Radiating fin

Abstract

A radiating fin has a flat surface and two rearward extended flanges formed along two opposite edges of the flat surface. The flat surface is formed with a plurality of openings, through which airflow can flow to carry away heat absorbed by the radiating fin. A lug is inward extended from one side of each of the openings adjacent to the flange to locate in the same plane as the flat surface, and a catch in the form of a frame is rearward extended from each of the openings with two lateral sides of the catch spaced from two lateral ends of the lug. When a second radiating fin is connected to a front side of a first radiating fin, the lugs on the first radiating fin are caught in the catches on the second radiating fin, bringing the two radiating fins to firmly assemble together.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a radiating fin, and more particularly to a radiating fin formed with a plurality of openings, from one side of each of the openings a lug is inward extended and a catch is rearward extended. When two radiating fins are assembled together, the lugs on a rear radiating fin are caught in the catches on a front radiating fin.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various powerful electronic elements have been developed and applied to high-tech fields. These electronic elements would generate a large amount of heat during the operation thereof. In order to efficiently dissipate the heat generated by the powerful electronic elements, various types of thermal modules with stacked radiating fins have been widely adopted.

FIG. 1 shows a conventional thermal module 1 composed of a plurality of stacked radiating fins 11. Each of the radiating fins 11 has a flat surface 112 and two rearward extended flanges 111 formed along two opposite edges of the flat surface 112. Each of the flanges 111 is punched to form a rearward extended catch 1112 and a sideward extended lug 1111. When a second radiating fins 11 is connected to a front side of a first radiating fin 11, the lugs 1111 on the first radiating fin 11 are caught in the catches 1112 on the second radiating fin 11 while the flanges 111 of the second radiating fin 11 is pressed against the flat surface 112 of the first radiating fin 11.

It is complicated and laborious to manufacture the radiating fins 11 while there is a high bad yield. Further, a large amount of waste materials are produced in the manufacturing process. All the above factors result in increased manufacturing cost of the radiating fins 11. Besides, when the radiating fins 11 are primarily assembled, the catches 1112 and the lugs 1111 are located on the flanges 111 and subject to deform to a certain extent under an external force. The deformed lugs 1111 would no longer be firmly caught in the catches 1112. As a result, the stacked radiating fins 11 tend to loosen or even detach from one another.

In brief, the conventional radiating fins have the following disadvantages: (1) producing a large amount of scrap, (2) failing to firmly connect to one another, (3) requiring increased time and labor to manufacture and therefore high manufacturing cost, and (4) subjecting to deformation under an external force.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a radiating fin which may be manufactured without wasting too much material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a radiating fin that can be more quickly manufactured at reduced time and labor to enable lowered manufacturing cost thereof.

To achieve the above and other objects, the radiating fin of the present invention is made of a sheet material to include a flat surface and two rearward extended flanges formed along two opposite edges of the flat surface. The flat surface is formed with a plurality of openings, through which airflow can flow to carry away heat absorbed by the radiating fin. A lug is inward extended from one side of each of the openings adjacent to the flange to locate in the same plane as the flat surface, and a catch in the form of a frame is rearward extended from each of the openings with two lateral sides of the catch spaced from two lateral ends of the lug. When a second radiating fin is connected to a front side of a first radiating fin, the lugs on the first radiating fin are caught in the catches on the second radiating fin, bringing the two radiating fins to firmly assemble together. A plurality of the radiating fins may be assembled together in the above-described manner to form a thermal module.

Heat absorbed by the radiating fins 2 is carried away from the thermal module by airflow flowing through a space formed between any two adjacent radiating fins.

The catches and the lugs locked together are located in the spaces between two adjacent radiating fins, they are not subject to collision with external elements when the thermal module is moved or further assembled to other heat-radiating elements. Therefore, the catches and the lugs would stay in a firmly locked state to ensure a solid thermal module.

