Patent Abstract:
A heat sink having auto switching function, a heat sink system and a heat sinking method are disclosed. The heat sink receives a control command sent by an external device. An internal heat sink device is controlled according to content of the control command to control power ON or power OFF of a thermoelectric cooler of the heat sink device or to control power ON, power OFF, or change rotation speed setting of a heat sink fan in the heat sink device. Thus, the heat sink auto switches operations of the heat sink device correspondingly according to temperature changes of the external device.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention generally relates to a heat sink, in particular to a heat sink, a heat sink system having a heat sink and the heat sinking method for the same. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     Since the invention, computers have become indispensible part of everyday life. Various computers are developed to meet all kinds of demands by users, such as personal computer (PC), notebook (or referred as laptop) or barebones. Among which, notebooks became popular immediately when the product was introduced in the beginning as a result of the easy to carry feature the notebook delivers. Up-to-date, notebook remains the favorite computer category of users. 
     With the advance of the technology and semiconductor industry, the hardware operating capability is increasing and processing speed becomes faster and faster. At the same time, the heat generated from continuous high speed processing of the hardware also increases. Ordinary personal computer has casing of much larger dimensions which provides spacious space inside the casing. Sufficient space provides better heat sinking performance and allows designs to add one or more heat sink fans or heat sink fins in the casing for offering better heat sinking capacity for hardware components generating more heat such as a CPU (Central Process Unit, CPU), a graphic card and a memory. Though, ordinary notebook is designed by weight and dimension within a certain range in order to be easy to carry for users. As a result, the space free for installing additional heat sink fans or heat sink fins is insufficient. Frequently, a notebook becomes hot or very hot to the touch on its body (in particular the bottom of the notebook). Under the circumstance, operation of the notebook hardware starts to slow down due to excess heat left unattended. In the worst case, the hardware may be burnt by the heat. 
     To address the above problem, many heat sink pads for heat sinking the heat generated by a notebook are introduced in the market. Refer to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 1  is a solid diagram of a prior art heat sink. A heat sink pad  10  shown in the  FIG. 1  has a base made by heat sinking materials (such as aluminum). When a notebook (not shown) is placed on the heat sink pad  10 , the bottom of the notebook directly contacts with the surface of the heat sink pad  10              surface  11  where the materials of the heat sink pad perform heat sinking by thermal conduction. Further, the heat sink pad  10  has a switch  12 , and installs one or more fans  13  on the bottom of the surface  11 . When a power wire  14  is connected to the heat sink pad  10  for powering the heat sink pad  10 , heat sinking capability of the heat sink pad  10  is enhanced following the fan  13  is powered ON by the switch  12 .
     However, the traditional heat sink pad  10  mentioned above has at least the following disadvantages: 
     1. It is required to manually switch the switch  12  to trigger power ON or power OFF of the fan  13 . If the switch  12  is not switched to power ON, the heat sink pad  10  does not perform heat sinking and fails its function. Also, if the switch  12  is not switched to power OFF, the fan  13  continues to operate and creates unnecessary power consumption. 
     2. The rotation speed of the fan  13  is fixed and does not change in respond to the concurrent temperature of a notebook. Therefore the heat sinking performance is limited. 
     To address the above problems, a novel system and a method are proposed by the inventor to improve the above problems for increasing the heat sinking performance of a heat sink pad or a heat sink and further enhanced the operation safety of using a notebook. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The objective of the present invention is to provide a heat sink having auto switching function, heat sink system and the heat sinking method for the same. The heat sink receives a control command sent by an external device as a result of temperature changes for auto controlling operations of a heat sink device according to temperature status of an external device. 
     To achieve the above objective, a notebook and a heat sink are connected according to the present invention. The temperature of the notebook is detected via a temperature sensing device. When the temperature of the notebook reaches a threshold value, a control command is sent to the heat sink. The heat sink controls a heat sink device according to control command for controlling power ON or power OFF of a thermoelectric cooler of the heat sink device, or to control power ON, power OFF, or change rotation speed setting of a heat sink fan in the heat sink device. 
