US20060151151A1

US20060151151A1 - Electronic component cooling apparatus

Info

Publication number: US20060151151A1
Application number: US11/191,020
Authority: US
Inventors: Riichiro Hibiya; Yoshinori Tangi; Tsuneo Uwabo; Toyohiro Kawahara
Original assignee: Mitsumi Electric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Mitsumi Electric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2005-01-13
Filing date: 2005-07-28
Publication date: 2006-07-13
Also published as: JP2006196714A

Abstract

A radiator, a heat sink and a tank are disposed on circulating paths. The radiator includes a fan. The tank includes a pump for forcedly circulating fluid. A pump-fan drive unit is provided between the tank and the radiator. The fan and the pump are directly connected to a single motor so that they can be driven by the motor. The pump has a magnet rotor, and a rotor driver. The magnet rotor is accommodated in the tank so as to be rotatable. The rotor driver is fixedly provided in an end portion of an output shaft of the motor. The magnet rotor is magnetically driven to rotate by the rotor driver.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electronic component cooling apparatus and particularly relates to an electronic component cooling apparatus preferably applied to a system for water-cooling an electronic component of a computer or the like.
As a cooling apparatus using a water-cooling system used for a component of an electronic apparatus such as a CPU of a personal computer, there has been a cooling apparatus having a pressure pump provided in the inside or outside of a cooling fluid tank to compressively deliver cooling fluid of the cooling fluid tank to a radiator. FIG. 4 is an overall configuration view showing an example of this type electronic component cooling apparatus 1.
In FIG. 4, a radiator 2 is provided with an air-cooling fan 3, and a cooling fluid tank 4 is provided with a pressure pump 5. The cooling fluid tank 4 and the radiator 2 are connected to each other through a fluid flow path 6. In addition, an electronic component heat sink 7 is provided for cooling a CPU (electronic component) that is a heat source. The heat sink 7 and the radiator 2 are connected to each other through a fluid flow path 8. The heat sink 7 and the cooling fluid tank 4 are connected to each other through a fluid flow path 9.
In this configuration, cooling fluid C in the cooling fluid tank 4 is supplied to the heat sink 7 via the radiator 2 by the pressure pump 5 and then sent back to the cooling fluid tank 4. In this manner, the cooling fluid C circulates so as to be supplied to the heat sink 7 again via the same flow path as described above. In the electronic component cooling apparatus 1, the air cooling fan 3 and the pressure pump 5 are driven by separately provided drive motors respectively (e.g. JP-A-2004-304076).
Since the cooling apparatus 1 described above is formed so that the motor for driving the cooling fluid pressure pump 5 and the motor for driving the air cooling fan 3 are provided individually and separately, there is a problem that efficiency of driving the pressure pump 5 and the air cooling fan 3 is poor viewed from the whole of the electronic component cooling apparatus. Moreover, since it is necessary to provide two drive motors for the pump and for the fan, the place (space) for installation of the two drive motors becomes so large that increase in cost is brought as well as reduction in size of the apparatus cannot be attained. In addition, noise generated from the drive motors becomes large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, there arises a technical problem to be solved in order to improve efficiency of the motor's driving the pressure pump and the air-cooling fan and in order to suppress noise, and in order to attain reduction in size of the electronic component cooling apparatus. An object of the invention is to solve this problem.
In order to accomplish the above object, an electronic component cooling apparatus of the present invention is characterized by having the following arrangement,

(1) An electronic component cooling apparatus disposed on a circulating path through which fluid circulates, the electronic component cooling apparatus comprising:
- a heat sink disposed on the circulating path and adapted to transfer heat generated from an electronic component to the fluid;
- a radiator disposed on the circulating path and provided with a fan cooling the fluid in the radiator, and the radiator emitting the heat;
- a tank disposed on the circulating path and provided with a pump circulating the fluid through the circulating path, and the tank reserving the fluid; and
- a single motor driving the fan and the pump.
(2) An electronic component cooling apparatus according to (1), wherein
- the fan is directly connected to one end portion of an output shaft of the motor, and
- the pump is directly connected to the other end portion of the output shaft of the motor.
(3) An electronic component cooling apparatus according to (1), wherein the pump comprises
- a magnet rotor rotatably accommodated in the tank; and
- a rotor driver provided at an end portion of an output shaft of the motor so as to magnetically rotate the magnet rotor.
(4) An electronic component cooling apparatus according to (1), wherein the pump comprises a fan member rotatably accommodated in the tank and directly connected to an end portion of an output shaft of the motor.

