Abstract:
The invention discloses an electronic apparatus and a projector by use of two passages formed in a casing for two air-flows passing through, each of which is generated by at least fan. Heat-dissipation devices are disposed in the passages substantially evenly so as to dissipate the heat generated in operation by an optical module disposed in the casing by the air-flows. The purpose of efficient usage of the apparatus space is therefore achieved. For the basis of special heat-dissipation requirement and assembly design, one of the fans is disposed between two of the heat-dissipation devices so that the two heat-dissipation devices could obtain better heat-dissipation efficiency; further, there could be an open space disposed between two of the heat-dissipation devices and adjacent to a light source of the optical module for the installation of the light source and the following installation of the fan, so that the whole volume of the electronic apparatus or the projector could be further reduced.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus and a projector having a suitable heat-dissipation fan configuration to obtain good heat-dissipation efficiency. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    With the development of the electronic technology, various electronic products are used in our daily life. Most electronic products have heat dissipation issues. Poor heat dissipation not only shortens the life of the electronic components in the electronic product, but also directly affects the performance of the electronic product. For example, when a projector has poor heat dissipation performance, the temperature of the light source of the projector will become very high. If a lamp is used as light source, the lamp will be burned; if a LED is used as light source, the light emitting efficiency of the LED will be poor, and the color performance of the image projected by the projector will be also poor. 
         [0005]    Recently, all kinds of consumer electronic products are designed to become smaller and thinner. Although this design enhances the affinity of electronic products to the users, it also makes the above-mentioned heat dissipation issues become more serious. The current heat dissipation solutions are to use the low heat-emission electronic components, or to use the fan to guide the air-flow to dissipate the heat generated by the electronic components. Although using the low heat-emission electronic components can reduce the heat generated in the electronic product, the air-flow heat dissipation method is also needed to dissipate the heat. In the fan guiding air-flow heat dissipation solutions, how to dispose the fans to guide the air-flow to reach better heat dissipation efficiency will be a key point. 
         [0006]    However, under the design requirements of small size and thin thickness, how to design suitable air-flow paths in the definite space of the electronic product to reach good heat dissipation efficiency will be an important issue needed to be overcome. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A scope of the invention is to provide an electronic apparatus having suitable fan configuration to reach good heat dissipation efficiency. 
         [0008]    The electronic apparatus of the invention includes a casing, an optical module, a first heat-dissipation device, a second heat-dissipation device, and a first fan. The casing includes a first air-inlet and a first air-outlet, wherein a first passage is formed between the first air-inlet and the first air-outlet. The optical module is disposed in the casing; the optical module has a first light source and a second light source. The first heat-dissipation device is disposed on the first passage and connected to the first light source. The second heat-dissipation device is disposed on the first passage and connected to the second light source. The first fan is disposed between the first heat-dissipation device and the second heat-dissipation device on the first passage. The first fan generates a first air-flow passing through the first heat-dissipation device and the second heat-dissipation device. By doing so, the first heat-dissipation device and the second heat-dissipation device disposed at two sides of the first fan can obtain good heat dissipation efficiency. 
         [0009]    In addition, the casing further includes a second air-inlet and a second air-outlet, and a second passage is formed between the second air-inlet and the second air-outlet, the optical module comprises a third light source, the electronic apparatus further includes a third heat-dissipation device and a second fan. The third heat-dissipation device is disposed on the second passage and connected to the third light source. The second fan is disposed on the second passage, and the second fan generates a second air-flow passing through the third heat-dissipation device, wherein the first passage and the second passage are substantially parallel. In practical applications, the first passage and the second passage can be designed as a straight passage respectively. With the suitable configurations of the first passage and the second passage, the first air-flow and the second air-flow can pass around the inside of the casing, so that the heat generated by the electronic components disposed in the casing can be fully dissipated. 
         [0010]    Another scope of the invention is to provide a projector having suitable fan configuration to reach good heat dissipation efficiency, so that the temperature of the light source will be well-controlled to reach good projection color performance. 
