Flow direction control mechanism

Abstract

A flow direction control mechanism is provided, which includes at least a rotatable means provided in a passage of an electronic system or apparatus. The rotatable means moves to an open position by means of a force generated from fluids flowing through the passage and returns to a close position in the absence of the force. Further, a restrictor is disposed adjacent to the rotatable means for restricting movement of the rotatable means between the open position and the close position.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to flow direction control mechanisms, and more particularly, to a flow direction control mechanism installed in a passage of a system or a device for controlling the airflow direction and eliminating the occurrence of reverse flow or air turbulence. BACKGROUND [0002] OF THE INVENTION [0003] Modern electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones are developed with advancement of technology and have central process units (CPUs) thereof to be more efficient in arithmetic calculation, thereby producing more heat during operation of the electronic devices and making heat dissipation or temperature control more significantly concerned for the electronic devices. For example, it is critical to prevent electromigration effect that is induced by temperature rising above a threshold and causes a malfunction or breakdown of the electronic devices. Besides, heat dissipation plays an important role in system stability of CPUs in ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] Another objective of the invention is to provide a flow direction control mechanism for controlling and preventing reverse airflow and for improving convection and heat dissipating efficiency in a passage of an electronic device.

[0014] In order to achieve the foregoing and other objectives, the present invention provides a flow direction control mechanism including a rotatable means mounted in a passage of an electronic device, wherein the rotatable means moves to an open position by means of a force generated from airflow flowing through the passage in operation of a heat dissipating device in the electronic device, and the rotatable means returns to a close position without requiring an external force. Further, a restricting means or restrictor may be mounted close to the rotatable means for restricting movement of the rotatable means between the open position and the close position, so as to control a flowing direction of airflow in the passage and prevent reverse airflow to thereby improve convection and heat dissipating efficiency.

[0018] Moreover, size, number and shape of the rotatable means and restrictor may be flexibly designed according to the structure of the passage. And, a plurality of the flow direction control mechanisms may be integrated as a module type to be detachably mounted at suitable positions in the passage of the electronic device, so as to desirably achieve airflow control improvement without significantly increasing fabrication costs of the flow direction control mechanism.

Problems solved by technology

Besides, heat dissipation plays an important role in system stability of CPUs in computers or other electronic devices; therefore, one main problem to be solved is to enhance heat dissipating efficiency in order to improve system performance.

Besides the reverse airflow, it also seriously affects exhaust of inner air in the passage or even affects operation of the first fan 101, making heat dissipating efficiency of the electronic device undesirably reduced; this problem would be more sever in an electronic device with an advanced CPU that is in high demand of heat dissipation.

However, provision of the compensation mechanism would increases fabrication costs and structural complexity; as it needs to take a period of time for the compensation mechanism to detect and react to malfunctioning of the fan, the electronic device may be broken down due to high temperature before an action or response is made by the compensation mechanism.

Moreover, as the fans are directly connected with air inlets or air outlets, reverse airflow occurs in a breakdown of the malfunctioning fan and also affects operation of other normally-functioning fans by which efficiency of convection or heat dissipation is significantly reduced, thus increasing load of the compensation mechanism and making the compensation mechanism easily damaged.

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