Heat dissipation structure and mobile terminal

Abstract

The invention provides a heat dissipation structure and a mobile terminal comprising the same. The heat dissipation structure comprises a heating element, a vacuum cavity vapor chamber, a fan and at least one heat dissipation fin, and the heating element is arranged to face a heat source area on the bottom face of the vacuum cavity vapor chamber and is in thermal contact with the heat source area; the fan is arranged to face a fan area on the bottom surface of the vacuum cavity vapor chamber; the at least one heat dissipation fin is fixed in a fin area on the bottom surface of the vacuum cavity vapor chamber; and in the transverse direction of the vacuum cavity vapor chamber, the fan area is positioned between the heat source area and the fin area. According to the heat dissipation structure, the excellent heat dissipation effect can be achieved under the condition that the overall thickness is extremely small.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to, but is not limited to, the field of heat dissipation technology, and in particular to heat dissipation technology related to mobile terminals. Background Technology

[0002] With the continuous development of electronic technology and the increasing popularity of mobile terminals, people have higher and higher requirements for the processing power and thinness of mobile terminals such as mobile phones, tablets, handheld game consoles, and e-readers. However, due to the continuous improvement of the processing power of electronic chips such as CPUs and GPUs, while the chip manufacturing process is limited, mobile terminals often generate a lot of heat when working under high load, which not only makes the casing hot to the touch, but may also cause the terminal to lag or crash. In order to solve this problem, existing mobile terminal products either have to sacrifice thinness or can only reduce heat dissipation by reducing the frequency, which seriously affects the user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This disclosure provides a heat dissipation structure and a mobile terminal.

[0004] In a first aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a heat dissipation structure, the heat dissipation structure including a heat-generating element, a vacuum chamber heat exchanger, a fan, and at least one heat dissipation fin, wherein the heat-generating element is arranged to face a heat source region on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger and to be in thermal contact with the heat source region; the fan is arranged to face a fan region on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger; the at least one heat dissipation fin is fixed to a fin region on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger; and along the transverse direction of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger, the fan region is located between the heat source region and the fin region.

[0005] In a second aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a mobile terminal that includes the heat dissipation structure described in the first aspect of this disclosure.

[0006] The heat dissipation structure provided in this embodiment includes a heat-generating element, a vacuum chamber heat sink, a fan, and at least one heat dissipation fin. The heat-generating element is arranged to face the heat source region on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat sink and is in thermal contact with the heat source region. The fan is arranged to face the fan region on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat sink. The at least one heat dissipation fin is fixed to the fin region on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat sink. Furthermore, along the transverse direction of the vacuum chamber heat sink, the fan region is located between the heat source region and the fin region. This allows the heat dissipation structure to achieve excellent heat dissipation performance with an extremely thin overall thickness. Attached Figure Description

[0007] In the accompanying drawings of the embodiments disclosed herein:

[0008] Figure 1This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0009] Figure 2 This is a schematic exploded cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0010] Figure 3 This is a schematic rear semi-perspective view of a mobile terminal and a heat dissipation structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0011] Figure 4 This is a schematic rear semi-perspective view of another mobile terminal and heat dissipation structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0012] Figure 5 This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a heat dissipation structure based on related technologies.

[0013] In this disclosure, the meanings of the reference numerals in the drawings are as follows:

[0014] 1: Heat dissipation structure; 10: Vacuum chamber heat spreader; 11: Top metal plate; 12: Bottom metal plate; 13: Heat dissipation fins; 14: Side plate; 15: Bottom surface of vacuum chamber heat spreader; 16: Shielding cover; 20: Heating element; 21: PCB board; 22: Thermal conductive medium; 23: Shielding space; 24: Shielding bracket; 30: Fan; 31: Fan bracket; 40: Cover; 41: Bottom wall; 42: Side wall; 43: Air inlet; 44: Air outlet; 101: Heat source area; 102: Fan area; 103: Fin area; 116: Shielding cover; 120: Heating element; 122: First heat dissipation gel layer; 123: Second heat dissipation gel layer; 130: Fan; 143: Air inlet; 144: Air outlet; 151: Upper support of air duct; 152: Lower support of air duct; 153: Top wall; 160: Air duct. Detailed Implementation

[0015] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of this disclosure, the heat dissipation structure and mobile terminal provided in the embodiments of this disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in the art will understand that the illustrated embodiments may be embodied in different forms, and this disclosure should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described below. Rather, these embodiments are provided to make this disclosure thorough and complete, and to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the scope of this disclosure.

[0016] The accompanying drawings of the embodiments of this disclosure are provided to further illustrate the embodiments of this disclosure and form part of the specification. They are used together with the detailed embodiments to explain this disclosure and do not constitute a limitation thereof. The above and other features and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of the detailed embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, for clarity, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0017] Where there is no conflict, the various embodiments, implementation methods, and features of the embodiments and implementation methods disclosed herein may be combined with each other.

