FASTENER AND HEAT SINK ASSEMBLY HAVING THE SAME
A heat sink assembly is mounted on a printed circuit board to dissipate heat generated by an electronic component. The heat sink assembly includes a heat sink and a plurality of fasteners fixing the heat sink to the printed circuit board. The fastener includes a head, a post extending downwardly from the head through the heat sink, an elastic member encircling the post and compressed between the head and the heat sink, and an engaging member fixed to the printed circuit board. A top of the engaging member is fastened to a bottom of the post. When the post, together with the head, is rotated relative to an axis thereof toward a locked position, the post would be driven by the engaging member to automatically lock with the engaging member at the locked position.
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1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to fasteners and, more particularly, to a fastener capable of conveniently assembling and disassembling a heat sink on and from a printed circuit board, and a heat sink assembly including such a fastener.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic components, such as central processing units (CPUs) comprise numerous circuits operating at high speed and generating substantial heat. Under most circumstances, it is necessary to cool the CPUs in order to maintain safe operating conditions and assure that the CPUs function properly and reliably. In the past, various approaches have been used to cool electronic components. Typically, a finned metal heat sink is attached to an outer surface of the CPU to remove the heat therefrom. The heat absorbed by the heat sink is then dissipated to ambient air. The related finned metal heat sink is made of highly heat-conductive metal, such as copper or aluminum, and generally comprises a base contacting the CPU to absorb the heat therefrom and a plurality of fins formed on the base for dissipating the heat.
Conventionally, a linear-type clip is used to secure the heat sink to the heat generating electronic device by fastening the heat sink to a printed circuit board on which the heat generating device is mounted. The linear-type clip, which is integrally made from a resilient metal wire, generally includes an elongated pressing portion and a pair of locking arms extending from opposite ends of the elongated pressing portion in opposite directions. When assembled, the elongated pressing portion of the clip abuts against the base of the heat sink toward the heat generating device, and the locking arms are resiliently engaged with clasps provided on the printed circuit board to thereby secure the heat sink to the heat generating electronic device.
In order to ensure a reliable securement between the heat sink and the heat generating device, the clip has to be deformed largely to produce a large pressure on the heat sink, which requires a user to manipulate the clip with a large force during assembling. However, due to having the resilient linear-type structure, the clip can only provide a very limited contacting area to be handled. It is very inconvenient for the user to apply such a large force on the very limited contacting area of the clip. Accordingly, the assembly efficiency thereof is low.
What is needed, therefore, is a fastener capable of overcoming the above-described problems.
Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Referring to
The heat sink 10 is made of metal with good heat conductivity, such as aluminum, copper, or alloys thereof. The heat sink 10 comprises a rectangular base 12, a plurality of fins 14 extending upwardly from a top face of the base 12 and a plurality of heat pipes 16 connecting the fins 14 to the base 12. The fins 14 are spaced from and parallel to each other. A passage is defined between every two adjacent fins 14 to allow an airflow therethrough. Two pairs of ears 18 extend from two pairs of diagonally opposite corners of the base 12, respectively. Each ear 18 defines a mounting hole 180 adjacent to a distal end thereof. The mounting holes 180 of the ears 18 are located corresponding to the through holes 50 of the printed circuit board 30. The heat pipes 16 are juxtaposed to each other. Each of the heat pipes 16 has a U-shaped configuration and comprises two parallel heat-conducting sections and an arced connecting section interconnecting the two heat-conducting sections. One of the two heat-conducting sections of each heat pipe 16 is sandwiched between the base 12 and the fins 14. Another one of the two heat-conducting sections of each heat pipe 16 extends perpendicularly through and thermally connects the fins 14.