     Compare to prior art, the present invention delivers the following advantages. According to the present invention, it is not required to install a switch in a heat sink, neither to manually switch operation mode by a user. The thermoelectric cooler and heat sink fan in a heat sink device directly auto powered ON or powered OFF according to the temperature of the notebook. Thus, unnecessary electricity waste is eliminated when a user forgets to turn off switch circuit mindlessly. Further, if the temperature of a notebook continues to increase or decrease, the rotation speed of the heat sink fan is changed automatically according to the temperature status change of the notebook so as to optimize the heat sinking performance of the heat sink. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING 
       The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, which describes an exemplary embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a solid diagram of a prior art heat sink; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a solid diagram of a preferred embodiment of a hint sink according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a connection schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a connection schematic diagram of another preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In cooperation with attached drawings, the technical contents and detailed description of the present invention are described thereinafter according to a preferable embodiment, being not used to limit its executing scope. Any equivalent variation and modification made according to appended claims is all covered by the claims claimed by the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , heat sink system of the present invention mainly has a notebook  2  and a heat sink  3 . The notebook  2  (referred as the computer  2  in the following) mainly comprises a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  21 , a temperature sensing device  22  and a transmitting-end Universal Serial Bus (USB) data transmission wiring  23 . The temperature sensing device  22  is disposed on the internal hardware components of the computer  2 , such as a main board, a memory or the CPU  21  for detecting temperature of the above hardware temperature. The CPU  21  is electrically connected to the temperature sensing device  22  for receiving detected data reported by the temperature sensing device  22  in order to generate a control command C 1 . The transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23  is electrically connected to the CPU  21  for receiving the control command C 1  and performing external data transmission. 
     A driver  24  is installed in the computer  2  and executed by the computer  2 . The driver  24  makes determination according to the detected data reported by the temperature sensing device  22  for driving the CPU  21  to generate the corresponding control command C 1  (detailed in the following). 
     The heat sink  3  mainly comprises a control unit  31 , a receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  and one or more heat sink devices  33 . The heat sink  3  connects with the computer  2  via the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  for receiving the external control command C 1 , wherein the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  is connected to the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23  via a USB transmission cable L 1 , but the scope of the invention is not limited to the embodiment. The control unit  31  is electrically connected to the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  and the heat sink device  33  for receiving the control command C 1  and controlling operations of the heat sink device  33  according to the content of the control command C 1 . It should be noted that, the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23  and the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  can be complete USB transmission interfaces or connectors required in the data transmission for transmitting the control command C 1 . 
       FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  are solid diagram and connection schematic diagram of a heat sink of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The heat sink  3  has a base  30  made by materials with better thermal conductivity such as aluminum or copper etc. The control unit  31 , the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  and the heat sink device  33  are disposed in the base  30 , wherein the connector of the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  is exposed on the base  30  for connecting the USB transmission cable L 1  and the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23 . 
     If the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23  and the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  are complete USB transmission interfaces, the heat sink  3  receives power from the computer  2  via the connection for powering the control unit  31  and the heat sink device  33 . Further, the heat sink  3  further comprises a power supply  34 , such as a battery or a power wire connected to a wall power socket, disposed in the base  30  and is electrically connected to the control unit  31  and the heat sink device  33  for offering additional power to the control unit  31  and the heat sink device  33 . 
     The heat sink device  33  mainly comprises a thermoelectric cooler  331 , a heat sink fan  332  and a heat sink body  333 , wherein the thermoelectric cooler  331  preferably is a thermal cooling circuit and has corresponding a cool end surface  3311  and a hot end surface  3312 . The cool end surface  3311  is attached to the bottom surface of the base  30 . The hot end surface  3312  and the heat sink body  333  are laminated. The heat sink device  33  is powered on to trigger operation of the cool end surface  3311  of the thermoelectric cooler  331  for reducing the temperature evenly across the surface of the base  30  via thermal conduction. Thus, when the computer  2  is disposed on the base  30 , the excess heat generated by the computer  2  is conducted to the cool end surface  3311  via the surface of the base  30 . The heat sink body  333  is attached to the hot end surface  3312  to facilitate heat sinking on the hot end surface  3312 . When the heat sink fan  332  is power ON, the hot air accumulated above the heat sink body  333  is ventilated via the heat sink fan  332  and evacuated from the a heat dissipation pore  334  at on end of the heat sink device  33   a  to achieve the optimized heat sinking. 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The heat sinking method of the present invention comprises steps in the following. The notebook  2  detects internal temperature status of the notebook  2  (step S 1 ). Following that, the heat sink  3  auto controls the operations of the heat sink device  33  according to the temperature of the notebook (step S 3 ). The detailed steps are explained in the following, wherein step S 1  further comprises sub-steps S 10 ˜S 20 , and step S 3  further comprises sub-steps S 30 ˜S 36 . 