         [0011]    The projector of the invention includes a casing, an optical module, a first heat-dissipation device, a second heat-dissipation device, a first fan, and a second fan. The casing includes a first air-inlet, a second air-inlet, a first air-outlet, and a second air-outlet, wherein a first passage is formed between the first air-inlet and the first air-outlet, a second passage is formed between the second air-inlet and the second air-outlet. The optical module is disposed in the casing, and the optical module has a first light source and a second light source. The first heat-dissipation device is disposed on the first passage and connected to the first light source. The second heat-dissipation device is disposed on the second passage and connected to the second light source. The first fan is disposed on the first passage, and the first fan generates a first air-flow passing through the first heat-dissipation device. The second fan is disposed on the second passage, and the second fan generates a second air-flow passing through the second heat-dissipation device. 
         [0012]    In addition, the projector further includes a third heat-dissipation device, and the optical module includes a third light source, the third heat-dissipation device is disposed on the first passage and connected to the third light source. Therefore, the first air-flow also passes through the third heat-dissipation device. By doing so, the heat of the three light sources of the projector can be effectively dissipated by the three heat-dissipation devices, so that the temperature of the light source can be controlled, and the projector can be operated under normal light emitting efficiency. 
         [0013]    Similarly, with the suitable configurations of the first passage and the second passage, the first air-flow and the second air-flow can pass through the inside of the casing, so that the heat of the electronic components in the casing can be fully dissipated. 
         [0014]    Another scope of the invention is to provide a projector having suitable fan configuration to reach good heat dissipation efficiency, so that the temperature of the light source will be well-controlled and the stability that the optical module providing lights will be also increased to reach good projection color performance. 
         [0015]    The projector of the invention includes a casing, an optical module, a first heat-dissipation device, and a first fan. The casing includes a first air-inlet and a first air-outlet, wherein a first passage is formed between the first air-inlet and the first air-outlet. The optical module is disposed on the first passage, and the optical module has a first light source. The first heat-dissipation device is disposed on the first passage and connected to the first light source. The first fan is disposed on the first passage, and the first fan generates a first air-flow passing through the first heat-dissipation device and the optical module. By doing so, the optical module can dissipate heat via the first air-flow, not only the temperature of the light source can be controlled, the deformation of the light coupling component (e.g., a prism) of the optical module can be also reduced, so that the light-emission stability of the optical module will be enhanced. 
         [0016]    Compared to the prior arts, the electronic apparatus and the projector of the invention have suitable fan configurations to reach good heat dissipation efficiency for the electronic components disposed in the casing, so that the temperature of the light source will be well-controlled and the stability that the optical module providing lights will be also increased to reach good projection color performance. Furthermore, the entire volume of the electronic apparatus and the projector can be further reduced to meet the requirements of small size and thickness. 
         [0017]    The objective of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an electronic apparatus in an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of an electronic apparatus in another embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0020]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an electronic apparatus in an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the electronic apparatus is a projector  1 , but not limited to this case. The projector  1  includes a casing  12 , an optical module  14 , three heat-dissipation devices  16  (marked by a dotted line),  18  (marked by a dotted line), and  20 , and two fans  22  and  24 . 
         [0021]    The casing  12  has three sides  122   a,    122   b,  and  122   c.  The side  122   c  is adjacent to the sides  122   a  and  122   b  respectively; the sides  122   a  and  122   b  are oppositely disposed. In the casing  12 , the side  122   a  has two air-inlets  124   a  and  126   a,  and the side  122   b  has two air-outlets  124   b  and  126   b.  A passage W 1  is formed between the air-inlet  124   a  and the air-outlet  124   b,  and an air-flow F 1  generated by the fan  22  can pass through the passage W 1  (marked by a thin solid line arrow box); another passage W 2  is formed between the air-inlet  126   a  and the air-outlet  126   b,  and an air-flow F 2  generated by the fan  24  can pass through the passage W 2  (marked by a thin solid line arrow box). Wherein, according to the embodiment, the range of the passage W 1  is about the bottom half of the casing  12  shown in  FIG. 1 , and the range of the passage W 2  is about the upper half of the casing  12  shown in  FIG. 1 . And, the passage W 1  and the passage W 2  are separated by a chain line L. In other words, the inner space of the casing  12  is substantially covered by the two passages W 1  and W 2 , therefore, all electronic components disposed in the casing  12  can obtain the heat-dissipation effect of the air-flows F 1  and F 2 . However, the invention is not limited by the above-mentioned passage configurations. In addition, according to the configurations of the components in the embodiment, the passages W 1  and W 2  are both straight line passages and substantially parallel to each other, but not limited by this case. 