According to the invention, the fan and the pump can be driven by the single motor. That is, the function of the fan for air-cooling the radiator and the function of the pump for forcedly circulating the fluid are performed by the operation of the single motor.
According to the invention, two motors heretofore required for driving the fan and the pump can be replaced by one motor. Therefore, because the space for installation of the motor can be reduced to half while drive transmission efficiency of the motive power of the motor can be improved greatly compared with the related art, reduction in size of the unit for driving the fan and the pump can be achieved. In addition, not only can the cost of one motor be eliminated but also noise generated from the motor can be suppressed to half.
According to the invention, both the fan and the pump can be driven simultaneously and directly by rotation of the output shaft. Hence, it is not necessary to provide any gear between the fan and the output shaft and between the pump and the output shaft.
According to the invention, the fan and the pump are driven by the output shaft so directly that intermediate gears can be dispensed with. Accordingly, not only can smooth synchronous operation of the fan and the pump be ensured but also the structure is so simple that the number of parts can be reduced.
According to the invention, the magnet rotor in the tank is magnetically driven to rotate by rotation of the rotor driver, so that the fluid in the tank is compressively delivered to the radiator.
According to the invention, the magnet rotor of the pump is accommodated in the tank and the magnet rotor has no rotary bearing member. Accordingly, further reduction in size of the apparatus can be achieved. Moreover, there is an excellent effect that a seal member for the bearing can be dispensed with no risk of fluid leakage. In addition, because the magnet rotor is free from shaft slide resistance at the time of rotation, not only smoother rotation can be ensured but also noise generated at the time of rotation driving can be suppressed more effectively.
According to the invention, the fan member rotates together with the output shaft, so that the fluid in the tank is compressively delivered to the radiator.
According to the invention, the fan member of the pump is accommodated in the tank and the fan member is directly driven by the output shaft of the motor. Accordingly, not only can further reduction in size of the apparatus be achieved but also the apparatus is so simple in structure as to be easy to produce. In addition, the efficiency of transmission of rotation drive power from the motor to the pump can be improved more greatly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration view of an electronic component cooling apparatus, showing an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view for explaining an example of configuration of a pump-fan drive unit according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view for explaining another example of configuration of the pump-fan drive unit according to the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is an overall configuration view of a related electronic component cooling apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The invention provides an electronic component cooling apparatus comprising a pump, an air-cooling fan-including radiator, and a heat sink. The pump, the air-cooling fan-including radiator and the heat sink are disposed on a circulating path. In the electronic component cooling apparatus, a source for driving the pump and a source for driving the fan of the radiator are made of a single motor to thereby achieve the purposes of: improving the drive efficiency of the motor; reducing the size of the drive device; and suppressing noise caused by the driving of the motor.
An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In the embodiment, a forced water-cooling type CPU cooler apparatus comprises a radiator 25, a heat sink 12, and a tank 14. The radiator 25 includes an fan 15. The tank 14 includes a pump 18 for forcedly circulating cooling fluid. The radiator 25, the heat sink 12 and the tank 14 are connected to one another through circulation paths 13 and 24 so that the cooling fluid can be recycled. In the CPU cooler apparatus, motive power of a motor 20 of the fan 15 is used so that the pump 18 can be also driven to rotate in simultaneity with the fan 15. Although the embodiment has been described on the case where the pump 18 and the tank 14 are formed integrally in order to achieve further reduction in size of the apparatus, it is a matter of course that the pump 18 and the tank 14 may be formed separately.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration view of an electronic component cooling apparatus 11 according to the embodiment. The electronic component cooling apparatus 11 is provided with a CPU water-cooling head that serves as a heat sink 12 made of metal. The heat sink 12 is held in contact with a CPU as a heat-generating source, so that heat generated from the CPU is transferred to fluid (cooling water or glycol antifreeze fluid) C and released. A tank 14 is connected to an inlet of the heat sink 12 through a path 13. The cooling fluid C is reserved in the tank 14.
As shown in FIG. 2, an inlet 16 and an outlet 17 are formed in one side wall and the other side wall of the tank 14, respectively. The cooling fluid tank 14 further includes a pump 18 for forcedly circulating the fluid C to the heat sink 12. The pressure pump 18 includes a disc type magnet rotor 19, and a disc type rotor driver 22. The rotor driver 22 is fixedly provided in one end portion of an output shaft 21 of a motor 20. The magnet rotor 19 is accommodated in the tank 14 so as to be rotatable.
