US20120186798A1

US20120186798A1 - Cooling module for led lamp

Info

Publication number: US20120186798A1
Application number: US13/014,231
Authority: US
Inventors: George Anthony Meyer, IV; Chien-Hung Sun; Chieh-Ping Chen
Original assignee: Celsia Technologies Taiwan Inc
Current assignee: Celsia Technologies Taiwan Inc
Priority date: 2011-01-26
Filing date: 2011-01-26
Publication date: 2012-07-26

Abstract

A cooling module for an LED lamp includes a thermostatic plate, a hollow column, and a plurality of cooling fins. The thermostatic plate has an evaporating segment and a pair of condensing segments extending from the evaporating segment. The outer surface of the hollow column has a pair of grooves corresponding to each other. The condensing segments of the thermostatic plate are buried in the grooves. The cooling fins surround and thermally contact the outer rim of the hollow column and the condensing segments.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to cooling modules. More particularly, the present invention relates to cooling modules for light emitting diode (“LED”) lamps.
2. Related Art
Light emitting diodes (“LEDs”) have the characteristics of low power consumption, high energy efficiency, long lifetime, small volume, and fast response. Because of these characteristics, LEDs have been replacing traditional light bulbs and been used in different lighting instruments (i.e. lamps). However, temperature variation may affect an LED's life and performance. Therefore, an LED's cooling module must have optimal arrangement.
A conventional LED lamp cooling module has a hollow column and a thermostatic plate. The hollow column has a ring-shaped inner wall. The thermostatic plate has an evaporating segment and two condensing segments corresponding to each other. The two condensing segments lie inside and across the hollow column and contact with the hollow column's inner wall. The evaporating segment is exposed outside the hollow column so as to be connected and fixed to the LED lamp. These constitute the basis structure of the conventional cooling module.
Although the aforementioned structure is good for cooling, its cooling efficiency is still not enough for high power/watts LEDs. Therefore, it is still desirable to have an LED lamp cooling module with better cooling efficiency.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention provides a cooling module for an LED lamp. The direct thermal contact between its cooling fins and the hollow column and the thermostatic plate can dissipate the heat generated by the LED lamp more efficiently.
To achieve this and other objectives, the LED lamp cooling module includes a thermostatic plate, a hollow column, and a plurality of cooling fins. The thermostatic plate has an evaporating segment and a pair of condensing segments extending from the evaporating segment. The outer surface of the hollow column has a pair of grooves corresponding to each other. The condensing segments of the thermostatic plate are buried in the grooves. The cooling fins surround and thermally contact the outer rim of the hollow column and the condensing segments.
The present invention allows each of the cooling fins to be manufactured through thin-sheet stamping and then be connected to the thermostatic plate and the hollow column. This not only greatly minimizes the overall weight of the cooling module, but also increases the cooling area per unit volume. Furthermore, the heat conducting base has a container trough to connect to and fix the thermostatic plate. The through opening further allows the thermostatic plate to directly conduct heat away from the LED heat source. In addition, each of the cooling fins has some through troughs. These through troughs will facilitate lateral air convection between each two adjacent air passages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional exploded diagram of a cooling module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an outward appearance of the cooling module with its components combined together;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section view along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section view along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view showing how the cooling module is combined with an LED lamp.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 shows a cooling module for an LED lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cooling module of the embodiment primarily includes a heat conducting base 10, a thermostatic plate 20, a hollow column 30, and a plurality of cooling fins 40.
The heat conducting base 10 is made of metal such as aluminum, copper, or their alloy. Generally, the shape of the heat conducting base 10 is like a circular plate. A middle part of the plate has a rectangular container trough 11. A through opening 111 is formed on the bottom of the container trough 11. A step 12 is set on each of the two lateral sides of the container trough 11.
The thermostatic plate 20 of this embodiment is a vapor chamber, the vacuum chamber of which contains components such as capillary structure and working fluid. The gas-liquid phase change of the working fluid can achieve heat conduction. Furthermore, the capillary structure can help the working fluid to flow-back and hence create a continuous circulation. The thermostatic plate 20 roughly has a U-shape. It has a latitudinal evaporating segment 21 and a pair of longitudinal condensing segments 22 and 23, which extend from the evaporating segment 21. The evaporating segment 21 is placed inside the container trough 11 and has thermal contact with the heat conducting base 10. In a position corresponding to the through opening 111, the evaporating segment 21 has an exposed flat surface 211 that is at the same level with the bottom surface of the heat conducting base 10. As shown in FIG. 4, the latitudinal cross-section of each of the condensing segments 22 and 23 forms an arc-shape. The two cross-sections have an inner cambered surface 221, an inner cambered surface 231, an outer cambered surface 222, and an outer cambered surface 232.
The hollow column 30 is made of material with good heat conductivity, such as aluminum or copper. A pair of grooves 31 and 32, which corresponds to each other, are formed on the outer surface of the hollow column 30. In this embodiment, the condensing segments 22 and 23 of the thermostatic plate 20 are buried in the grooves 31 and 32, respectively. Furthermore, the inner cambered surfaces 221 and 231 adhere to the hollow column 30 closely so as to conduct heat efficiently. The outer cambered surfaces 222 and 232 of the condensing segments 22 and 23 are exposed, and form a circular rim together with the outer surface of the hollow column 30 (as shown in FIG. 4).
Each of the cooling fins 40 may be formed through thin-sheet stamping, and be made of metal such as aluminum, copper, or their alloy. Each of the cooling fins 40 may have an L-shape (as shown in FIG. 4). The shorter sides of the L-shapes are thermal contacts; they form a circle along the hollow column 30 and the outer cambered surfaces 222 and 232 of the condensing segments 22 and 23. The longer sides of the L-shapes are arranged as if they are emanated out from the hollow column 30 and the condensing segments 22 and 23. On the free end of each of the cooling fins 40 there are multiple through troughs 41. These through troughs 41 will facilitate lateral air convection between each two adjacent air passages.
In addition, the embodiment further includes a cooling body 50. The cooling body 50 may be made of metal such as aluminum, copper, or their alloy. It has a bottom plate 51 and a plurality of cooling columns 52 extending out from the bottom plate 51. Furthermore, a pair of protruding plates 53 extend out from the bottom plate 51 (but are not below the cooling columns 52). With the bottom plate 51, the cooling body 50 presses on the evaporating segment 21 of the thermostatic plate 20, so that the protruding plates 53 will be embedded in and fixed to the steps 12.
FIG. 5 show how the cooling module is used with an LED lamp 8. This LED lamp 8 has a circuit board 81 and a plurality of LEDs 82 disposed on the circuit board 81. To combine the cooling module with the LED lamp 8, the circuit board 81 will be attached to the bottom surface of the heat conducting base 10, so that the back of the circuit board 81 and/or the backs of the LEDs 82 are facing the flat surface 211. This arrangement will allow the heat generated by the LEDs 82 to flow through the flat surface 211 to the thermostatic plate 20. The gas-liquid heat conducting mechanism of the thermostatic plate 20 will then conduct the heat to the condensing segments 22 and 23. A part of the heat will flow to the hollow column 30 and then dissipate. Another part of the heat will be directly conducted to the cooling fins 40 for dissipation. As a result, the heat generated by the LEDs 82 of the LED lamp 8 will be dissipated efficiently.
The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portions and materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.

