HEAT DISSIPATION MODULE

Abstract

A heat dissipation module includes a centrifugal fan and a heat pipe. The centrifugal fan includes at least one axial air inlet and a radial air outlet, wherein an air channel sidewall of the centrifugal fan has heat dissipation fins in an inner wall thereof. The heat pipe has a heat source contact section and a heat dissipation section, the heat dissipation section is in contact with an outer wall of the air channel sidewall, and the heat source contact section is in contact with a heat source.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 101112477, filed Apr. 9, 2012, which is herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a heat dissipation module. More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat dissipation module equipped with a centrifugal fan.

2. Description of Related Art

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a conventional heat dissipation module equipped with a centrifugal fan. The heat dissipation module illustrated in FIG. 1 is used in most notebook computers as their system cooler. A heat dissipation module 100 includes a centrifugal fan 102, a heat pipe 110 and a heat dissipation fin array 112. A heat source contact section 110a of the heat pipe 110 is used to connect with a heat source, e.g., a CPU while a heat dissipation section 110b of the heat pipe 110 is used to connect with the heat dissipation fin array 112, thereby transferring heat from the heat source contact section 110a to the heat dissipation section 110b and the heat dissipation fin array 112. The heat dissipation section 110b and the heat dissipation fin array 112 are fastened to an air outlet 102a of the centrifugal fan 102. When an impeller 108 of the centrifugal fan 102 rotates, airflows carry the heat on the heat dissipation section 110b and the heat dissipation fin array 112 out of the notebook computer.

However, the notebook computers are designed to be thin and compact, the dissipation modules inside them are also designed to be thinner. Hence, the heat dissipation section 110b of the heat pipe 110 must have a smaller thickness, thereby affecting the heat pipe's heat dissipation performance. In addition, when the dissipation module is designed to be thinner, its heat dissipation fin array 112 also needs a smaller thickness and the heat dissipation module's performance cannot be enhanced. Accelerating a rotation speed of the centrifugal fan 102 may rise the heat dissipation performance, but also bring about the noises. For the forgoing reasons, there is a need for dealing the heat dissipation efficiency issue due to the thinner notebook computer design.

SUMMARY

It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an improved heat dissipation module equipped with a centrifugal fan.

In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of the present invention, a heat dissipation module includes a centrifugal fan and a heat pipe. The centrifugal fan includes at least one axial air inlet and an radial air outlet, wherein an air channel sidewall of the centrifugal fan has heat dissipation fins in an inner wall thereof. The heat pipe has a heat source contact section and a heat dissipation section, the heat dissipation section is in contact with an outer wall of the air channel sidewall, and the heat source contact section is in contact with a heat source.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the heat dissipation section has a circular cross-section.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the air channel sidewall has a concave arc section in an outer wall thereof to be in contact with the heat dissipation section of the heat pipe.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the air channel sidewall is a metallic sidewall.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the centrifugal fan further includes an upper cover and a lower cover, the upper cover, the lower cover and the air channel sidewall collectively form a complete housing of the centrifugal fan.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the upper cover is a metal cover or a plastic cover.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the lower cover is a metal cover or a plastic cover.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, a contact section between the heat dissipation section and an outer wall of the air channel sidewall is greater than a half length of the air channel sidewall.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the heat dissipation fins have cutouts to collectively define an inner air channel of the centrifugal fan.

According to another embodiment disclosed herein, the cutouts of the heat dissipation fins are V-shaped cutouts.

Thus, the heat dissipation module disclosed herein with its heat pipe secured to an outer wall of the air channel sidewall and air channel sidewall equipped with inner heat dissipation fins, thereby maintaining a heat pipe with a circular cross-section and not being overly flattened and maintaining a full heat dissipation performance for the heat pipe. In addition, a heat dissipation fin array is removed from a radial air outlet of the centrifugal fan in the heat dissipation module disclosed herein, the airflow volume is thus increased to enhance a total convection within a whole computer system.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a conventional heat dissipation module equipped with a centrifugal fan;

