JPH02237098A - Cooling structure of electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a cooling structure from deteriorating in cooling effect due to nonuniformity in air flow so as to enable it to work more effectively by a method wherein an air guide provided with a first guide which guides cooling air to the extension of the axis of a cooling fan and a second guide which guides cooling air outside of the extension of the axis of the cooling fan is provided. CONSTITUTION:A cooling fan 6 is used to draw air into an equipment through an air inlet and enable it to circulate inside the equipment. An air flow guide 10 provided with two or more guides such as a first and a second guide is provided to the leading edge of a cooling air blow-off section just under the cooling fan 6 as being fixed to a chassis 5, where the first guide guides cooling air to the extension of the axis of the cooling fan 6 and the second guide guides cooling air outside of the extension of the axis of the cooling fan 6. Cooling air sent from two or more cooling fans are conducted to the extensions of the axes of the cooling fans and outside of the extensions through the air flow guide 10 and controlled to be allocated almost uniformly to substrates and others provided below. By this setup, a cooling structure of this design can be improved in cooling efficiency by making air flow uniform.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to a cooling structure for electronic equipment that cools the inside of the equipment by generating cooling air using a cooling fan. especially,
The present invention relates to a cooling structure in which a wind direction guide for changing the direction of the cooling air generated by the cooling fan is provided near the cooling air outlet of the fan so that the inside of the device is more effectively cooled.

(Conventional technology) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the external appearance of the structure of the electronic device.

A slit etc. 2 or 3 is provided at the top and bottom of the side surface of the electronic device housing 1, etc.
is provided. These slits etc. are an air intake (for example 2) and an air outlet (for example TF3) for cooling components that generate heat such as a board housed inside the device.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of the section BB in FIG. 4.

Inside the casing 1 of the electronic device, a chassis 5 and the like are housed, in which a plurality of boards 4 and the like are mounted with a large number of ICs (integrated circuits) and the like. In addition to these substrates 4, etc., a power source and auxiliary devices such as magnetic tape and magnetic disk drive devices may also be stored.

Heat is often generated from these internal components.

In particular, ICs and the like generate a large amount of heat and tend to reach high temperatures, so it is necessary to maintain reliability by keeping the temperature below a certain level by cooling the IC appropriately.

Conventionally, the cooling structure that has been commonly used is to install a cooling fan to generate air flow (cooling air), and by circulating this cooling air, heat is removed from areas that generate heat and become high temperature. There is a method of cooling by removing the Air is taken in through an air intake port 2 such as a slit provided at the top of the device housing 1, and is discharged from an air outlet 3 provided at the bottom of the housing. The fan 6 that generates this air flow may be provided near the air intake port 2 to suck indoor air, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to provide the blowout by installing it near the . In this way, the air generated by the fan 6 passes through the gap 7 between the substrates 4 and the like, removes the generated heat, and is discharged to the outside of the device, thereby cooling the inside of the electronic device.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the distribution of the strength (air volume) of the cooling air generated by such a cooling fan 6.

As is clear from this figure, the cooling air passing through the fan 6 has a large air volume only at the blades 8 of the fan, and the air volume becomes extremely small due to the extension of the rotating shaft of the motor 9 at the center of the fan. . Further, although the fan 6 usually has a circular shape, when a plurality of such fans are installed, there is a problem in that a sufficient amount of air cannot be obtained even in the areas where the fans are adjacent to each other, and the cooling effect is low. It also delivers more air to areas where sufficient cooling effect cannot be achieved due to low air volume. If a larger fan is installed to increase the power supply, the problem arises that the noise of the fan becomes louder.

In view of such conventional circumstances, the present invention prevents the cooling effect from decreasing due to unevenness in the volume of cooling air generated by the cooling fan, enables more effective cooling, and also reduces the noise generated by the fan. This was done with the purpose of providing a cooling structure for electronic equipment that can be kept low.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve such an object, in the cooling structure for an electronic device according to the present invention, a plurality of blades are provided on the shaft, and a plurality of blades are provided on the shaft to cool the inside of the electronic device. A first guide that guides the cooling air on an extension of the shaft is provided at a front edge of a cooling air blowing part of a cooling fan that generates cooling air, and a first guide that guides the cooling air on an extension of the cooling fan to the outside. A wind direction guide having a second guide is provided.

(Function) If the configuration is equipped with such a wind direction guide, this wind direction guide can be used to place the cooling air in areas where the amount of cooling air is relatively small, such as on the extension of the shaft of the cooling fan or on the outside of the extension of the cooling fan. It becomes possible to guide and make the cooling air uniform, or to change the direction of the cooling air so that more cooling air goes to areas that require a particularly large amount of cooling air.

Therefore, even in areas where cooling efficiency has traditionally been poor, such as near the extension of the shaft in the center of the fan or near the boundary between multiple fans, it is possible to achieve almost uniform cooling without the need for modifications that would increase noise, such as installing a particularly large fan. It becomes possible to send cooling air to.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an electronic device equipped with a cooling structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this example device, indoor air (lower temperature compared to the inside of the device) is sucked in through the air intake port 2 provided at the top of the housing 1, and heated through the air outlet 3 at the bottom of the housing. It has a structure that allows air to be exhausted.