A plurality of fans 23 are formed integrally on the surface of the magnet rotor 19. Each of the fans 23 protrudes outwardly to the inlet 16. Further, the magnet rotor 19 and the rotor driver 22 are disposed concentrically and adjacently, and face to each other through a wall surface of the tank 14. Each of circumferential edge portions of facing surfaces of the magnet rotor 19 and the rotor driver 22 is magnetized with N poles and S poles, which are arranged alternately in circumferential direction thereof.
Accordingly, the magnet rotor 19 is magnetically driven to rotate by rotation of the rotor driver 22. At the same time that the fluid C flows into the tank 14 through the inlet 16, the fluid C flows out of the outlet 17. The outflowing fluid C is supplied to the heat sink 12 through the path 13.
The outlet of the heat sink 12 is connected to an inlet 26 of the radiator 25 through the path 24. Thus, after the CPU is cooled by the fluid C, the fluid C is supplied to the radiator 25 through the path 24. The radiator 25 removes the fluid C from the heat and emits the heat into the air.
A pump-fan drive unit 27 is arranged between the radiator 25 and the tank 14. The pump-fan drive unit 27 has the motor 20, the fan 15, and the rotor driver 22. The fan 15 is disposed adjacently to one side (left side in FIG. 2) of the motor 20. The rotor driver 22 is disposed adjacently to the other side (right side in FIG. 2) of the motor 20.
As described above, the rotor driver 22 is fixedly provided and directly connected to one end portion of the output shaft 21 of the motor 20, while the fan 15 is fixedly provided and directly connected to the other end portion of the output shaft 21.
In the electronic component cooling apparatus 11 configured as described above, When the output shaft 21 of the motor 20 is rotated, both the fan 15 and the rotor driver 22 are driven to rotate synchronously. The radiator 25 is air-cooled in accordance with the rotation of the fan 15, so that the heat is taken from the fluid C and emitted into the air.
In addition, the magnet rotor 19 of the pump 18 rotates magnetically and integrally in accordance with the rotation of the rotor driver 22. By the water jet function of the fans 23 rotating together with the magnet rotor 19, the fluid C on the radiator 25 flows into the tank 14 through the inlet 16. At the same time, the fluid C flows out of the outlet 17 of the tank 14. The outflowing fluid C is forcedly supplied to the heat sink 12 through the path 13.
Thus, the heat sink 12 transfers the heat generated in the CPU to the fluid C to thereby cool the CPU. After cooling, the fluid C is sent back to the tank 14 through the path 24 and the radiator 25. Then, cooling fluid C is forcedly circulated to the heat sink 12 by the pump 18 in the same manner as described above.
In this embodiment, the magnet rotor 19 of the pump 18 rotates magnetically without any bearing. Accordingly, there is no bearing slide resistance generated at the time of rotation of the rotor. There is no risk of fluid leakage, so that no seal member is required.
The fan 15 and the pump 18 are directly operated by the single motor 20. Accordingly, the fan 15 and the pump 18 can be driven by the single motor 20, so that air-cooling of the radiator 25 and forced circulation of the fluid C can be performed simultaneously.
Accordingly, while drive transmission efficiency of motive power of the motor is improved, the space for installation of the pump-fan drive unit 27 is reduced so that the size of the apparatus can be reduced accordingly. Further, because two motors required can be replaced by one motor, noise generated from the motor 20 is reduced. In addition, because it is not necessary to provide any gear between the fan 15 and the output shaft 21 and between the pump 18 and the output shaft 21, the apparatus is so simple in structure that number of parts can be reduced.
The pump according to this embodiment is not limited to a magnet rotation drive type pump. Another type pump can be used instead. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, there can be used a pump 28 which includes a fan member 29 rotatably accommodated in the tank 14 and having a shaft portion directly connected to one end portion of the output shaft 21 of the motor 20.
Even in this configuration, efficiency of driving the pressure pump 28 and the fan 15 is improved, so that reduction in size of the electronic component cooling apparatus can be achieved. Further, not only is the apparatus simple in structure but also silent running characteristic of the motor driving is improved. Incidentally, in this embodiment, a seal member 30 is mounted on the place where the output shaft 21 passes through the tank.
It is a matter of course that various modifications can be made on the invention without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that the invention is extended to those modifications.

Claims

1. An electronic component cooling apparatus disposed on a circulating path through which fluid circulates, the electronic component cooling apparatus comprising:

a heat sink disposed on the circulating path and adapted to transfer heat generated from an electronic component to the fluid;

a radiator disposed on the circulating path and provided with a fan cooling the fluid in the radiator, and the radiator emitting the heat;

a tank disposed on the circulating path and provided with a pump circulating the fluid through the circulating path, and the tank reserving the fluid; and

a single motor driving the fan and the pump.

2. An electronic component cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the fan is directly connected to one end portion of an output shaft of the motor, and

the pump is directly connected to the other end portion of the output shaft of the motor.

3. An electronic component cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pump comprises

a magnet rotor rotatably accommodated in the tank; and

a rotor driver provided at an end portion of an output shaft of the motor so as to magnetically rotate the magnet rotor.

4. An electronic component cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pump comprises a fan member rotatably accommodated in the tank and directly connected to an end portion of an output shaft of the motor.