US20080184728A1

US20080184728A1 - Cooling device

Info

Publication number: US20080184728A1
Application number: US11/797,121
Authority: US
Inventors: Alex Horng; Miyahara Masaharu
Original assignee: Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 2007-02-05
Filing date: 2007-05-01
Publication date: 2008-08-07
Also published as: TWM319445U

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cooling device, which has a central heat conductor with a plurality of cooling fins extended on the periphery of the central heat conductor and a hollow chamber formed therein, provided with an agitator and filled with a cooling liquid. At least a transparent window is disposed on the cooling device for observing the internal condition of the chamber outside the cooling device and ascertaining if the agitator operates smoothly, so as to observe the cooling module, maintain the normal cooling function thereof and prevent the problem that electronic component is fried due to excessive heat accumulation caused by poor heat dissipation. Meanwhile, a lamp is employed to irradiate lights onto the transparent window and the lights are refracted by water waves of the agitated cooling liquid inside the chamber to exhibit a flashing effect.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a cooling device, and more particularly to one with structure of which can observe a cooling module and maintain normal cooling function thereof at any time, prevent electronic component from being fried as a result of excessive heat accumulation, and exhibit special flashing effect by using water waves to refract lamp light.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional cooling module structure includes a cooling device 10, a holder 20 and a cooling fan 30, in which the cooling device 10 is directly contacted with a heating electronic component to absorb its thermal energy, the cooling fan 30 is fixedly disposed on top of the cooling device 10 by using the holder 20 in support of thermal energy dissipation.
The cooling device 10 has a central heat conductor 11, which has a plurality of cooling fins 12 extended from its periphery and a hollow chamber 13 that is formed therein and absolutely airtight. The chamber has an agitator 14 disposed therein and is filled with a cooling liquid, which is possibly water, a condensing liquid or other liquid capable of absorbing thermal energy and providing phase transformation between gas and liquid.
The corresponding positions of the agitator 14 and the cooling fan 14 are provided with magnetically coupling elements 15, 31 respectively.
Therefore, when the cooling fan 30 rotates, the agitator 14 is driven by the magnetic attraction of the magnetically coupling elements 15, 31 to synchronously rotate with the cooling fan 30, so as to chum the cooling liquid filled in the chamber 14 and achieve a faster cooling effect for higher temperature.
Whereas, the chamber 13 of the conventional cooling module is a room that is absolutely airtight; instead of being directly coupled with and driven by the cooling fan 30, the agitator 14 is driven by the magnetic attraction of the magnetically coupling elements 15, 31. As a consequence, the condition inside the chamber 13 is hardly aware by observing the cooling device 10 externally, and there is no way to determine if the agitator 14 is smoothly operated.
If the agitator 14 is not smoothly operated, the condensing liquid filled in the chamber 13 is in a still state. Moreover, after absorbing thermal energy, the thermal energy is unable to be uniformly distributed to each cooling fin 12 by convection. Hence, the overall cooling effect is greatly lessened, adding that heating electronic components could be fried due to excessive heat accumulation caused by poor heat dissipation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing concern, the present invention thus provides a cooling device to tackle a variety of problems existing in the aforementioned structure.
The cooling device of the present invention has a central heat conductor, which has a plurality of cooling fins extended from its periphery and a hollow chamber that is formed therein and is absolutely airtight. The chamber has an agitator disposed therein and is filled with a cooling liquid, and a transparent window is disposed on the cooling device, such that the internal condition of the chamber can be observed outside the cooling device and whether the agitator is smoothly operated can be also aware. Accordingly, the cooling module can be observed at any time and its normal cooling function can be secured, so as to prevent the problem that electronic component will be fried due to excessive heat accumulation caused by poor heat dissipation.
Besides, the present invention employs a lamp to irradiate its light on the transparent window, making the light exhibit a flashing visual effect while the light is subject to the refraction of water waves of the agitated cooling liquid inside the chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional cooling module;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a cooling module adopted by the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the cooling module adopted by the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an 3D external view of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a top view of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention relates to a cooling device. Given the illustration of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the cooling module at least includes a cooling device 10, a holder 20 and a cooling fan 30, in which the cooling device 10 is directly contacted with a heating electronic component to absorb its thermal energy, the cooling fan 30 is fixedly disposed on top of the cooling device 10 by the holder 20 to support thermal energy dissipation.
The cooling device 10 has a central heat conductor 11, which has a plurality of cooling fins 12 extended from its periphery and a hollow chamber 13 that is formed therein and is absolutely airtight. The chamber has an agitator 14 disposed therein and is filled with a cooling liquid, which is possibly water, a condensing liquid or other liquid capable of absorbing thermal energy and providing the phase transformation between gas and liquid. The corresponding positions of the agitator 14 and the cooling fan 14 are provided with magnetically coupling elements 15, 31 respectively. Therefore, the agitator 14 is driven by the magnetic attraction of the magnetically coupling elements 15, 31 to synchronously rotate with the cooling fan 30, so as to chum the cooling liquid filled in the chamber 14 and achieve a faster cooling effect for higher temperature.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the present invention provides at least a transparent window 40 disposed on the cooling device 10 and enabling an observation of the chamber 13 outside the cooling device 10. As such, the internal condition of the chamber 13 can be directly observed through the transparent window 40 and whether the agitator 14 operate smoothly can be aware, such that the normal function of the cooling module can be maintained at any time and the problem that electronic component is fried due to excessive heat accumulation caused by poor heat dissipation is prevented.
The transparent window 40 of the present invention can be made of glass, acrylic or any transparent material with light-transmitting effect, can be colored or colorless, and can be in form of a plane, a convex or a special embossing pattern.
As shown in FIG. 5, a lamp is disposed on a proper position of the holder 20 or the frame of the cooling fan 30, and the light of the lamp 21 is irradiated onto the transparent window 40 and is refracted by water waves of the agitated cooling liquid inside the chamber 13 to exhibit a flashing effect. More particularly, when the transparent window 40 is in form of a convex or a special embossing pattern, the refracted lights are scattered in all directions to generate a better visual effect.
In sum, from the above-mentioned characteristics those features not only have a novelty among similar products and a progressiveness but also have an industry utility.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.

Claims

1. A cooling device, comprising:

a central heat conductor having a plurality of cooling fins extended from a periphery thereof and a hollow chamber formed therein, provided with an agitator and filled with a cooling liquid; and

at least a transparent window disposed on said cooling device for observing an internal condition of said chamber outside said cooling device.

2. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein said transparent window exhibits a form selected from a group consisting of plane, convex and embossing pattern.

3. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein said transparent window is made of one selected from a group consisting of glass, acrylic and transparent material with light-transmitting effect.

4. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein said transparent window is colored.

5. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein said transparent window is colorless.

6. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein a cooling module is composed of said cooling device, said holder and said cooling fan.

7. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein a lamp is disposed at a proper position of said holder for irradiating a light onto said transparent window.

8. The cooling device of claim 1, wherein a lamp is disposed at a proper position of a frame of said cooling fan for irradiating a light onto said transparent window.