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a heat dissipation module equipped with a centrifugal fan according to an embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along a cross-section line 3-3′ in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded view of the heat dissipation module in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic view of how a heat dissipation sidewall of a centrifugal fan being manufactured according to an embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation sidewall of a centrifugal fan according to another embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation sidewall of a centrifugal fan according to still another embodiment of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a heat dissipation module 200 equipped with a centrifugal fan according to an embodiment of this invention. In order to deal with the heat dissipation efficiency due to the thinner heat dissipation module, the heat dissipation module 200 has a heat dissipation section 210b of a heat pipe 210 attached to an outer wall of an air channel sidewall 202. The air channel sidewall 202 is designed to have heat dissipation fins (see heat dissipation fins 202b illustrated in FIG. 3) in its inner walls to replace a conventional design of the heat dissipation module, e.g., the heat dissipation module 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

In the new design of the heat dissipation module 200, the heat generated from a heat source (not illustrated in the drawings) is transferred from a heat source contact section 210 of the heat pipe 210 to a heat dissipation section 210b of the heat pipe 210, and further transferred from an outer wall of the air channel sidewall 202 to the heat dissipation fins at an inner wall of the air channel sidewall 202, and carried out from a radial air outlet 201 a of the centrifugal fan 201 by airflows generated by a rotating impeller 208.

In this embodiment, a contact section between the heat dissipation section 210b of the heat pipe 210 and an outer wall of the air channel sidewall 202 is greater than a half length of the air channel sidewall 202, that is, a contact area between the heat pipe 210 and the air channel sidewall 202 is large enough to enhance the heat dissipation of the heat dissipation module 200.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along a cross-section line 3-3′ in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the heat dissipation section 210b of the heat pipe 210 has a circular cross-section (an exact circular cross-section) to cause the heat pipe to have a full heat dissipation performance. However, the heat dissipation section 210b is not limited to a heat pipe with a circular cross-section, a heat pipe with a noncircular cross-section is also applicable. The air channel sidewall 202 has a concave arc section 202a in an outer wall thereof to be in contact with the heat dissipation section 210b of the heat pipe 210. The air channel sidewall 202 has heat dissipation fins 202b in an inner wall thereof, and each heat dissipation fin 202b has its cutout 202c. Thus, the heat dissipation fins 202b have their cutouts 202c to collectively define an inner air channel of the centrifugal fan through which airflows pass through and carry out heat. In this embodiment, the cutouts 202c of the heat dissipation fins 202b are, but not limited to, V-shaped cutouts. The air channel sidewall 202 is made from materials with high thermal efficiencies. In this embodiment, the air channel sidewall 202 is made from metallic materials. The upper cover 206 or lower cover 204 of the centrifugal fan's housing can be made from materials with high thermal efficiencies, e.g., metallic materials. However, the upper cover 206 or lower cover 204 of the centrifugal fan's housing is not limited to materials with high thermal efficiencies, e.g., the upper cover 206 or lower cover 204 of the centrifugal fan's housing can be made from plastic materials. When the upper cover 206, the lower cover 204 and the air channel sidewall 202 are assembled, the heat can be further transferred from the air channel sidewall 202 to the upper cover 206 or the lower cover 204 to expand heat dissipation areas. That is, the upper cover 206 or the lower cover 204 shares the same function, i.e., expanding heat dissipation areas, with the heat dissipation fins 202b.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded view of the heat dissipation module 200 in FIG. 2 to detail the relationships between the components of the heat dissipation module 200. The upper cover 206 of the heat dissipation module 200 has an axial air inlet 206a such that the air above the centrifugal fan can be introduced into the centrifugal fan. The lower cover 204 of the heat dissipation module 200 has an axial air inlet 204a such that the air under the centrifugal fan can be introduced into the centrifugal fan. The heat dissipation module 200 may need single one axial air inlet (204a or 206a), instead of two axial air inlets (204a, 206a) at two opposite sides. The upper cover 206, the lower cover 204 and the air channel sidewall 202 collectively form a complete housing of the centrifugal fan, which encloses an impeller 208 within. The heat dissipation section 210b of the heat pipe 210 is secured to a concave arc section 202a in an outer wall of the air channel sidewall 202.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic view of how a heat dissipation sidewall of a centrifugal fan being manufactured according to an embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, the air channel sidewall 202 can be a metal member manufactured by separating an upper mold 220a and a lower mold 220b vertically along the arrows in the drawings. This manufacturing way is different from a horizontal mold separating way in manufacturing a conventional air channel sidewall.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation sidewall 302 of a centrifugal fan according to another embodiment of this invention. The heat dissipation sidewall 302 has two air channel sidewalls (302a, 302b) combined to increase heat dissipation fins 302d and thus expand heat dissipation areas.

