The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus, and more particularly, to a cooling apparatus for a light valve.

In a projection apparatus, a lighting system projects a light beam on a light valve. After a light modulation process by the light valve, an image is projected on a screen through a projection lens. However, since the light beam is unceasingly projected on the light valve, it accumulates heat on the light valve that affects operation efficiency thereof. Therefore, a suitable cooling apparatus for the light valve is needed.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, there is a control box 2 connected to the back of a light valve 1. Inside the control box 2 is equipped with an electrical circuit board 3 to actuate the light valve 1. By the installment of the control box, the goal of preventing the production of electromagnetic wave interference can be achieved. There is an opening 4 disposed on the control box 2, and there is a fan 5 on the light valve 1. The fan 5 is setup on the control box 2 through the opening 4. By the operation of fan 5, heat is forced to be taken away from the light valve 1 for cooling. However, the noise caused by the operation of the fan 5 is easily spread out from the vent of the projection apparatus, which affects the audio feeling. The lifetime of the fan 5 is short and it needs replacement quite often. In addition, it has certain volume, which affects the space allocation and increases the volume of the cooling apparatus. Therefore, there are conventional problems of noise, short lifetime and large volume for the cooling apparatus by using a fan and more improvements are needed.

One object of the present invention is to provide a cooling apparatus of a light valve, by directly pasting a heat pipe and a heat-conducting component upon a control box and taking the advantage of the large surface of the control box to diffuse the heat, and to achieve the goal of simplifying the cooling apparatus and increasing the cooling efficiency.

In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, the cooling apparatus for a light valve according to the present invention is to set up a control box on the back of a light valve in order to actuate the light valve, followed by pasting a heat pipe and a heat-conducting component upon the inner surface of the control box. The heat-conducting component is connected to a heat-collecting end of the heat pipe and the surface of the heat-conducting component contacts with the light valve.

The heat of the light valve is conducted to the second part of the control box through the heat-conducting component, and then the heat is conducted to the second part of the control box via the heat pipe pasted upon it. Thus, the heat of the light valve can be removed away through the large area of the second part of control box, so as to increase the cooling efficiency and simplify the cooling apparatus.

FIG. 1 is the perspective view of a conventional cooling apparatus for a light valve.

FIG. 2 is the exploded view of a conventional cooling apparatus for a light valve.

FIG. 3 is the perspective view of the cooling apparatus for a light valve of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is the exploded view of the cooling apparatus for a light valve of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is the perspective structural view of the second part of the control box of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is the exploded view of another preferred embodiment of the cooling apparatus for a light valve of the present invention.

Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of the embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the cooling apparatus 10 of a light valve according to the present invention includes a control box 11 and a heat-conducting component 12. The control box 11 is connected to the back of the light valve 1 in order to actuate the light valve 1. The control box 11 is composed of a first part 111 and a second part 112 of the control box. The control box 11 is made up of materials with high heat conductivity like aluminum, copper and so on. The first part 111 of the control box is opened with an opening 1111, and the opening 1111 is setup in accordance with the light valve 1 and the boundaries of the opening 1111 are locked firmly to the light valve 1 in order to fix the first part 111 of the control box 11 to the projector 6. Please refer FIG. 5, the inner surface of the second part 112 of control box is pasted a heat pipe 113 and a heat-conducting component 12, the heat pipe 113 may be wrapped by a fixing member 114 or coated with a heat conduction glue (not shown in the fig.) in order to be fixed to the surface of the second part 112 of the control box. The heat pipe 113 has a heat-collecting end 1131, and the heat-conducting component 12 is connected to the heat-collecting end 1131 of the heat pipe 113. The heat-conducting component 12 is composed of a base 121 and a protruding part 122 is setup on one side of the base 121. The heat-conducting component 12 and the second part 112 of the control box can be made one shaping, and there may be one heat conduction cushion set between the heat-conducting component 12 and the light valve 1 (not shown in the fig.) in order to eliminate the high contact thermal resistance which is caused when the air acts as the heat conduction medium between the heat-conducting component 12 and the light valve 1, and then increase the conduction effect.

The control box 11 consists of an electrical circuit board 13, and the electrical circuit board 13 is equipped with a through hole 131 relative to the center of the light valve 1 in order to allow the protruding part 122 of the heat-conducting component 12 to pass through. This causes the protruding part 122 to contact with the light valve 1 and conducts the heat away from the light valve 1. The surface 132 of the electrical circuit board 13 opposite to the light valve 1 contacts with the electrical circuit around the light valve 1 in order to make the electrical connection.

After the actuation of the light valve 1, the heat is produced and conducted to the second part 112 of the control box by the heat-conducting component 12. By the heat pipe 113 pasted upon the second part 112 of the control box, the heat produced by the light valve 1 disperses into the second part 112 of the control box. Cooling by using the large area of the second part 112 of the control box achieves the goal of increasing cooling effect.

The cooling apparatus 10 of the present invention takes advantage of the large surface of the control box 11 to conduct the heat, besides, the heat pipe 113 and the heat-conducting component 12 are pasted upon the inner surface of the control box 11. Thus, the cooling apparatus of the present invention will not affect the spatial configuration of the projection apparatus, and does not need to additionally build a fan or a heat-conducting component to assist the heat dissipation; therefore, it achieves the goal of simplification for the cooling apparatus.

Moreover, please refer to FIG. 6, the heat-conducting component 12A is composed of a first heat-conducting plate 121 A and a second heat-conducting plate 122A. The first heat-conducting plate 121 A is connected to the heat-collecting end 1131 of the heat pipe 113 and fixed to the second part 112 of the control box. The second heat-conducting plate 122A is screwed to the first heat-conducting plate 121A. The second heat-conducting plate 122A consists of a base 1221A, and a side 1222A of the base 1221A is pasted upon the first heat-conducting plate 121A; the other side is disposed a protruding part 1223A, and the protruding part 1223A passes through the through hole 131 of the electrical circuit board 13 in order to contact with the light valve 1. There is a plurality of fixed hole 1224A setup on the boundary edge of the base 1221A. After the first part 111 of the control box is locked to the projector 6 on the edge of the light valve 1, and the heat pipe 113 and the first heat-conducting plate 121A are fixed to the second part 112 of the control box, the locking member (not shown in the fig.) passes through the fixed hole 1224A and the electrical circuit board 13, and then screws on the boundary edge of the light valve 1 in order to clamp together the electrical circuit board 13 and the light valve 1. The first heat-conducting plate 121A and the second heat-conducting plate 122A are connected by another locking member (not shown in the fig.), and then the cooling apparatus for a light valve of the invention is assembled. Therefore, by separating the heat-conducting component 12A into two parts, the convenience in assembly and the fixing of the electrical circuit board 13, the light valve 1 and the cooling apparatus 10 are achieved.

Although the invention has been described in detail herein with reference to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that this description is by way of example only, and is not to be interpreted in a limiting sense. It is to be further understood that numerous changes in the details of the embodiments of the invention, and additional embodiments of the invention, will be apparent, and may be made by, persons of ordinary skill in the art having reference to this description. It is considered that such changes and additional embodiments are within the spirit and true scope of the invention as claimed below.