Patent Publication Number: US-2009223649-A1

Title: Heat dissipating module capable of removing dust

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a heat dissipating module and, more particularly, to a heat dissipating module capable of removing dust. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     With the progress of the electronic science and technology, functions of an electronic product become more and more complicated and powerful. The operating speed of an internal microprocessor of the electronic product should become quicker and quicker to deal with heavy system operating workloads. However, when the operating speed of the microprocessor continuously increases, heat generated in the operating process also continuously increases. Therefore, when manufacturers design the electronic product, heat dissipation should be considered. 
     As far as a notebook computer is considered, since it is light, slim, short, small, and portable, internal components are generally arranged closely. Thus, heat generated by every component (in particular, a central processing unit) accumulates quickly. If the heat dissipation problem is not well dealt with, the system may be down, and the internal components may even be burned. Therefore, the heat dissipation efficiency has a crucial effect on the performance of the notebook computer. 
     Generally speaking, in the notebook computer, a combination of a fan and a heat sink is used on an electronic component whose heat needs to be dissipated such as a central processing unit to achieve heat dissipation.  FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a conventional heat dissipating module  10 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the heat dissipating module  10  includes a case  12 , a fan  14 , and a heat dissipating part  16 . The case  12  has an air outlet  18 . The fan  14  is installed in the case  12 . The heat dissipating part  16  is near to the air outlet  18 , and the heat dissipating part  16  has parallell heat conducting fins  20 . When the electronic component operates to generate heat, the heat dissipating module  10  drives air to flow by the rotation of the fan  14  and expels the heat generated from the electronic components by heat conduction of the heat conducting fins  20  of the heat dissipating part  16 . Thus, the heat is dissipated and the temperature is reduced. Since airflow generated in the heat dissipation process may drive internal dust, dust is accumulated on the heat dissipating part  16  after the notebook computer has operated for a long time. That is, much dust adheres to the heat conducting fins  20  of the heat dissipating part  16 , which reduces heat dissipation of the heat dissipating module  10 . The above situation may be improved by detaching the heat dissipating part  16  to clean dust or installing a filter. However, detaching the heat dissipating part  16  is not easy, and fan blades may be broke in the detaching process. If the filter is used to shield off the dust, airflow resistance increases, the heat dissipation ability is affected, and noise increases. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One objective of the invention is to provide a heat dissipating module capable of removing dust accumulating on a heat dissipating part to solve the above problem. 
     The embodiment of the invention discloses a heat dissipating module capable of removing dust. The heat dissipating module includes a case, a fan, a heat dissipating part, and a dust removal device. The case has a first air opening and a second air opening. The fan is installed in the case, and it is used to guide air to flow through the first air opening and the second air opening. The heat dissipating part is located at the second air opening, and it has a plurality of heat conducting fins. The dust removal device is disposed between the second air opening and the heat dissipating part. The dust removal device includes a window structure and a plurality of dust scraping parts. The window structure allows the air guided by the fan to pass through. The dust scraping parts and the heat conducting fins are placed interlacedly. 
     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a conventional heat dissipating module; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a heat dissipating module according to a first embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a dust removal device of the heat dissipating module in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a partial sectional diagram of a heat conducting fin and a dust scraping part in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing relative positions of the dust removal device and a heat dissipating part of the heat dissipating module in  FIG. 2  when they are assembled; and 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of a heat dissipating module according to a second embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a heat dissipating module  50  according to a first embodiment of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the heat dissipating module  50  includes a case  52 , a fan  54 , a heat dissipating part  56 , and a dust removal device  58 . The case  52  has a first air opening  60  and a second air opening  62 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the first air opening  60  is substantially perpendicular to the second air opening  62 . The fan  54  is installed in the case  52 , and it is used to guide air to flow through the first air opening  60  and the second air opening  62 . For example, when the fan  54  rotates, the fan  54  expels the air from the second air opening  62  via the rotation of the fan blades. Thereby, the air passes through the heat dissipating part  56  to dissipate heat. The heat dissipating part  56  is located at the second air opening  62 , and the heat dissipating part  56  includes a plurality of parallell heat conducting fins  64 . The dust removal device  58  is disposed between the second air opening  62  and the heat dissipating part  56 . The dust removal device  58  includes a window structure  65  and a plurality of dust scraping parts  66 . The window structure  65  is used to allow the air guided by the fan  54  to pass through, and the dust scraping parts  66  are used to scrape dust adhering to the heat conducting fins  64  of the heat dissipating part  56 . 