Also referring to
Also referring to
Referring to
Due to automatic-locking structure of the fastener 20, the heat sink 10 can be conveniently assembled to or disassembled from the printed circuit board 30 just by rotation of the head 22 of the fastener 20; thus, the assembling and disassembling efficiency of the heat sink assembly is improved.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Claims
1. A fastener adapted for assembling a heat sink on a top of a printed circuit board together, comprising:
- a head;
- a post extending downwardly from a bottom face of the head, adapted for through the printed circuit board;
- an elastic member encircling the post and positioned under the head, adapted to be compressed between the heat sink and head; and
- an engaging member engaging with a bottom of the post and adapted to be secured to a bottom of the printed circuit board and extending upwardly through the printed circuit board;
- wherein when the post, together with the head, is rotated relative to an axis thereof from a first position in which the bottom of the post and the engaging member are not locked with each other toward a second position, a relative movement would occur between the post and the engaging member to automatically cause the post to lock with the engaging member at the second position.
2. The fastener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom of the post splits up into two opposite parts to form a pair of locking arms, and the two locking arms define a gap therebetween.
3. The fastener as claimed in claim 2, wherein two elongated baffle ribs project inwardly from inner faces of two locking arms, respectively, and the two baffle ribs are oriented towards each other.
4. The fastener as claimed in claim 3, wherein a part of the gap which is positioned above the baffle ribs is expanded, thereby forming a receiving portion.
5. The fastener as claimed in claim 4, wherein the engaging member comprises a main body, a knob clasped by the locking arms and a vertical supporting portion extending from a top face of the main body and supporting the knob.
6. The fastener as claimed in claim 5, wherein the knob is sandwiched between the two locking arms and received in the receiving portion of the post.
7. The fastener as claimed in claim 6, wherein the two baffle ribs abut against a bottom of the knob.
8. The fastener as claimed in claim 5, wherein the supporting portion has a thickness less than or equal to a distance between the two baffle ribs, and a width larger than the distance between the two baffle ribs.
9. The fastener as claimed in claim 5, wherein when the post, together with the head, is rotated relative to the axis thereof from the second position to a third position in which the baffle ribs of the two locking arms are perpendicular to the supporting portion, the locking arms being detachable from the knob.
10. A heat sink assembly adapted to dissipate heat generated by an electronic component mounted on a top face of a printed circuit board, the heat sink assembly comprising:
- a heat sink comprising a base disposed on the electronic component, the base defining a plurality of mounting holes; and
- a plurality of fasteners extending through the mounting holes of the heat sink, respectively, to assemble the heat sink to the printed circuit board, each of the plurality of fasteners comprising:
- a head,
- a post extending downwardly from a bottom face of the head and extending through the mounting hole of the heat sink;
- an elastic member encircling the post and compressed between the head and the base; and
- an engaging member fixed to the printed circuit board, a top of the engaging member engaging a bottom of the post;
- wherein when the post together with the head, is rotated relative to an axis thereof from a first position in which the bottom of the post and the engaging member are not locked with each other toward a second position, a torsion force will be produced by the engaging member to the post to thereby drive the post to lock with the engaging member.
11. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein the bottom of the post splits up into two opposite locking arms, a gap being defined between the two locking arms.
12. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 11, wherein two elongated baffle ribs project inwardly from inner faces of the two locking arms towards each other, respectively, the two locking arms clasping the engaging member.
13. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 12, wherein the engaging member comprises a main body fixed to the printed circuit board, a knob clasped by the two locking arms and a vertical supporting portion interconnecting a top face of the main body and a bottom face of the knob.
14. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the post defines a receiving portion positioned above the two baffle ribs for receiving the knob of the engaging member.
15. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the two baffle ribs abut against a bottom face of the knob.
16. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein a part of an outer periphery of the supporting portion is continuous with an outer periphery of the knob.
17. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the supporting portion is fittingly received in the gap when the post is rotated to the second position, and splays the two locking arms outwardly when the post is rotated from the second position toward the first position.
18. The heat sink assembly as claimed in claim 17, wherein the two locking arms are detachable from the knob when the baffle ribs are perpendicular to the supporting portion.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 26, 2009
Publication Date: Sep 30, 2010
Applicants: FU ZHUN PRECISION INDUSTRY (SHEN ZHEN) CO., LTD. (Shenzhen City), FOXCONN TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. (Tu-Cheng)
Inventors: LEI CAO (Shenzhen City), MIN LI (Shenzhen City)
Application Number: 12/492,149
International Classification: H05K 7/20 (20060101); F16B 39/10 (20060101);