This air flow is generated by a plurality of blades installed on the shaft, located above the inside of the casing, just below the air intake port 2, which generates cooling air to cool the inside of the device. This is a cooling fan 6. The cooling air generated by the cooling fan 6 passes through gaps such as the substrates 4 housed in the chassis 5 at the bottom thereof, and cools them. That is, in the device of this example, the cooling fan 6 is used to suck air through the air intake port 2 and circulate it inside the device. (
On the contrary, there is also a configuration in which a fan is disposed near the air outlet and the air is circulated by discharging air from the outlet. ) A first guide is fixed to the chassis 5 at the front edge of the cooling air outlet directly under the cooling fan 6 and guides the cooling air to an extension of the axis of the cooling fan 6, and a first guide is provided on the front edge of the cooling air outlet directly below the cooling fan 6, and a first guide is provided on the front edge of the cooling air blowing part directly below the cooling fan 6. A wind direction guide 1o having a plurality of guides such as a second guide for guiding the wind is provided.

With this wind direction guide 10, the cooling air sent from the plurality of cooling fans 6 is guided to the extension of the shaft of the cooling fan 6, or to the outside from the extension, so that it is almost equally distributed to the substrates, etc. below. regulated.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wind direction guide 10 that changes the direction of the air from the cooling fan 6, and a side view showing a cross section taken along the line A-A.

In accordance with the shape of the circular cooling fan 6, the wind direction guide 10 is also formed by a plurality of concentric rings (guides) 12. In addition, multiple rings (guides) of the wind direction guide in this example
Reference numeral 12 has a plate shape, and its tip is bent so that the cooling air is guided to the extension of the shaft or to the outside from the extension so that the amount of air is distributed substantially uniformly.

The wind direction guide 10 made up of a plurality of rings (guides) 12 is integrally formed with a rectangular support frame 11.
Through the fixing holes 15 provided at the four corners of this support frame 11,
It is fixed to the chassis 5 with screws or the like, and the bending direction of the tip of the ring 12 is adjusted so that the cooling air is guided in a predetermined direction when passing through the gaps 13 and 14 between the plurality of rings 12.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the cooling air from the cooling fan 6 is blown downward at a substantially uniform air volume due to the effect of the wind direction guide 10.

When the wind generated by the cooling fan 6 passes between a plurality of concentric plates having different orientations, which constitute the wind direction guide 10, the direction of the flow is changed, and the wind flows on an extension of the axis of the fan 6 or on an extension of the fan 6. The cooling air is adjusted so that the cooling air also flows to adjacent parts of the plurality of fans 6 on the outside.

In this way, as shown in the air volume distribution diagram shown at the bottom of Figure 3,
Cooling air is now sent to the entire lower part of the fan with an almost uniform air volume.

In addition, in a cooling structure that creates circulation of cooling air by installing a fan near the air outlet and discharging the air, In some cases, the same effect can be obtained by arranging the fan and the wind direction guide in the same position as shown in FIG. 1 upside down. (Of course, if the suction port is at the bottom and the outlet is at the top, the arrangement will be the same as in Fig. 1, and only the direction in which the air flow generated by the fan will be reversed.) In the above-mentioned embodiment, , a configuration is shown in which the wind direction is adjusted using concentric circular guide plates, but it is also possible to change the wind direction by providing a plurality of rectangular thin pieces that can change the direction arbitrarily, for example. Further, the wind direction guide does not necessarily need to be fixed to the chassis, but may be structured such that it is installed integrally with the fan, for example.

[Effects of the Invention] With the cooling structure for electronic equipment to which the wind direction guide according to the present invention is applied, the direction of the cooling air generated by the cooling fan can be freely changed by the wind direction guide. Eliminate factors that reduce cooling efficiency due to areas with low airflow, such as areas on the extension of the fan shaft or adjacent areas between fans on the outside of the extension, to equalize airflow or achieve more cooling. Cooling efficiency can be increased by adjusting the flow of air to the areas where it is needed.

In this way, it becomes possible to obtain sufficient cooling with a small fan without replacing it with a large, noisy fan, and it becomes possible to provide electronic equipment with reduced noise.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of an electronic device equipped with a cooling structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the main parts of the cooling structure of the embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a cooling efficiency according to the embodiment. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of the external appearance of an electronic device, and FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of an electronic device equipped with a conventional cooling structure.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling state by a conventional cooling structure. 1...Electronic device housing 2...Air intake port 3...
Air outlet 4... Board 5... Chassis 6...
・Cooling fan 7...Gap between boards 8...Blades 9・
...Motor 10...Wind direction guide 11...Outer frame 1
2... Ring (guide) 13, 14... Ring gap 15
...stop hole

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A first blade that guides the cooling air to an extension of the shaft at the front edge of the cooling air blowing part of the cooling fan, which has a plurality of blades on the shaft and generates the cooling air to cool the inside of the electronic device. A cooling structure for an electronic device, characterized in that a wind direction guide is provided, the guide having a second guide that guides the cooling air outward from an extension of the cooling fan.