JP2001125683A - Housing for information equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a housing for information equipment which can increase heat radiation without shortening the use time of even portable information equipment using a rechargeable battery and makes a user neither feel unpleasant nor get burnt at low temperature. SOLUTION: A ventilation opening part 22 is formed penetrating the wall part 21 of a plastic housing having a component storage space formed inside between the internal and external surfaces, and a heat sink 31 having heat radiating fins 33 standing on a substrate part 32 is arranged on the internal surface of the wall part where the ventilation opening part is formed having the heat radiating fins on the side of the ventilation opening part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a housing for information equipment capable of efficiently releasing heat generated by components such as a CPU to the outside.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable information devices called notebook computers and PDAs have become widespread. In these portable information devices, components that generate heat when used, such as a CPU and a hard disk, are incorporated in a housing. Generally, the CPU or the like is liable to malfunction when the temperature is too high, and may be broken in the worst case. In addition, the CPU and the like tend to increase the heat generation when the processing speed is increased. For this reason, in portable information devices that always require high processing capacity, the CPU and the like are cooled by attaching a heat sink or a cooling fan to the CPU or the like. Because of the tendency to dwell, cooling may not be sufficient. In addition, a cooling fan that requires a power supply has a drawback that the use time of a portable information device used with a rechargeable battery is shortened.

In recent years, the pursuit of light weight has led to the use of plastic housings having excellent light weight. However, since plastic has a lower thermal conductivity than metal, heat generated by the CPU or the like is not sufficient. Therefore, there is a problem that heat cannot easily be trapped inside the housing because it cannot be expected to be released to the outside through the housing. On the other hand, the metal housing has a relatively high thermal conductivity, so that heat is easily transmitted to the housing and heat radiation can be enhanced.However, the heat transfer increases the temperature of the keyboard top and the armrest on the housing. Therefore, there is a concern that a person who uses the information device may feel uncomfortable or, in severe cases, burn at a low temperature.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and aims to improve the heat dissipation of portable information equipment using a rechargeable battery without shortening the use time of the information equipment. Provided is a housing for an information device, which does not cause discomfort or low-temperature burn to a user.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a ventilation opening is provided through the inner and outer surfaces of a wall of a plastic housing having a component housing space formed therein. The present invention relates to an information device housing, wherein a heat sink having a heat radiating fin standing on a substrate portion is disposed on the inner surface of the formed wall so that the heat radiating fin is located on the side of the ventilation opening.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that a seal is provided between the edge of the substrate portion of the heat sink and the wall portion of the housing to prevent dust from entering from the ventilation opening at the substrate portion. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the substrate portion of the heat sink and the heat-generating component in the housing are brought into contact with each other directly or via a heat transfer material.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer using a housing according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of 2-2 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of 3-3 in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a housing 10 shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of FIG.
Is a box for a notebook computer, which is composed of an upper half body 11 and a lower half body 12 which are vertically combined to form a space for accommodating a CPU, a hard disk, a motherboard and the like. Consists of a shape. The upper half 11 has an opening on the upper surface to which an operation key 13 and a mouse operation unit 14 are assembled, and a lid 16 provided with a liquid crystal screen 15 on the inner side is rotatably opened and closed on the back side. It is supposed to be. Also, in the lower half body 12,
An opening is formed on a side surface or the like for assembling a power cord or an insertion port for cards or the like (not shown). The material of the housing 10 may be either metal or plastic, but plastic is preferred from the viewpoint of lightness and moldability.

In the wall 21 of the housing 10, a ventilation opening 22 is formed through the inner surface 21a and the outer surface 21b at a place where the position does not overlap with the openings of the operation keys and the power cord. In this embodiment, the housing 10
A ventilation opening 22 is formed over the side surface and the top surface at the right rear corner of the vehicle. The ventilation opening 22 is not limited to the group of the plurality of slits 22a as in this example, and may be a group of a plurality of small holes or a shape having another shape.

A support wall 23 is formed in the wall 21 so as to surround the ventilation opening 22 and accommodate the heat sink 31 inside. In this embodiment, the support wall is provided at both edge positions of the ventilation opening 22 from the inner surface 21a of the upper half body 11 to the side surface portion and from the bottom surface of the lower half body 12 to the inner surface 21a of the side surface portion. 23 is the slit 22
The heat sink 31 is arranged between the support walls 23 so as to be erected in parallel with the heat sink 31. The upper half 1
The support walls 23 of the lower half 1 and the lower half 12 are
The end faces of the support wall 23 are in contact with each other by the combination of 1, 12 to form a series of upper and lower shapes. A groove 25 sandwiching the edge of the substrate 32 of the heat sink 31 is formed in the housing inner end 24 of the support wall 23 in the vertical direction.

