KR20060050828A - Computer Cooling Device Using Thermoelectric Element - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cooling device for a computer, and mounts an air-cooling kit composed of a thermoelectric element, a cooling unit, and a heat dissipating unit through an upper side case of the computer, thereby cooling the temperature inside the computer to the cooled air generated by the cooling unit. It is characterized by providing a computer cooling device using a thermoelectric element to cool.

The present invention is characterized by configuring a cooling unit and a heat dissipation unit using the Peltier effect of the thermoelectric element in order to efficiently cool the internal temperature of the computer.

Thermoelectric element, Peltier effect, computer cooler, cooler, heat sink, heat sink, PWM, computer air conditioner, computer air conditioner

Description

Cooling Device For Computer Using Thermoelectric Element

1 is a perspective view of a computer equipped with a computer cooling device using a thermoelectric device according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the air-ranking kit according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is an internal plan view of a computer equipped with a cooling device according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a plan view showing the inner surface of the case of a computer equipped with a cooling apparatus according to the present invention.

5 is a front view of the air cooling kit unit according to the present invention.

6 is a control flowchart of the cooling apparatus according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: computer 11: case

14: main board 15: power supply

16: power supply vent 17: ODD

100: heat insulating material 200: air cooling kit part

210: temperature sensor unit 230: heat dissipation unit

240: cooling unit 250: thermoelectric element

260 control unit 290 housing

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer cooling device, wherein an air cooling kit including a thermoelectric element, a cooling unit, and a heat dissipating unit is mounted through an upper side case of the computer to cool the air generated by the cooling unit. A computer cooling apparatus using a thermoelectric element to cool, and relates to the configuration of a cooling unit and a heat dissipation unit using the Peltier effect of the thermoelectric element in order to efficiently cool the internal temperature of the computer.

In general, a computer used for home or industrial use consists of a combination of numerous semiconductors and other peripherals, and a cooling system using an atmospheric circulation such as a fan is used to discharge heat generated by the operation of these components to the outside. Is being applied.

In particular, components that generate relatively high heat such as CPUs, graphics cards, and power supplies have a cooling device that is a combination of a heat sink and a fan independently, and other parts may be equipped with a cooling device such as a heat sink.

In addition, the computer main body is equipped with a fan for dissipating heat generated from a relatively low heat generation component and heat generated from the cooling device to the outside of the computer.

The above air-cooled cooling system is widely used in general because of its simplicity in configuration and ease of installation, but has a limitation that it depends solely on the temperature of the air outside the computer.

Therefore, there is a water-cooled cooling device as a way to further increase the cooling efficiency, but the size of the cooling device is much larger than the air-cooled, and the complexity is not only an increase in the manufacturing cost of the computer, but also maintenance of the cooling device Because of the difficulty, there are limitations that are used only in special fields.

However, there is a need for a more efficient cooling system in response to the rapidly changing technology, the miniaturization of computers, and the demand for industrial special structural computers.

Therefore, the air circulation type of the air circulation type, which is relatively inexpensive to install, is mainly used, and various types of heat sinks and high speed fans are used to increase cooling efficiency for higher cooling efficiency.

However, since the main body of a general computer is a structure in which internal air and external air are not isolated from each other, it depends entirely on the air temperature outside the computer.

As a result, the cooling efficiency is low in special places such as high outside temperatures, industrial hot places, and closed spaces, and there is a fatal problem in stable computer operation. The need for more efficient cooling systems is increasing according to the requirements of computers.

In addition, when operating the computer, the ambient temperature is very low, so it is sometimes necessary to raise the temperature inside the computer for the safety of the operation of the computer, and in order to satisfy such requirements, a device for raising the temperature must be installed. There was a problem.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to efficiently cool the internal temperature of a computer by installing a cooling unit and a heat dissipation unit to use the Peltier effect of the thermoelectric element in order to solve the above problems.

In addition, the object of the present invention is to increase the temperature inside the computer using the Peltier effect so that the external temperature may be used in an environment where the temperature inside the computer must be increased due to a very low temperature.

