US20060185378A1

US20060185378A1 - Liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly

Info

Publication number: US20060185378A1
Application number: US11/060,414
Authority: US
Inventors: Qiang-Fei Duan; Tai-Yang Jiang
Original assignee: Cooler Master Co Ltd
Current assignee: Chemtron Research LLC
Priority date: 2005-02-18
Filing date: 2005-02-18
Publication date: 2006-08-24

Abstract

A liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly includes a liquid cooling array module with an upper cover and a lower cover on top and bottom sides of the liquid cooling array module, respectively, a liquid driving module assembled to the upper cover of the liquid cooling array module, a cooling plate module assembled with the lower cover of the liquid cooling array module, a liquid passageway defined through the liquid cooling array module and the cooling plate module. The liquid cooling array module, the liquid driving module and the cooling plate module are integrated into assembly and a through runner keeps the cooling liquid to flow continuously. The heat exchange cycle can be speeded up and the heat dissipation efficiency can be enhanced.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly, and more particularly to a liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly used for heat emitting device such as a CPU.
2. Description of Prior Art
The compass are developed with more powerful function and computation speed. Beside performance issue, the product appearance, the construction and motherboard connection ways are also under extensive exploited. As downsize of form factor and increasing of processing speed, the heat dissipation for central processing unit (CPU) is also an important issue to solve.
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art liquid-cooling heat dissipation system 100 a. As shown in this figure, the liquid-cooling heat dissipation system 100 a comprises a heat dissipation stage 10 a, a water outlet 101 a and a water inlet 102 a on both ends of the heat dissipation system stage 10 a, respectively, a duct 103 a connected between the water inlet 102 a and a water outlet 201 a of a water pump 20 a, a duct 104 a connected between the water outlet 101 a and a water inlet 301 a of a cooling stage 30 a, which is composed of a plurality of heat-dissipating fins 303 a.
The cooling stage 30 a comprises a water outlet 302 a connected to a water inlet 401 a of a water tank 40 a through a duct 402 a. The water tank 40 a comprises a water outlet connected to the water inlet 202 a of the water pump 20 a, thus forming the liquid-cooling heat dissipation system 100 a. During operation, the water pump 20 a conveys cool water to the heat dissipation stage 10 a for heat exchanging into hot water. Afterward, hot water flows to the cooling stage 30 a through the duct 104 a for heat exchanging into cool water there and cool water flows back to the water tank 40 a through the duct 304 a. The above operations are repeated for cyclic heat exchange.
However, above-described prior art liquid-cooling heat dissipation system 100 a is composed of separate heat dissipation stage 10 a, water pump 20 a, cooling stage 30 a and water tank 40 a and ducts 103 a, 104 a, 304 a and 402 a interconnecting between above devices. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation system 100 a thus formed is bulky and hard to assemble. This is adverse to the compact trend of computer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly, which comprises a liquid cooling array module, a liquid driving module and a cooling plate module integrated into an assembly. A through runner keeps the cooling liquid to flow continuously. The heat exchange cycle can be speeded up and the heat dissipation efficiency can be enhanced.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly includes a liquid cooling array module with a plurality of heat dissipating fins, an upper cover and a lower cover on top and bottom sides of the liquid cooling array module, respectively, a liquid driving module driving the cooling liquid and assembled to the upper cover of the liquid cooling array module, a cooling plate module assembled with the lower cover of the liquid cooling array module. The cooling plate module has a heat absorbing face on bottom thereof and in contact with electronic device. A liquid passageway is defined through the liquid cooling array module, the liquid driving module and the cooling plate module The cooling liquid flows along the liquid passageway to circulate through those modules when the liquid driving module operates.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the liquid cooling array module comprises a retaining frame with an upper cover and a lower cover on top and bottom sides. A plurality of heat dissipating fins is provided at center of the retaining frame and runners are defined between the plurality of heat dissipating fins. Both ends of the runner are communicated with the upper cover and the lower cover. The hot liquid in the lower cover flows to the upper cover by the driving force of the liquid driving module and then heat exchanges with the plurality of heat dissipating fins to become cooling liquid again. Afterward the cooling liquid flows back to the upper cover for repeated heat dissipation.
According to still another act of the present invention, the liquid driving module comprises a main body win an inner space separated into an upper compartment and a lower compartment. The main body comprises a liquid inlet communicated with the lower compartment. The upper compartment contains a coil stage and an upper cap, and the lower compartment contains a guiding stage with a runner defined on bottom face thereof. An impeller stage is pivotally arranged on bottom of the guiding stage. The impeller stage is placed at the upper cover of the box when the liquid driving module is mounted on the liquid cooling array module. The liquid is injected to the lower compartment through the liquid inlet when the liquid is insufficient. Moreover, the liquid flows into the upper cover through the runner of the guiding stage and the impeller stage.