The heat sink 31 is made of a metal or the like, and has a plate-shaped substrate portion 32 on one side of which a plurality of radiating fins 33 are erected and has a known structure. The size of the heat sink 31 is the same as that of the heat sink 31 in the housing 10.
It is determined according to the space at the location. In the heat sink 31 of this example, the substrate 32 is
The fin 33 faces the ventilation opening 22, and the substrate 32 faces the ventilation opening 22, and the substrate 32 and the fin 33 are inserted into the housing 10. It is set to be perpendicular to the bottom.

By the setting, the inner surface of the groove 25 and the side edges of the substrate portion 32 are in close contact with each other, and the upper and lower ends of the substrate portion 32 are in close contact with the inner surface of the upper surface of the upper half 11 and the inner surface of the bottom surface of the lower half 12. As a result, a seal is formed between the edge of the substrate portion 32 and the wall portion 21, and the intrusion of dust and the like from the ventilation opening portion 22 is prevented.
Blocked at 2. Furthermore, even when the heat radiating fins 33 are thin and easily deformed, the heat sink 31 is in the housing 10 and cannot be touched from the outside, so that there is no possibility that the heat radiating fins 33 may be damaged. . Further, since the substrate portion 32 is vertical, the air in the housing 10 comes into efficient contact with the substrate portion 32 by convection.

It is preferable that the substrate 32 of the heat sink 31 and the heat-generating components such as the CPU and the hard disk in the housing 10 come into contact with each other directly or via the heat transfer material 35. In this example, the heat dissipating fins 33 of the substrate portion 32 are used.
The heat-generating component is in contact with the surface 32a on the opposite side via the heat transfer material 35. The heat transfer material 35 may be any material having good thermal conductivity, such as a metal member, but a heat pipe is particularly preferable.

In the housing having the above-described structure, heat generated by the CPU, the hard disk, and the like in the housing 10 is:
The convection of air in the housing 10 causes the heat sink 3
The light is transmitted to the first substrate portion 32 and further transmitted from the substrate portion 32 to the radiating fins 33. And the radiating fins 33
Is cooled by contact with low-temperature outside air through the ventilation opening 22 of the housing 10, and the housing 10 is efficiently cooled.
Releases internal heat to the outside. Therefore, the amount of heat generated in the housing 10 is transmitted to the wall 21 of the housing 10 and the temperature of the outer surface of the wall 21, that is, the temperature of the outer surface of the housing 10 can be prevented from rising until the user is uncomfortable.

In particular, when the material of the housing 10 is made of plastic having lower thermal conductivity than metal, the temperature rise on the outer surface of the housing 10 can be prevented more reliably. Further, even when the housing 10 is made of plastic and a thin metal layer is provided on the inner surface of the housing 10 for EMI shielding and rigidity improvement, heat is not quickly transmitted to the outer surface of the plastic housing 10. Due to the excellent heat radiation effect of the heat sink 31 and the ventilation opening 22, a rise in the temperature inside the housing can be prevented. When the housing 10 is made of metal, a member having low thermal conductivity is interposed between the wall 21 of the housing 10 and the heat sink 31 to provide thermal insulation between the wall 21 and the heat sink 31. For example, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the outer surface of the housing 10 from rising due to the heat transmitted to the heat sink 31.

Further, as described above, the substrate 32 of the heat sink 31 is connected to the CP through the heat transfer material 35 such as a heat pipe.
In the case of contact with a heat-generating component such as a U or a hard disk, the heat of the component is more efficiently transmitted to the substrate portion 32 and released from the housing 10 through the heat radiation fins 33 and the ventilation openings 22, The temperature rise on the outer surface of the housing 10 can be more efficiently prevented. Note that, in the above embodiment, the case where only the heat sink is provided for heat radiation is shown. Good.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The first and second embodiments will be described below with specific numerical values. First Embodiment A ventilation opening 22 having the same position and configuration as those shown in FIG. (With a size of about 270 x 215 x 17 mm,
The thickness is about 1.2 mm. ) 10 was injection molded.