The present invention for achieving the object as described above, the thermoelectric consisting of a temperature sensing sensor for sensing the internal and external temperature of the computer, the heat absorbing side and the heat dissipating side to perform the heat absorbing operation according to the input state of the connected electrode An element, a cooling plate which is located inside the computer case and is bonded to the heat absorbing side of the thermoelectric element, and has a plurality of protrusions in a longitudinal direction, and one or more to circulate air cooled by the cooling plate into the computer. A cooling unit comprising a cooling fan, a heat sink disposed outside the computer case and bonded to the heat dissipation side of the thermoelectric element, and having a plurality of protrusions in a longitudinal direction, and one or more heat dissipation units for cooling the temperature of the heat sink. A heat dissipation unit including a fan, a temperature measured by the temperature sensor, and a preset temperature Comparing the drawing range, a control unit for controlling the operation of the thermoelectric element, the cooling unit, and the heat dissipation unit, and an air-cooling kit composed of a housing for protecting the heat dissipation unit and the control unit are perpendicular to the add-on cards stacked in the computer. It provides a computer cooling device using a thermoelectric element characterized in that the mounting through the computer case.

In addition, by changing the polarity of the electrodes (+,-) input to the thermoelectric element to generate heat in the cooling unit to increase the temperature inside the computer as necessary in the environment of use of the computer. Provided is a computer cooling device using a thermoelectric element.

Hereinafter, each preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in describing the present invention, a detailed description of related well-known technologies or configurations may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention. If so, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a perspective view of a computer equipped with a computer cooling device using a thermoelectric device according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a side view of the air-cooled kit according to the present invention, Figures 3 to 4 are each equipped with a cooling device according to the present invention Is a plan view showing an internal plan view of the computer and an inner surface of the computer case.

5 is a front view of the air cooling kit unit according to the present invention, Figure 6 is a control flowchart of the cooling apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in each of FIGS. 1 to 2, the computer cooling apparatus using the thermoelectric device according to the present invention has an air-cooling kit part mounted through the computer case 11 so as to be perpendicular to the add-on cards stacked in the computer. The air cooling kit 200 includes a temperature sensor 210, a cooling unit 240, a thermoelectric element 250, a heat dissipation unit 230, and a control unit 260.

On the other hand, it is preferable to further configure the heat insulating material 100 coated on the inner side of the computer to block heat transfer to the outside.

More specifically, the air-cooling kit 200 may include a temperature sensor 210 that detects internal and external temperatures of the computer 10, a heat dissipation unit 230 located outside the computer case 11, and the computer. The heat absorbing operation and the heat radiating operation according to the input state of the connected electrode including a cooling unit 240 located inside the case 11, a heat dissipation side coupled to the heat dissipation unit 230 and an endothermic side coupled to the cooling unit The operation of the thermoelectric element 210, the cooling unit 240, and the heat dissipating unit 230 may be performed by comparing the thermoelectric element 250 and the temperature measured by the temperature sensing sensor 210 with a preset temperature range. The control unit 260 is configured to control.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, the insulation material 100 is coated to cover all of the CPU, the add-on card, the IO device, and the like mounted on the main board unit 14 of the computer 10, and the power supply unit 15 and ODD (optical drive) unit 17 and the like can be obtained by separating the heat generated independently from the main board unit 14 to the main board unit 14 to obtain a better heat shielding effect, The power supply unit 15 and the ODD (optical drive) unit 17 and the like may be coated as a heat insulating material 100 independently of each other.

In addition, as shown in Figure 4, by forming a plurality of vent holes 16 in the upper side case 11 corresponding to the power supply unit 15, heat of the power supply unit 15 that generates a lot of heat directly It is preferable to configure to deliver to the outside.

As shown in FIG. 5, the air-rank kit 200 is installed to penetrate the upper case 11 of the computer. However, the installation position of the air-rank kit 200 may include the add-on cards stacked in the computer 10. It is preferable to penetrate and mount the computer case 11 so as to be vertical.