         [0022]    The optical module  14  is disposed in the casing  12  and also on the passage W 1 ; the optical module  14  also has three light sources  14   a,    14   b,    14   c,  and an optical coupling device  14   d.  The heat-dissipation device  16  is disposed on the passage W 1  and connected to the light source  14   a;  the heat-dissipation device  18  is disposed on the passage W 1  and connected to the light source  14   b;  the heat-dissipation device  20  is disposed on the passage W 2  and connected to the light source  14   c.  According to the embodiment, the light source  14   a  is guided by a heat pipe  17  to connect to the heat-dissipation device  16 ; the light source  14   b  is guided by a heat pipe  19  to connect to the heat-dissipation device  18 ; the light source  14   c  is directly connected to the heat-dissipation device  20 . For example, the heat-dissipation device  20  includes a heat conductive base connected to the light source  14   c  and the fins extended from the heat conductive base, and the heat conductive base itself can be a vapor chamber. Of course, the light source  14   c  can also connect to the heat-dissipation device  20  via a heat pipe. In other words, the invention is not limited by the above-mentioned connecting ways, any connecting way providing heat transferring and dissipating functions can be also used in the invention. 
         [0023]    The fan  22  is disposed on the passage W 1  and between the heat-dissipation devices  16  and  18 , therefore, the air-flow F 1  generated by the fan  22  will pass through the heat-dissipation devices  16  and  18  to directly dissipate the heat generated by the heat-dissipation devices  16  and  18 , and indirectly dissipate the heat generated by the light sources  14   a  and  14   b.  The fan  24  is disposed on the passage W 2 , therefore, the air-flow F 2  generated by the fan  24  will pass through the heat-dissipation devices  20  to directly dissipate the heat generated by the heat-dissipation device  20 , and indirectly dissipate the heat generated by the light source  14   c.    
         [0024]    According to the embodiment, the casing  12  also includes two fans  26  and  28 . The fans  26  and  22  will guide the air-flow F 1  together to make the air-flow F 1  have more stable flowing rate and heat-dissipation efficiency. If the fan  26  is disposed adjacent to the air-outlet  124   b,  the above-mentioned stability will be enhanced. Similarly, the fans  28  and  24  guide the air-flow F 2  together, to make the air-flow F 2  have more stable flowing rate and heat-dissipation efficiency. If the fan  28  is disposed adjacent to the air-outlet  126   b,  the above-mentioned stability will be enhanced. 
         [0025]    In addition, the fan  24  is disposed adjacent to air-inlet  126   a  to enforce the air-flow F 2  to flow into the passage W 2 , and the air-flow F 2  is enforced to flow out of the passage W 2  by the fan  28 . In the embodiment, the passages W 1  and W 2  are substantially parallel as a straight line, so that the stable air-flows F 1  and F 2  can be formed. Although the fan  22  is not directly attached to the air-inlet  124   a,  since the heat-dissipation device  16  is disposed directly adjacent to the air-inlet  124   a,  and the fan  22  is disposed adjacent to the heat-dissipation device  16 , after the air-flow F 1  enters into the air-inlet  124   a  and passes through the heat-dissipation device  16 , the air-flow F 1  will be enforced by the fan  22  to flow. If the heat-dissipation device  16  is formed by fins parallel to the flowing direction of the air-flow F 1 , the fins can also guide air-flow to enforce the effect of guiding the air-flow F 1  performed by the fan  22 , and the guiding effect will not be reduced because the fan  22  is not directly attached to the air-inlet  124   a.    