The outer shape of the substrate part 32 is approximately 40 × 15 mm, and the thickness of the heat radiation fin 33 is 0.5
An aluminum heat sink 31 having a length of 10 mm, a length of 10 mm, and a height of 15 mm was mounted. Then, instead of the CPU, a power transistor having a calorific value of 5 W is provided on the substrate surface 32 a on the side opposite to the heat radiating fins 33 by a heat radiating silicone rubber sheet having a thickness of 0.2 m and a thermal conductivity of 1.7 W / mK ( GE Toshiba Silicone's two-part heat-radiating silicone potting agent; molded from TSE3380) to actuate the power transistor at room temperature 25 ° C. and contact the plate portion 32 of the heat sink 31 of the power transistor. The surface temperature of the uncoated side was monitored by a chromel-alumel thermocouple having a wire diameter of 0.1 mm. The temperature began to rise from the start of the operation of the power transistor and became constant at 40 ° C. At that time, the temperature of the outer surface 22b of the ventilation opening 22 was 36 ° C.
As described above, the temperature rise of the power transistor in the housing was small, and the outer surface of the housing did not reach such a high temperature as to cause discomfort to the user.

Example 2 A left lateral position 27 and a front side surface 28 of the mouse operation unit 14 in FIG. 1 were obtained from an alloy material FA420CA of polycarbonate and acrylonitrile / styrene / acryl rubber (manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon; containing 10% by weight of carbon fiber). Housing having a ventilation opening in which a number of small holes are formed (size is about 270 × 215 × 17 mm, wall thickness is about 1.2
mm. Injection molded

The inner surface of the housing was roughened by chromic acid etching for EMI shielding, and electroless copper and electroless nickel were plated to a thickness of 1 μm and 0.25 μm by a method of adsorbing a palladium catalyst. Next, the outer shape of the substrate portion is about 40 × 15 mm inside the housing at the position of the ventilation opening, and the thickness of the heat radiation fin is 0.5 m.
A copper heat sink having a length of 10 mm, a length of 10 mm and a height of 15 mm was mounted. Then, instead of the CPU, a power transistor having a calorific value of 5 W is applied to the surface of the substrate opposite to the heat radiation fins by a thickness of 0.2 m and a thermal conductivity of 1.7 W /
mK heat dissipating silicone rubber sheet (GE Toshiba Silicone's two-part heat dissipating silicone potting agent; product name T
(Formed from SE3380) to operate the power transistor at a room temperature of 25 ° C.
The surface temperature of the side of the power transistor not in contact with the heat sink substrate was monitored by a chromel-almer thermocouple having a wire diameter of 0.1 mm.

As a result, the surface temperature of the side of the power transistor that is not in contact with the heat sink substrate portion starts to rise after the start of the operation of the power transistor, and reaches 70 ° C.
Became constant. At that time, the temperature of the outer surface of the ventilation opening was 30 ° C. As described above, the temperature rise of the power transistor can be suppressed, and the outer surface of the housing has only increased by 5 ° C. with respect to the surrounding environment temperature, and has not become so high as to cause discomfort to the user.

[0022]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a ventilation opening which penetrates the inner and outer surfaces is provided in the wall of the plastic housing in which the component housing space is formed. On the inner surface of the wall where the ventilation opening is formed,
Since the heat sink in which the radiating fins are erected on the substrate portion is arranged such that the radiating fins are on the side of the ventilation opening, a good heat radiating effect can be obtained without using a power source, and thereby the inside of the housing can be obtained. The temperature rise of the electronic component can be suppressed, and further, the temperature rise on the outer surface of the housing can be suppressed so that the user does not feel uncomfortable.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the space between the edge of the substrate portion of the heat sink and the wall portion of the housing is sealed to prevent dust from entering from the ventilation opening at the substrate portion. Without intrusion of dust from the
An increase in the temperature of the electronic components in the housing can be prevented.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the substrate of the heat sink and the heat-generating component in the housing are brought into contact with each other directly or via a heat transfer material, the heat generated from the electronic components and the like in the housing is generated. It can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the housing, and the temperature inside the housing can be more reliably prevented from rising.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer using a housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Housing 11 Lower half 12 Upper half 21 Wall 22 Ventilation opening 23 Support wall 31 Heat sink 32 Substrate 33 Heat dissipation fin 35 Heat transfer material

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A ventilation opening which penetrates the inner and outer surfaces of a wall of a plastic housing in which a component housing space is formed, and an inner surface of the wall where the ventilation opening is formed,
An information equipment housing, wherein a heat sink having a heat radiating fin standing on a substrate portion is arranged such that the heat radiating fin is on the side of the ventilation opening. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a seal is provided between an edge of the substrate portion of the heat sink and a wall portion of the housing to prevent ingress of dust from the ventilation opening at the substrate portion. Equipment housing. 3. The housing for an information device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate of the heat sink and the heat generating component in the housing are brought into contact with each other directly or via a heat transfer material.