Claims

1. A cooling module for an LED lamp, comprising:

a thermostatic plate, comprising an evaporating segment and a pair of condensing segments extending from the evaporating segment;

a hollow column, the outer surface of which having a pair of grooves corresponding to each other, the pair of condensing segments of the thermostatic plate being buried in the pair of grooves; and

a plurality of cooling fin, surrounding and thermally contacting the outer rim of the hollow column and the pair of condensing segments.

2. The cooling module of claim 1, further comprising a heat conducting base, the evaporating segment of the thermostatic plate thermally contacting the heat conducting base.

3. The cooling module of claim 2, wherein the thermostatic plate has a U-shape, the evaporating segment is formed on a latitudinal part of the thermostatic plate, and the pair of condensing segments are formed on a longitudinal part of the thermostatic plate.

4. The cooling module of claim 3, wherein the latitudinal cross-section of each of the condensing segments has an arc-shape with an inner cambered surface and an outer cambered surface, the inner cambered surfaces are attached to the hollow column, the outer cambered surfaces are attached to the cooling fins.

5. The cooling module of claim 4, wherein together the outer cambered surfaces and the outer surface of the hollow column form a circular rim.

6. The cooling module of claim 2, wherein the heat conducting base has a container trough, a through opening is formed in the bottom of the container trough, the evaporating segment is placed inside the container trough, and on the position corresponding to the through opening the evaporating segment has a flat surface that is exposed and at the same level with the bottom surface of the heat conducting base.

7. The cooling module of claim 6, further comprising a cooling body, the cooling body having thermal contact with the evaporating segment.

8. The cooling module of claim 7, wherein the cooling body further has a bottom plate attached to the evaporating segment and a plurality of cooling columns extending from the bottom plate.

9. The cooling module of claim 8, wherein the bottom plate has a pair of protruding plates, two sides of the container trough of the heat conducting base have two steps corresponding to the protruding plates, and the protruding plates are embedded in the steps.

10. The cooling module of claim 1, wherein each of the cooling fins has an L-shape, the shorter sides of the L-shapes are attached to the hollow column or the pair of the condensing segments, and the longer sides of the L-shapes are arranged as if they are emanated from the outer rim of the hollow column and the pair of condensing segments.

11. The cooling module of claim 10, wherein the free ends of the cooling fins have a plurality of through troughs.