     The structure of the dust removal device is described in detail hereinbelow.  FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram showing a structure of the dust removal device  58  in  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 4  is a partial sectional diagram of the heat conducting fin  64  and the dust scraping part  66  in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the dust scraping parts  66  may be a plurality of toothed hooks. That is, the dust scraping parts  66  bend and extend upward at an angle from the bottom of the dust removal device  58 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the heat dissipating part  56  includes a plurality of parallell heat conducting fins  64 , and every heat conducting fin  64  has a gap  68  at the top. The gap  68  of each heat conducting fin  64  allows the corresponding dust scraping part  66  to slide from the top of the heat conducting fin  64  to the space between the heat conducting fins  64 . Thereby, the dust removal device  58  is assembled on the heat dissipating part  56 . However, the assembling mode of the heat conducting fins  64  and the dust scraping parts  66  is not limited. That is, the dust scraping parts  66  of the dust removal device  58  may also be inserted to the space between the heat conducting fins  64  of the heat dissipating part  56  at other angles. 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing relative positions of the dust removal device  58  and the heat dissipating part  56  in  FIG. 2  when they are assembled. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the dust scraping parts  66  and the heat conducting fins  64  of the heat dissipating part  56  are placed interlacedly, and the dust scraping parts  66  are inserted to the space between the heat conducting fins  64 . Thereby, the dust removal device  58  is assembled on the heat dissipating part  56 . Thus, when the heat conducting fins  64  has much dust to affect heat dissipation of the heat dissipating module  50 , users only need to raise the dust removal device  58  upward to make the dust removal device  58  separated from the heat dissipating part  56 . In the process, since the dust scraping parts  66  have a structure of bending and extending upward at an angle, the dust scraping parts  66  scrape dust adhering to the heat conducting fins  64  as the users raise the dust removal device  58 . After cleaning the taken dust removal device  58 , the users may insert the dust scraping parts  66  of the dust removal device  58  to the space between the heat conducting fins  58  that the dust scraping parts  66  correspond to. Thus, the dust removal device  58  is assembled with the heat dissipating part  56  again. 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of a heat dissipating module  100  according to a second embodiment of the invention. The difference between the heat dissipating module  100  and the heat dissipating module  50  of the first embodiment is the design of a dust removal device. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the heat dissipating module  100  includes a case  52 , a fan  54 , a heat dissipating part  56 , and a dust removal device  102 . The case  52  has a first air opening  60  and a second air opening  62 . The fan  54  is installed in the case  52 , and it is used to guide air to flow through the first air opening  60  and the second air opening  62 . The heat dissipating part  56  is located at the second air opening  62 , and the heat dissipating part  56  includes a plurality of parallell heat conducting fins  64 . The dust removal device  102  is disposed between the second air opening  62  and the heat dissipating part  56 , and the dust removal device  102  includes a window structure  65 , a plurality of dust scraping parts  104 , and a pull handle  106 . The dust scraping parts  104  are used to scrape dust adhering to the heat conducting fins  64  of the heat dissipating part  56 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , the dust scraping parts  104  are a plurality of extended posts perpendicular to and protrudent from the bottom of the dust removal device  102 . It is the same with what shown in  FIG. 5 , the dust scraping parts  104  and the heat conducting fins  64  of the heat dissipating part  56  are placed interlacedly, and the dust scraping parts  104  are inserted to the space between the corresponding heat conducting fins  64 . The pull handle  106  is disposed on the dust removal device  102 . Thus, when the heat conducting fins  64  have much dust to affect heat dissipation of the heat dissipating module  100 , users only need to exert a pull force on the pull handle  106  to raise the dust removal device  102  upward, and then the dust removal device  102  is separated from the heat dissipating part  56 . In the process, the dust scraping parts  104  scrape dust adhering to the heat conducting fins  64  as the users raise the dust removal device  102 . After cleaning the taken dust removal device  102 , the users insert the dust scraping parts  104  of the dust removal device  102  to the space between the heat conducting fins  64  that the dust scraping parts correspond to. Thus, the dust removal device  102  is assembled with the heat dissipating part  56  again. Furthermore, the dust removal device  102  further includes a filter  108 . The filter  108  is installed in the window structure  65  to improve the situation that dust accumulates on heat conducting fins  64 . The extended post structure of the dust scraping parts  104  is not limited, and this depends on a practical application. For example, the relative angle between the extended post structure of the dust scraping parts  104  and the bottom of the dust removal device  102  may be one of other angles besides an angle of 90 degrees. 
     The design of the gap structure in the first embodiment and the additional disposition of the filter and the pull handle in the second embodiment can be adapted for the first embodiment and the second embodiment mutually. In addition, the dust scraping parts may be located at other positions besides the bottom of the dust removal device, which depends on design requirements of a practical mechanism. 
     In the invention, the dust scraping parts of the dust removal device are used to remove dust in the heat dissipating part. When the heat dissipating module has much dust adhering to the heat conducting fins to affect heat dissipation of the heat dissipating module after being used a long time, the users only need to raise the dust removal device upward by the pull handle to take out the dust removal device from the heat dissipating module. In the process, since the dust scraping parts of the dust removal device have their own structure characteristics, they can scrape dust adhering to the heat conducting fins as the users raise the dust removal device. After cleaning the taken dust removal device, the users can insert the dust removal device to the corresponding space along relative positions (shown in  FIG. 5 ) of the dust scraping parts and the heat conducting fins which are interlacedly disposed to assemble the heat dissipating part and the dust removal device. Thus, the users can remove the dust adhering to the heat conducting fins easily without using instruments and detaching a fan or a heat sink. 
     Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope of the invention. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above.