The air cooling kit 200 is composed of a temperature sensor 210, the cooling unit 240, the thermoelectric element 250, the heat dissipation unit 230 and the control unit 260, the cooling unit 240 is a case ( 11 is located inside the heat dissipation unit 230 is preferably installed to be located on the outer surface of the case (11).

In particular, as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5, it is preferable to configure the housing 290 to protect the air cooling kit 200 from external impact, and in particular, to correspond to the heat radiating fan 235. It is preferable to form a ventilation hole 220 for the air-cooling kit part consisting of a straight or circular drilling hole having a predetermined interval on the upper end of the housing 290. (See Fig. 1).

The temperature sensor 210 detects an internal temperature and an external temperature of the computer 10 and transmits the detected temperature to the controller 260 which will be described later. Positioning and number of the temperature sensor 210 is preferably configured according to the type of the computer 10 to be used.

The thermoelectric element 250 is used to more efficiently cool the internal temperature of the computer 10. In general, the thermoelectric element 250 is a generic term for elements using various effects represented by interaction between heat and electricity.

Particularly, in the thermoelectric element 250 according to the present invention, when two types of metal ends are connected and current flows, the Peltier effect is a phenomenon in which one terminal performs endothermic operation and the other terminal generates heat operation according to the current direction. It is preferable to use a Peltier element, which is an element using.

The cooling unit 240 is formed inside the computer, and is bonded to the heat absorbing side of the thermoelectric element 250 to perform a function of cooling down the heat inside the computer and circulating the cooled air.

In addition, the cooling unit 240 is preferably composed of a cooling plate 246 using a surface contact of air and a cooling fan 245 for generating forced convection for more efficient air circulation.

The heat dissipation unit 230 is formed outside the computer, and the heat dissipation side of the thermoelectric element 250 is joined to lower the heat of the thermoelectric element 250, thereby ensuring a more efficient operation of the thermoelectric element 250. The heat dissipation plate 236 using the air surface contact and the heat dissipation fan 235 for generating forced convection are preferable.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 4, the number of installation of each of the cooling fan 245 and the heat radiation fan 235 may be configured in plural to suit the use environment of the computer 10.

On the other hand, the cooling unit 240, the thermoelectric element 250 and the heat dissipation unit 230 is electrically connected to each other, the operation is controlled by the control signal of the control unit 260, the temperature sensor 210 is the control unit Send a detection signal to 260.

 As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 260 controls the driving of the thermoelectric element 250 according to the temperature recognized by the temperature sensor 210, and the temperature control method of the thermoelectric element 250 is general. It is preferable to use automatic switching on / off control using the difference between the internal temperature and the external temperature or to use general PWM control.

In addition, when two electrodes (+,-) input to the thermoelectric element 250 are changed, heat is generated in the cooling unit 240 and the internal temperature of the computer 10 is increased.

This is possible by changing the two electrodes (+,-) of the thermoelectric element 250 when the external temperature is very low due to the use environment of the computer 10 and the temperature inside the computer needs to be increased for the normal operation of the computer. .

The air cooling kit 200 according to the present invention is configured by penetrating through the computer case so as to be perpendicular to the add-on cards stacked in the computer 10, by the cooling unit 240 of the air cooling kit 200. It is preferable to configure the cooled air to move to the space between the plurality of add-on cards to enable more efficient cooling.

Hereinafter, in the control unit 260, a cooling method according to the on / off control method of automatic switching will be described with reference to Examples.

First, a temperature measuring step of detecting the internal and external temperatures of the computer 10 by the temperature sensor 210 and a first comparing step of comparing the internal temperature and the external temperature detected in the temperature measuring step.

If the internal temperature is higher than the external temperature in the first comparison step, the process proceeds to an operation step of operating the thermoelectric element 250, the cooling unit 240, and the heat dissipation unit 230 to cool the computer internal temperature.

