Patent Publication Number: US-2009223239-A1

Title: Cooling structure for a housing

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a cooling structure for a housing. In particular, this invention relates to a cooling structure for a housing having a cooling chip that can exhaust the heat. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     There are a plurality of circuit boards and electronic elements in the computer housing. When the computer operates, the electronic elements on the circuit boards in the computer housing, such as chips, ICs, generate heat so that the temperature in the computer housing arises. When the temperature in the housing surpasses the temperature specification of the electronic elements, the electronic elements will fail so that the computer is damaged. Therefore, a cooling fan is installed in the computer housing so that the heat generated from the electronic elements in the computer housing is exhausted to outside of the computer housing by utilizing the air flow generated by the cooling fan. 
     However, because the cooling fan of the prior art guides the external air into the computer housing and the temperature of the air may be not enough low, the cooling effect may be insufficient, especially when the temperature is high (such as in summer). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One particular aspect of the present invention is to provide a cooling structure for a housing that has a cooling chip so that the temperature in the housing can be lowered. 
     The cooling structure for a housing is located on the side wall of the housing. The side wall has an air inlet and there is a cooling fan located in the air inlet. The cooling structure for a housing includes a cooling device located on one side of the side wall, and an air-sheltering mask combined with the side wall. 
     The cooling device includes a cooling chip having a cold terminal and a hot terminal, at least one cold part connected with the cold terminal of the cooling chip and located at one side of the cooling fan, and at least one hot part connected with the hot terminal of the cooling chip. 
     The hot part is received between the air-sheltering mask and the side wall. The cold part is located at the out side of the air-sheltering mask. The air-sheltering mask forms an opening that is close to the rear side of the housing. 
     The present invention has the following characteristics. The present invention has the cooling chip so that the temperature in the housing can be rapidly lowered. Furthermore, the present invention is cooperated with the cooling fan of the housing so that it does not need to install another cooling fan and the required space is reduced. 
     For further understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following detailed description illustrating the embodiments and examples of the invention. The description is for illustrative purpose only and is not intended to limit the scope of the claim. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings included herein provide a further understanding of the invention. A brief introduction of the drawings is as follows: 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of the cooling structure for a housing of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is another exploded perspective view of the cooling structure for a housing of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the cooling device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is an assembly perspective view of the cooling device assembled with the air-sheltering mask of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a front view of the cooling device assembled with the air-sheltering mask of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of cross-section  6 - 6  in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is an assembly perspective view of the cooling structure for a housing of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a front view of the cooling structure for a housing of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of cross-section  8 - 8  in  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference is made to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The cooling structure for a housing is located on the side wall  10  of the housing  100  (referring to  FIG. 7 ). The side wall  10  has an air inlet  11  and there is a cooling fan  12  located in the air inlet  11 . In the figure, the diameter of the fan leaves of the cooling fan  12  is 30 cm and is used as an example. However, the dimension of the cooling fan  12  is not limited to above. 
     The cooling fan  12  has an air-input terminal  121  that corresponds to the air inlet  11  and an air-out terminal  122  that corresponds to the air-input terminal  122  (referring to  FIG. 9 ). The cooling structure for a housing includes a cooling device  20  and a air-sheltering mask  30 . 
     Reference is made to  FIGS. 3 and 6 . The cooling device  20  is located on one side of the side wall  10 , and includes a shell  21 , a cooling chip  22 , a first heat-conducting block  23 , a second heat-conducting block  24 , three cold parts  25 , five hot parts  26 , three first hot pipes  27 , and five second hot pipes  28 . 
     In this embodiment, the shell  21  has two pieces, and includes a first shell part  211  and a second shell part  212  assembled with the first shell part  211 . The shell  21  has a first through hole  2111  and a second through hole  2121  that is respectively plugged by the first hot pipe  27  and the second hot pipe  28 . 
     The cooling chip  22 , the first heat-conducting block  23  and the second heat-conducting block  24  are received between the first shell part  211  and the second shell part  212  (the interior of the shell  21 ). The cooling chip  22  is parallel to the side wall  10 . 
     After the cooling chip  22  is conducted with power, a cold terminal  221  and a hot terminal  222  are generated (referring to  FIG. 3 ). The cold terminal  221  and the hot terminal  222  are respectively located at the front side and the rear side of the cooling chip  22 . The first heat-conducting block  23  and the second heat-conducting block  24  are respectively located at the cold terminal  221  and the hot terminal  222  of the cooling chip  22 . 
     A flexible plate  213  is respectively located between the first shell part  211  of the shell  21  and the first heat-conducting block  23  and the second shell part  212  and the second heat-conducting block  24  so that the first heat-conducting block  23  and the second heat-conducting block  24  respectively tightly contact the cold terminal  221  and the hot terminal  222  of the cooling chip  22 . 