         [0026]    It should be further mentioned that in the embodiment, the inner space of the casing  12  is roughly covered by the passages W 1  and W 2 , therefore, the heat generated by the electronic components disposed in the casing  12  can be dissipated by the air-flows F 1  and F 2 , and the passages W 1  and W 2  are both straight line passages and parallel to each other. Therefore, the turbulence of the air-flows will be largely reduced, so that the air-flows F 1  and F 2  can flow more smoothly. 
         [0027]    In addition, in the embodiment, the heat-dissipation devices  16 ,  18 , and  20  include a plurality of fins  16   a,    18   a,  and  20   a,  and the length directions of the heat-dissipation devices  16  and  18  are substantially parallel to the flowing directions of the air-flow F 1  and F 2 . In other words, the fins  16   a,    18   a,  and  20   a  have effect of guiding air-flow at the same time, so that the turbulence of the air-flows will be largely reduced, so that the air-flows F 1  and F 2  can flow more smoothly. 
         [0028]    According to the embodiment, the projector  1  also includes an optical engine  32 , a camera lens  34 , a power supply modules  36 ,  40 , and a driving module  38 . The optical engine  32  is disposed opposite to the optical module  14  between the heat-dissipation device  20  and the air-outlet  126   b.  The driving module  38  is disposed below the heat-dissipation device  20  (it can be disposed beyond the heat-dissipation device  20 ); so that the air-flow F 2  can dissipate the heat generated by the driving module  38  and the heat-dissipation device  20  at the same time. The driving module  38  is used to drive the light sources  14   a,    14   b,    14   c  to emit lights and other electronic components to operate. The side  12   c  of the casing  12  also has an opening  128 , the camera lens  34  is disposed on the opening  128  opposite to the optical engine  32 . The optical coupling device  14   d  guides the lights emitted from the light sources  14   a,    14   b,  and  14   c  into the optical engine  32 . Then, the lights are modulated by the optical engine  32  and projected by the camera lens  34 , for example, to a screen. The power supply module  36  is disposed between the heat-dissipation device  18  and the fan  26 ; the power supply module  40  is disposed between the optical engine  32  and the fan  28 . The power supply modules  36  and  40  are used to provide and control the power needed for operating the entire electronic apparatus (the projector  1 ). 
         [0029]    In addition, according to the embodiment, the projector  1  directly uses LED as the color light source, and the prism can be used as the optical coupling device  14   d,  wherein the light source  14   a  is a red-light LED light source, the light source  14   b  is a green-light LED light source, and the light source  14   c  is a blue-light LED light source. Because the light emitting efficiency of the red-light LED is more sensitive to temperature, therefore, the red-light LED is connected to the heat-dissipation device  16 , so that it can gain benefit by exchanging heat with the air-flow F 1  at low-temperature. Furthermore, the projector  1  also includes the heat-dissipation device  30  (marked by a dotted-line frame) disposed between the fan  24  and the heat-dissipation device  20 , and the heat-dissipation device  30  is connected to the light source  14   a  (as shown in  FIG. 1 , connected by a heat pipe  31  guiding way). Similarly, the heat-dissipation device  30  can gain benefit by exchanging heat with the air-flow F 2  at low-temperature, therefore, the light source  14   a  (the red-light LED light source) can reach better heat-dissipation effect to further control the operation temperature and light emitting efficiency well. It should be further mentioned that the purpose of using the light source  14   a  as the red-light LED light source in this embodiment is to provide better heat-dissipation conditions for the red-light LED light source, the invention is not limited by this case. 
