Heatsink apparatus

Abstract

A heatsink apparatus has a radiator and a centrifugal pump in a closed circulation channel for circulating a coolant, wherein the centrifugal pump contacting a heat-generating component dissipates heat from the heat-generating component through heat exchange with the coolant. The centrifugal pump includes: a lower casing provided with a contact surface that contacts the heat-generating component; an upper casing; a ring-shaped sealing member provided between the lower and upper casings so as to form a round heat transfer chamber between the ring-shaped sealing member and the lower casing and to form a pump chamber that houses an impeller between the ring-shaped sealing member and the upper casing; a guiding member provided protruding on the lower casing to make the round heat transfer chamber a circulation channel; and the round heat transfer chamber connecting to a through-hole formed in a central portion of the ring-shaped sealing member.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a heatsink apparatus that circulates a coolant to cool heat-generating semiconductors, including a micro processing unit (hereinafter referred to as an MPU) used in a personal computer and the like, and other electronic components having heat-generating portions. [0003] 2. Description of Related Art [0004] Recent electronic devices include highly integrated electronic components and generate high operating clock frequencies, thereby producing a larger amount of heat from the electronic components. Due to the heat increase, temperatures at contact points of the electronic components surpass an operating temperature range, resulting in more than a few malfunctions of the electronic components. It is thus a critical issue to maintain the temperatures of the electronic components within the operating temperature range so that the electronic components function properly. [0005] Convention...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] The present invention is provided to address the above-described problems. A purpose of the present inventor is to provide a heatsink apparatus that has low thermal resistance on a pump side face and thereby improves overall cooling efficiency and maintains a temperature of a heat-generating electronic component low.

Problems solved by technology

Due to the heat increase, temperatures at contact points of the electronic components surpass an operating temperature range, resulting in more than a few malfunctions of the electronic components.

It is thus a critical issue to maintain the temperatures of the electronic components within the operating temperature range so that the electronic components function properly.

Conventional air-cooling using a heatsink alone, however, is insufficient to cool the heat-generating electronic components.

However, the heatsink apparatus disclosed in Related Art 1, in which a coolant flows through the center of an impeller 302 toward a heat-generating component 303, has the following problems: a complex impeller bearing structure declines reliability; low rigidity of the impeller bearing causes noise or declines reliability; and resistance of the coolant running through a small hole at the center of the impeller causes difficulty in ensuring flow rate of the coolant, thus impeding improvement in cooling performance.

However, the conventional heatsink apparatus has low heat transfer efficiency on an outer peripheral side away from the central portion, thus falling short of achieving highly efficient heat transfer across the pump.

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