive member.

9. The heat sink according to claim 8, wherein the heat conductive member is a heat pipe or a solid metal bulk.

10. The heat sink according to claim 8, wherein the heat conductive member is disposed in the hole by a thermal insertion process.

11. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the fastener is a push pin.

12. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the fastener is a spring screw.

13. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the fixed part, the connecting portion and the fins are integrally formed as a single piece.

14. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the connecting portion and the fixed part are connected by way of soldering, wedging, hooking or adhering.

15. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the fixed part is obtained by cutting the connecting portion to form a trench.

16. The heat sink according to claim 15, wherein the trench is used for adjusting a height of the fastener installed on the heat sink.

17. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the heat sink is formed by aluminum extrusion, clipping and jointing, stamping or other mechanical process.

18. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the heat sink cooperates with a fan.

19. The heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the heat sink directly contacts with a heat source.

20. The heat sink according to claim 19, wherein the heat source is a central process unit (CPU), a transistor, a server, a high-level graphic card, a hard disk drive, a power supply, a traffic control system, a multimedia electronic device, an access point or a high-level game station.