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 certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art liquid-cooling heat dissipation system.
FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows another exploded view of the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly to be assembled with retaining frame and fan.
FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly already assembled with retaining frame and fan.
FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly according to the present invention is used for heat dissipation of a CPU 20 shown in FIG. 7. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly according to the present invention comprises, from bottom to top order, a cooling plate module 1, a liquid cooling array module 2, a liquid driving module 3 and runners define among those modules.
The liquid cooling array module 2 comprises a box 21 with an upper cover 22 and a lower cover 23 on top and bottom sides, respectively. A plurality of heat-dissipating fins 24 are provided at center of the box 21 and runners 25 are defined between the heat-dissipating fins 24. Both ends of the runner 25 are communicated with the upper cover 22 and the lower cover 23. In the shown embodiment, the cool liquid in the upper cover 22 is conveyed to the lower cover 23 through the two runners 25 at center portion; the cool liquid in the lower cover 23 is conveyed to the upper cover 22 through the two runners 25 at side portion, as shown in FIG. 7.
As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the liquid driving module 3 comprises a main body 31 win an inner space separated into an upper compartment 311 and a lower compartment 312. The main body 31 comprises a liquid inlet 32 communicated with the lower compartment 312. The upper compartment 311 contains a coil stage 33 and an upper cap 34, and the lower compartment 312 contains a guiding stage 35 with a runner 351 defined on bottom face thereof. An impeller stage 36 is pivotally arranged on bottom of the guiding stage 35. The impeller stage 36 is placed at the upper cover 22 of the box 21 when the liquid driving module 3 is mounted on the liquid cooling array module 2. The liquid is injected to the lower compartment 312 through the liquid inlet 32 when the liquid is insufficient. Moreover, the liquid flows into the upper cover 22 through the runner 351 of the guiding stage 35 and the impeller stage 36.
With reference to FIG. 2, the cooling plate module 1 is arranged in the lower cover 23 of the liquid cooling array module 2 and comprises a cooling plate 11 with a heat-absorbing face 12 on bottom center thereof (as shown in FIG. 7). The heat-absorbing face 12 is attached to the CPU 20 and a plurality of heat-dissipating plates 13 are arranged in rows on top face of the cooling plate 11.
To assemble the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly according to the present invention, sealing tab 14 is arranged between the bottom of the box 21 and the cooling plate 11 such that the liquid cooling array module 2 is arranged atop the cooling plate 11 and the heat-dissipating plates 13 are placed in the lower cover 23. The cooling plate 11 is locked to bottom of the lower cover 23 by bolt unit 15 and the cooling plate module 1 is arranged in a space in the lower cover 23 such that the cooling liquid flushes the heat dissipating plates 13 of the cooling plate 11 directly. Moreover, sealing tab 37 is provided between the top of the box 21 and the liquid driving module 3 such that the liquid driving module 3 is placed in the upper cover 22 and the impeller stage 36 is placed also in the upper cover 22. The liquid driving module 3 is locked to top face of the box 21 by bolt unit 38, thus assembling the cooling plate module 1, the liquid cooling array module 2, and the liquid driving module 3 together.
In the present invention, after the cooling plate module 1, the liquid cooling array module 2, and the liquid driving module 3 are assembled together, a liquid passageway is defined by the runner 351 of the liquid driving module 3, the runner 25 of the liquid cooling array module 2 and the runner between the heat-dissipating plates 13 (as indicated by arrows in FIG. 7). Therefore, the cooling liquid can be circulated among those modules.
With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, a retaining frame 4 is locked to the bottom of the cooling plate module 1 and an opening 41 is defined at center of the retaining frame 4 such that the heat-absorbing face 12 on bottom of the cooling plate 11 exposes out of the opening 41 and is in contact with the CPU 20. Moreover, locking tabs 42 extends from both sides of the retaining frame 4 and are locked to the CPU socket 201 as shown in FIG. 7.
Moreover, a fan 5 and a filtering screen 51 are assembled to lateral side of the liquid cooling array module 2 by bolt unit 26. The fan 5 operates to enhance the heat dissipation efficiency of the liquid cooling array module 2.
During the assembling of the present invention, the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly 10 according to the present invention is arranged atop the CPU 20 and the locking tabs 42 of the retaining frame 4 are locked to the CPU socket 201 by bolt unit 43, whereby the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly 10 can be retained atop the CPU 20.
With reference again to FIG. 7, during operation of the present invention, the cooling liquid flows downward to the lower cover 23 from two center runners 25 of the upper cover 22 and flushes directly the heat-dissipating plates 13 at the lower cover 23 for heat exchanging with the heat-dissipating plates 13. The hot liquid after heat exchange flows along the side runners 25 by the driving force of the liquid driving module 3 and then flows through the heat-dissipating fins 24 for heat exchanging to cooling liquid again. Afterward the cooling liquid flows back to the upper cover 22 for repeated heat dissipation.
In the present invention, the liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly 10 is constructed by assembling the cooling plate module 1, the liquid cooling array module 2, and the liquid driving module 3 together and a through runner keeps the cooling liquid to flow continuously. The heat exchange cycle can be speeded up and the heat dissipation efficiency can be enhanced.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly used to dissipate heat from an electronic device by circulating a cooling liquid, comprising

a liquid cooling array module comprising a plurality of heat-dissipating fins, an upper cover and a lower cover on top and bottom sides of the liquid cooling array module, respectively;

a liquid driving module driving the cooling liquid and assembled to the upper cover of the liquid cooling array module;

a cooling plate module with a heat absorbing face on bottom thereof and in contact with the electronic device, the cooling plate module having a top side assembled with the lower cover of the liquid cooling array module; and

a liquid passageway defined through the liquid cooling array module, the liquid driving module and the cooling plate module, the cooling liquid flowing along the liquid passageway to circulate through the liquid cooling array module, the liquid driving module and the cooling plate module when the liquid driving module operates.

2. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly as in claim 1, wherein the liquid driving module comprises a liquid inlet.

3. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly as in claim 1, wherein the cooling plate module comprises a retaining frame.

4. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly as in claim 1, wherein the liquid cooling array module comprises a fan.

5. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly as in claim 1, wherein the cooling plate module comprises heat-dissipating plates on top face thereof.

6. The liquid-cooling heat dissipation assembly as in claim 5, wherein the heat-dissipating plates are arranged in a space defined by lower cover and the cooling plate module.