Alternatively, if the internal temperature is lower than the external temperature in the first comparison step, the process proceeds to the second comparison step, which will be described later, to perform conditional branching once more.

This prevents the difference between the internal temperature and the external temperature of the computer, so that condensation of water vapor in the air prevents dew on the surfaces of the outer and inner surfaces of the computer case.

The second comparison step compares T1, which is a temperature difference between the internal temperature and the external temperature, and T2, which is a preset temperature value, which can be changed according to the current average humidity.

If, in the second comparison step, the temperature difference T1 between the internal temperature and the external temperature is greater than the set temperature value T2, the thermoelectric element 250, the cooling unit 240, and the heat dissipating unit 230 are stopped. Goes.

Alternatively, if the temperature difference T1 of the internal temperature and the external temperature in the second comparison step is smaller than the set temperature value T2, the operation step is configured to continue.

In particular, the cooling method according to the on / off control method is composed of a configuration that can solve the problem of dew condensation by interlocking the internal and external temperature difference of the computer to the average humidity around.

The configuration of the cooling method basically changes the set temperature value T2 according to the changing average humidity, and organically fluctuates it. In the summer, the average humidity in the summer of Korea and the driving limit humidity of the electronic product, the T2 is 3 It becomes -4 degreeC. However, the above T2 may be appropriately changed according to the use environment of the computer, in particular, the humidity.

In addition, the method of measuring T1, which is a temperature difference between the internal temperature and the external temperature, is preferably measured by the difference of the variation value of the electrical resistance according to the temperature.

In addition, the control unit 260 may drive the computer cooling device 260 by PWM control using the thermoelectric element 250, the cooling method according to the following will be described.

First, the temperature sensor 210 detects a temperature inside the computer and determines whether the detected temperature is higher than a predetermined set temperature and the temperature detected by the temperature measuring step is higher than the set temperature. The output of the thermoelectric element 250 is operated to a limit set temperature according to the surface measurement temperature, and the radiator 230 and the cooling unit 240 are operated to cool the inside of the computer.

In addition, when the temperature inside the computer reaches the limit set temperature in the cooling step, the operation of the thermoelectric element, the circulation fan, and the cooling fan is stopped.

In the above, the present invention is limited to the preferred embodiment according to the present invention, but it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto and can be variously changed or modified.

As described above, the computer cooling apparatus using the thermoelectric device according to the present invention has an effect of efficiently cooling the internal temperature of the computer by installing a cooling unit and a heat dissipation unit to use the Peltier effect of the thermoelectric element.

In addition, the computer cooling apparatus using the thermoelectric device according to the present invention has an effect of raising the temperature inside the computer using the Peltier effect so that it can be used even in an environment where the temperature inside the computer must be increased due to the low external temperature.

Claims (2)

A thermoelectric element comprising a temperature sensing sensor for sensing an internal and external temperature of the computer, an endothermic side for endothermic operation and a heat dissipating side for heat dissipation according to an input state of a connected electrode, and a thermoelectric element located inside a computer case and A cooling unit comprising a cooling plate bonded to the heat absorbing side and having a plurality of protrusions in a longitudinal direction, and one or more cooling fans configured to circulate the air conditioned by the cooling plate into the computer; A heat dissipation unit disposed at a heat dissipation side and bonded to a heat dissipation side of the thermoelectric element and having a plurality of protrusions in a longitudinal direction and a heat dissipation fan composed of one or a plurality of heat dissipation fans to cool the temperature of the heat dissipation plate, The thermoelectric element, the cooling unit, and the room by comparing the measured temperature with a preset temperature range An air cooling kit unit comprising a control unit for controlling an operation of the heating unit, and a heat dissipation unit and a housing for protecting the control unit; And a penetrating through the computer case so as to be perpendicular to the add-on cards stacked in the computer. The method of claim 1, The polarization of the electrodes (+,-) input to the thermoelectric element is changed to each other to generate heat in the cooling unit to increase the temperature inside the computer as necessary in accordance with the use environment of the computer. Computer chiller using.

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