         [0030]    From the mentions above, it can be found that the air-flow F 1  in order enters into the casing  12  from the air-inlet  124   a,  passes through the heat-dissipation device  16 , pressed by fan  22 , passes through the heat-dissipation device  18  and the power supply module  36 , at last, the air-flow F 1  is pressed by the fan  26  to pass through the air-outlet  124   b  to be out of the casing  12 . Therefore, the heat generated by all electronic devices disposed on the passage W 1  can be dissipated. On the other hand, the air-flow F 2  is in order pressed by the fan  24  and enters into the casing  12  from the air-inlet  126   a,  passes through the heat-dissipation devices  30  and  20 , the driving module  38 , and the optical coupling module  14   d,  and then passes through the optical engine  32  and the power supply module  40 , at last, the air-flow F 2  is pressed by the fan  28  to pass through the air-outlet  126   b  to be out of the casing  12 . Therefore, the heat generated by the electronic devices disposed on the passage W 2  can be also dissipated. It should be further mentioned that the optical coupling device  14   d  and the camera lens  34  are not direct heat sources, only when the optical coupling device  14   d  and the camera lens  34  are penetrated by the lights for a long period of time, the optical coupling device  14   d  and the camera lens  34  will absorb a lot of heat, therefore, the heat-dissipation requirements will be generated. In this embodiment, the optical coupling device  14   d  is disposed on the passage W 2 , therefore, the heat generated by the optical coupling device  14   d  can be dissipated by the air-flow F 2 , so that the optical coupling effect will not be affected by thermal deformation. The camera lens  34  is partially disposed on the passage W 2 , so that its heat can be dissipated by the air-flow F 2 . In prior art, less attention is paid for the heat-dissipation of the camera lens in the design of the conventional projector, so that the surface curvature of the camera lens will be changed due to overheat, and the projection effect will be affected. 
         [0031]    In addition, in this embodiment, the fan  22  is disposed on an open space between the heat-dissipation devices  16  and  18  (i.e., the position of the fan  22 ). The open space is adjacent to the light source  14   b,  therefore, when the projector  1  is assembled; the user can assemble the light source  14   b  through this open space before the fan  22  is assembled. With that, the inner space of the entire projector  1  used for assembling will be largely reduced to shrink the entire volume of the projector  1 . On the other hand, when the light source  14   b  is required to be dissembled, the fan  22  should be dissembled at first, so that this open space will be available for the user to dissemble the light source  14   b  through this open space. 
         [0032]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of an electronic apparatus in another embodiment of the invention. Similarly, a projector  3  is used as an example of the electronic apparatus in  FIG. 2 . The projector  3  of  FIG. 2  is substantially the same with the projector  1  of  FIG. 1 , and the difference between the projector  3  of  FIG. 2  and the projector  1  of  FIG. 1  is that the projector  3  further includes the heat-dissipation device  42  (marked by a dotted-line frame) disposed between the heat-dissipation device  16  and the fan  22 , and the light source  14   b  is connected to the heat-dissipation device  18  and  42  respectively. In this embodiment (or the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 ), the light source  14   b  is a green-light LED light source having larger heat generating amount compared to the other light sources  14   a  and  14   c,  therefore, larger heat-dissipation area is provided for enough heat-dissipation efficiency. Considering the heat-dissipation requirement for the light source  14   a  (red-light LED light source) at the same time, the heat-dissipation device  42  is added to be disposed between the heat-dissipation device  16  and the fan  22  to increase the heat-dissipation area of the light source  14   b,  so that the light source  14   a  can still have a heat-dissipation medium of the air-flow F 1  with relative low temperature. It should be further mentioned that although the above-mentioned embodiments have two passages and three light sources at the same time, the number of the passages and the light sources can be determined according to the practical configuration of the electronic devices in the electronic apparatus. This invention is not limited by the number and the configuration shown in the above-mentioned embodiments. 
         [0033]    Above all, the electronic apparatus and the projector of the invention have smooth passages for the air-flows passing smoothly, so that the turbulence of the air-flows can be reduced and the heat-dissipation efficiency will be increased. In the special configuration shown in the above-mentioned prior arts, several independent passages are disposed to cover the entire inner space of the electronic apparatus to dissipate the heat generated by all electronic devices disposed in the electronic apparatus, so that the number of the flow guiding plate disposed will be reduced, and the volume of the entire electronic apparatus can be further reduced, the electronic devices can be densely disposed as shown in the above-mentioned embodiments to meet the design trend of small size and thickness. 
         [0034]    Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it should be understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiment but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.