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation sidewall 302′ of a centrifugal fan according to still another embodiment of this invention. The heat dissipation sidewall 302′ has three air channel sidewalls (302a, 302b, 302c) combined to increase heat dissipation fins 302d and thus further expand heat dissipation areas (compared with FIG. 6). In other embodiments, the heat dissipation sidewall may have four or more air channel sidewalls combined to increase heat dissipation fins 302d and thus further expand even more heat dissipation areas.

A performance simulation is conducted both on the heat dissipation module of this invention (the embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 2) and a conventional heat dissipation module (the embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 1) with the same rotation speed centrifugal fan and a table below lists the comparison results. According to the table below, the heat dissipation module of this invention is equipped with a better heat efficiency such that the heat source core temperature is lowered by about 9° C. compared with the conventional heat dissipation module. Furthermore, the heat dissipation module of this invention removes a heat dissipation fin array at a radial air outlet of a conventional heat dissipation module such that the airflow volume is increased by about 0.35 CFM to enhance a total convection within a whole computer system.

	Conventional heat	Heat dissipation module of
	dissipation module	this invention (metal air
	(centrifugal fan with	channel sidewall and metal
	plastic housing)	upper and lower covers)
Heat source	69.3°	C.	60.2°	C.
core temp.
Air outlet	1.28	CFM	1.63	CFM
airflow volume

According to the above-discussed embodiments, the heat dissipation module disclosed herein with its heat pipe secured to an outer wall of the air channel sidewall and air channel sidewall equipped with inner heat dissipation fins, thereby maintaining a heat pipe with a circular cross-section and not being overly flattened and maintaining a full heat dissipation performance for the heat pipe. In addition, a heat dissipation fin array is removed from a radial air outlet of the centrifugal fan in the heat dissipation module disclosed herein, the airflow volume is thus increased to enhance a total convection within a whole computer system.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A heat dissipation module comprising:

a centrifugal fan comprising at least one axial air inlet and a radial air outlet, wherein an air channel sidewall of the centrifugal fan has heat dissipation fins in an inner wall thereof; and

a heat pipe comprising a heat source contact section and a heat dissipation section, wherein the heat dissipation section is in contact with an outer wall of the air channel sidewall, and the heat source contact section is in contact with a heat source.

2. The heat dissipation module of claim 1, wherein the heat dissipation section has a circular cross-section.

3. The heat dissipation module of claim 2, wherein the air channel sidewall has a concave arc section in an outer wall thereof to be in contact with the heat dissipation section of the heat pipe.

4. The heat dissipation module of claim 1, wherein the air channel sidewall is a metallic sidewall.

5. The heat dissipation module of claim 4, wherein the centrifugal fan further comprises an upper cover and a lower cover, the upper cover, the lower cover and the air channel sidewall collectively form a complete housing of the centrifugal fan.

6. The heat dissipation module of claim 5, wherein the upper cover is a metal cover or a plastic cover.

7. The heat dissipation module of claim 5, wherein the lower cover is a metal cover or a plastic cover.

8. The heat dissipation module of claim 1, wherein a contact section between the heat dissipation section and the outer wall of the air channel sidewall is greater than a half length of the air channel sidewall.

9. The heat dissipation module of claim 1, wherein the heat dissipation fins have cutouts to collectively define an inner air channel of the centrifugal fan.

10. The heat dissipation module of claim 9, wherein the cutouts of the heat dissipation fins are V-shaped cutouts.