     In this embodiment, the cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26  are cooling fins, but not limited to above. The cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26  are radially disposed and are respectively located at one side of the cooling fan  12  that is close to the air-output terminal  122  along the air direction of the cooling fan  12  (referring to  FIG. 9 ). The cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26  are parallel to the side wall  10 , and are located at the same plane to form a thin structure. 
     One end of each of the first hot pipes  27  is connected with the surface of the first heat-guiding block  23  to connect the cold terminal  221  of the cooling chip  22 . The second end of the first hot pipe  27  extends along a direction that is parallel to the side wall  10  and is connected with the cold part  25  so that the cold part  25  connects the cold terminal  221  of the cooling chip  22  via the first hot pipe  27  and the first heat-guiding block  23 . 
     One end of each of the second hot pipes  28  is connected with the surface of the second heat-guiding block  24  to connect the hot terminal  222  of the cooling chip  22 . The second end of the second hot pipe  28  extends along a direction that is parallel to the side wall  10  and is connected with the hot part  26  so that the hot part  26  connects the hot terminal  222  of the cooling chip  22 . 
     The air-sheltering mask  30  is hollow and has an enclosing wall  31 . The enclosing wall  31  has a plurality of openings  32  that are plugged by the first hot pipes  27 . The enclosing wall  31  is located between the cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26  (referring to  FIG. 4 ) to separate the cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26 . 
     At the edge of the air-sheltering mask  30 , there is a plurality of installing portions  33 . The air-sheltering mask  30  is combined with the side wall  10  (referring to  FIG. 7 ) via the installing portions  33  by a screwing way or other fastening ways. The air-sheltering mask  30  has an opening  34  that is close to the rear side of the housing  100 (referring to  FIG. 7 ) for exhausting the air. 
     Reference is made to  FIGS. 7˜9 . When the cooling structure for a housing is assembled, the shell  21  of the cooling device  20  is assembled with the air-sheltering mask  30  via a screwing way or other fastening ways (referring to  FIG. 2 ). 
     The air-sheltering mask  30  and the side wall  10  form a receiving space A (referring to  FIG. 9 ). The opening  34  of the air-sheltering mask  30  links with the receiving space A. The hot part  26  is received in the receiving space A. The cold part  26  is located at outside of the air-sheltering mask  30 . 
     When the cooling structure for a housing is operated, the cold terminal  221  of the cooling chip  22  cooperates with the first heat-conducting block  23 , the first hot pipes  27  and the cold parts  25  to generate cold air around the cold parts  25 . 
     The hot terminal  222  of the cooling chip  22  cooperates with the second heat-conducting block  24 , the second hot pipes  28  and the hot parts  26  so that the heat generated from the cooling chip  22  is conducted to the hot parts  26 . 
     When the cooling fan is rotated, part of the air flow generated by the cooling fan  12  directly passes through the cold parts  25  due to the air-sheltering mask  30 . Thereby, the cold air is directly blown into the housing  100  so that the temperature in the housing  100  is substantially reduced. The cooling effect is excellent. 
     At this time, the other air flow generated by the cooling fan  12  blows the hot parts  26  to guide the heat of the hot parts  26  to the heat-exhausting hole (not shown in the figure) located at the rear side of the housing  100  via the opening  34  of the air-sheltering mask  30  and to exhaust the heat to outside of the housing  100 . 
     In above embodiment, the cooling fan  12  blows both the cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26  to exhaust heat, but not limited to above. 
     Furthermore, the side wall  10  also can has another cooling fan (not shown in the figure) around the air inlet  11  so that the cold parts  25  are located at one side of the cooling fan  12  along the direction of the air flow of the cooling fan  12  and the hot parts  26  are located at one side of another cooling fan along the direction of the air flow of another cooling fan. The two cooling fans respectively blow the cold parts  25  and the hot parts  26  to increase the cooling efficiency. 
     The cooling structure for a housing of the present invention has the following characteristics: 
     1. The present invention has the cooling chip so that the temperature in the housing can be rapidly lowered. Furthermore, the present invention is cooperated with the cooling fan of the housing so that it does not need to install another cooling fan and the required space is reduced. 
     2. The present invention utilizes the cooling fan located at the side wall of the housing to guide the heat generated from the cooling chip to the rear side of the housing and exhaust the heat. Therefore, no opening is required for exhausting the heat. 
     3. The present invention can cooperate with a cooling fan having a large dimension. It utilizes the characteristic of the cooling fan having a large air-exhausting flow so that the heat can be rapidly exhausted via the rear side of the housing. The cooling fan merely needs to be operated at a low rotation speed. The noise can be substantially reduced and the heat can be rapidly exhausted. 
     The description above only illustrates specific embodiments and examples of the invention. The invention should therefore cover various modifications and variations made to the herein-described structure and operations of the invention, provided they fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the following appended claims.