In brief, the radiating fin of the present invention provides the following advantages: (1) reduced scrap, (2) reduced manufacturing cost, (3) improved heat radiating effect, and (4) enabling firm connection of two radiating fin to one another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of a thermal module composed of a plurality of conventional radiating fins;

FIG. 2A is a front perspective view of a radiating fin according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a rear perspective view of the radiating fin of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is an enlarged view of the circled area C of FIG. 2B;

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of a thermal module formed from a plurality of the radiating fins of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 4 is an assembled front perspective view of the thermal module of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a rear view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of the circled area 5A of FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 shows the thermal module of FIG. 4 in use;

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a radiating fin according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7B is a perspective view of a radiating fin according to a further embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 2A and 2B that are front and rear perspective views, respectively, of a radiating fin 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and to FIG. 2C that is an enlarged view of the circled area C of FIG. 2B. As shown, the radiating fin 2 of the present invention is made of a sheet material, and includes a flat surface 22 and two rearward extended flanges 21 formed along two opposite edges of the flat surface 22. The flat surface 22 is provided along the two edges adjacent to the flanges with a plurality of openings 221 each. In the preferred embodiment, each of the openings 221 has a trapezoidal configuration with a long base thereof adjacent to the flange 21. A lug 2211 is inward extended from the long base of the trapezoidal opening 221 by a short distance to locate in the same plane as the flat surface 22. In addition, a catch 2212 is rearward extended from the long base of the opening 221. In a preferred embodiment, the catch 2212 is a trapezoidal frame defining a through hole 2213 therein. The catch 2212 has two lateral sides spaced from two lateral ends of the lug 2211.

Please refer to FIG. 3 that shows a plurality of the radiating fins 2 are stacked to form a thermal module, and to FIGS. 4 and 5 that are assembled front and rear perspective views, respectively, of the thermal module formed from the radiating fins 2. As shown, when a second radiating fin 2 is attached to a front side of a first radiating fin 2, the lugs 2211 on the first radiating fin 2 are separately caught in the through holes 2213 of the catches 2212 on the second radiating fin 2, as can be most clearly seen from FIG. 5A that is an enlarged view of the circled area 5A of FIG. 5, so that the second radiating fin 2 is firmly assembled to the first radiating fin 2.

In manufacturing the radiating fin 2 from the sheet material, the lugs 2211 and the catches 2212 on the radiating fin 2 are actually an integral part of the sheet material and are left in the openings 221 when the openings 221 are formed on the flat surface 22 by a predetermined manner, such as punching. In this way, the radiating fin 2 may be manufactured with minimized scrap to thereby decrease the material cost thereof. Moreover, the catches 2212 and the lugs 2211 are provided on the flat surface 22 instead of the flanges 21. Therefore, after the radiating fins 2 are connected to form a thermal module, the catches 2212 and the lugs 2211 locked together are not subject to collision with external elements when the thermal module is moved or further assembled to other heat-radiating elements. Therefore, the catches 2212 and the lugs 2211 would stay in a firmly locked state to ensure a solid thermal module.

FIG. 6 shows the use of a thermal module A formed from the radiating fins 2 of the present invention in the above-described manner. As shown, a space 23 is formed between any two adjacent radiating fins 2. When airflow 3 flows through the spaces 23, heat absorbed by the radiating fins 2 is carried away from the thermal module A by the airflow 3. Moreover, the openings 221 located on the radiating fins 2 at the same positions are aligned with one another to form air passages extended through the whole thermal module A. The airflow can also flow through these air passages to achieve an even better heat-radiating effect.

FIG. 7A shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the openings 221 and the catches 2212 on the radiating fin 2 have a semicircular configuration. And, FIG. 7B shows a further embodiment of the present invention, in which the openings 221 and the catches 2212 on the radiating fin 2 have a triangular configuration. It is understood the openings 221 and the catches 2212 on the radiating fin 2 may be in any other suitable geometrical configurations, such as a polygonal configuration.

The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A radiating fin made of a sheet material, comprising a flat surface and two rearward extended flanges formed along two opposite edges of the flat surface; the flat surface being formed along the two opposite edges adjacent to the flanges with a plurality of openings each; a lug being inward extended from one side of each of the openings adjacent to the flange to locate in the same plane as the flat surface, and a catch in the form of a frame defining a through hole therein being rearward extended from each of the openings with two lateral sides of the catch spaced from two lateral ends of the lug;

whereby when a second radiating fin is connected to a front side of a first radiating fin, the lugs on the first radiating fin are caught in the through holes of the catches on the second radiating fin, bringing the two radiating fins to firmly assembled together.

2. The radiating fin as claimed in claim 1, wherein the catches are selected from the group consisting of a trapezoidal frame, a triangular frame, and a semicircular frame.

3. The radiating fin as claimed in claim 1, wherein the openings are selected from the group consisting of a trapezoidal opening, a triangular opening, and a semicircular opening.