     Firstly, the computer  2  detects internal temperature of the computer  2  via the temperature sensing device  22  (step S 10 ), and the temperature sensing device  22  reports the detected data             after detecting the temperature (step S 12 ). Following that, the driver  24  makes a determination according to the reporting detected data (step S 14 ). The determination is made mainly for determining if the internal temperature of the computer  2  reaches a threshold value required to send a control command C 1  (step S 16 ). In step S 16 , if the result is no, then the process moves back to step S 10 , the temperature sensing device  22  continues to detect the temperature of the computer  2 ; if the result is yes in step S 16 , then the driver  24  drives the CPU  21  to generate the corresponding control command C 1  (step S 18 ).
     As mentioned above, for example, when the heat sink device  33  is powered OFF and the temperature of the computer  2  exceeds a first threshold value, the driver  24  drives the CPU  21  to send the control command C 1  for powering ON the heat sink device  33  (i.e. powering ON the thermoelectric cooler  331  or/and the heat sink fan  332 ). 
     In another example, when the heat sink fan  332  is powered ON and the temperature of the computer  2  exceeds a second threshold value, the CPU  21  sends the control command C 1  to increase the rotation speed of the heat sink fan  332 . When the heat sink fan  332  is powered ON and the temperature of the computer  2  is below a third threshold value, the CPU  21  sends the control command C 1  to decrease the rotation speed of the heat sink fan  332 . When the thermoelectric cooler  331  or/and the heat sink fan  332  are powered ON and the temperature of the computer  2  is smaller than a fourth threshold value, the CPU  21  sends a control command C 1  to power OFF the thermoelectric cooler  331  or/and the heat sink fan  332 . Among these steps, the first threshold value is lower than the second threshold value, the fourth threshold value is lowered than the third threshold value, and the first threshold value is approximately the same with the fourth threshold value which is the reference temperature to power ON/OFF the thermoelectric cooler  332  or/and the heat sink fan  332 , the second threshold value is approximately the same with the third threshold value which is the reference temperature to increase/decrease rotation speed of the heat sink fan  332 . Nonetheless, the above is another preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not used to limit the scope of the invention. 
     Lastly, when the CPU  21  generates the control command C 1  in step S 18 , the computer  2  externally transmits the control command C 1  via the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23  (step S 20 ). 
     Following step S 20 , the heat sink  3  receives the control command C 1  output by the computer  2  via the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  (step S 30 ). Following that, the control unit  31  operations of the control the heat sink device  33  according to content of the control command C 1  (step S 32 ). Lastly, the thermoelectric cooler  331  is powered ON or powered OFF under the control by the control unit  31  (step S 34 ) and the heat sink fan  332  is powered ON, powered OFF or change rotation speed under the control by the control unit  31  (step S 36 ). 
       FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  are block diagram and connection schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  in the heat sink  3  may be implemented via a Bluetooth transmission interface  32 ′. Further, the receiving-end USB data transmission wire  32  and the Bluetooth transmission interface  32 ′ are both implemented in a heat sink. Users of the heat sink  3  are allowed to decide to connect the computer  2  and the heat sink  3  via a USB transmission interface or a Bluetooth transmission interface. The Bluetooth transmission interface  32 ′ is electrically connected to the control unit  31 . The computer  2  connects to an external Bluetooth transmission module  4  (such as the Bluetooth transmission module  4  using USB transmission interface in  FIG. 7 ) via the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23  so as to interconnect with the Bluetooth transmission interface  32 ′ in the heat sink  3  via wireless link for wirelessly transmitting the control command C 1 . 
     As the embodiment mentioned above, the computer  2  transmit the control command C 1  to the Bluetooth transmission module  4  via the transmitting-end USB data transmission wiring  23 , then externally and wirelessly transmits the control command C 1  via the Bluetooth transmission module  4  in step S 20 . In step S 30 , the heat sink  3  wirelessly receives the control command C 1  via the Bluetooth transmission interface  32 ′. Nonetheless, the above is another preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not used to limit the scope of the invention. Any transmission interface for transmitting a command is applicable to the present invention. 
     As the skilled person will appreciate, various changes and modifications can be made to the described embodiments. It is intended to include all such variations, modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the invention, as defined in the accompanying claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8