[0018] The terminology used in this disclosure is for describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the disclosure. The term "and / or" as used in this disclosure includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated enumerated entries. The singular forms "a" and "the" as used in this disclosure are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprising," "made of," etc., as used in this disclosure specify the presence of the stated feature, integral, step, operation, element, and / or component, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. The terms "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "inner," "outer," "top," "bottom," etc., as used in this disclosure, indicate orientation or positional relationships based on the orientation or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the disclosure and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the disclosure.

[0019] Unless otherwise specified, all terms used in this disclosure (including technical and scientific terms) have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. It will also be understood that terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and this disclosure, and will not be interpreted as having an idealized or overly formal meaning, unless expressly so defined in this disclosure.

[0020] Figure 5 A heat dissipation structure for a mobile terminal in a related art is shown. For example... Figure 5 As shown, the heat dissipation structure includes an air inlet 143 extending from one side of the mobile terminal to an air outlet 144 on the other side, a straight (north-south oriented) air duct 160 spanning the width of the mobile terminal, and a fan 130 driving airflow through the air duct 160. On the side where the heat-generating element (e.g., CPU) 120 is located (right side of the figure), the heat dissipation structure, from bottom to top, includes at least seven layers: the heat-generating element 120, a first heat-dissipating gel layer 122, the top wall 153 of the shielding cover 116, a second heat-dissipating gel layer 123, a lower air duct support 152, the air duct 160, and an upper air duct support 151. It is evident that this heat dissipation structure requires the use of seven heat dissipation layers locally, resulting in an excessively thick mobile terminal; furthermore, the long air duct path leads to excessive thermal conductivity loss.

[0021] Figure 1 A cross-sectional schematic diagram of a heat dissipation structure 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1 As shown, the heat dissipation structure 1 includes a heat-generating element 20, a vacuum chamber heat exchanger 10, a fan 30, and at least one heat dissipation fin 13. The heat-generating element 20 is arranged to face the heat source region 101 on the bottom surface 15 of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger 10 and to be in thermal contact with the heat source region 101; the fan 30 is arranged to face the fan region 102 on the bottom surface 15 of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger 10; each heat dissipation fin 13 is fixed to the fin region 103 on the bottom surface 15 of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger 10; and along the transverse direction of the vacuum chamber heat exchanger 10, the fan region 102 is located between the heat source region 101 and the fin region 103.

[0022] The vapor chamber heat spreader (also called a vacuum chamber heat spreader or VC (Vapor Chamber) plate) 10 is a plate with an internal cavity and capillary structure. The cavity is evacuated and filled with a working medium, which transfers heat through a phase change. The heating element 20 can directly contact the heat source area 101 on the bottom surface 15 of the vapor chamber heat spreader 10, or it can contact the heat source area 101 through a layer of thermally conductive medium (such as heat dissipation gel) 22. The heat emitted by the heating element 20 is absorbed by the vapor chamber heat spreader 10 in the form of thermal conduction, and is dissipated outward from the fan area 102 and the fin area 103 under the combined action of the fan 30, the heat dissipation fins 13, and the vapor chamber heat spreader 10.

[0023] In this embodiment, the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 comprises three regions 101-103 in the transverse direction, and the fan region 102 is arranged between the heat source region 101 and the fin region 103 (see also...). Figure 3 In the heat source area 101, the complex seven-layer structure in the aforementioned related technologies is simplified to a maximum of three layers (heating element 20 + heat-conducting medium 22 + vacuum chamber heat sink 10); in the fan area 102 and fin area 103, the fan 30 and heat dissipation fins 13 are arranged side by side, without increasing the thickness of the heat dissipation structure due to stacking. As a result, the overall thickness of the heat dissipation structure can be reduced by up to 75%, leaving room for thinning the entire mobile terminal or adding other novel structures. Furthermore, this design unexpectedly achieves superior heat dissipation performance compared to related technologies with its ultra-thin structure.

[0024] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 As shown, the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 has a side plate 14 surrounding the heat source area 101. The side plate 14 and the bottom surface 15 of the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 together form a shield 16 that surrounds and covers the heating element 20.

[0025] In practical applications, the heat-generating element 20 is often an electronic chip such as a CPU that requires electromagnetic shielding. According to the embodiments of this disclosure, the vacuum chamber heat sink 10 forms a shielding cover with its own structure, thereby achieving integration of the vacuum chamber heat sink and the shielding cover. In this way, it is not necessary to provide a separate shielding cover, saving the assembly gap between the shielding cover and the vacuum chamber heat sink, and consequently, it is not necessary to provide a thermally conductive medium such as thermally conductive gel in this gap. This allows the heat dissipation structure of this disclosure to provide electromagnetic shielding for heat-generating elements 20 such as CPUs and GPUs, while also reducing thickness and heat transfer loss.

[0026] Furthermore, since the heat dissipation fins 13 are fixed to the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10, a three-in-one integrated structure of vacuum chamber heat spreader + heat dissipation fins + shielding cover is actually formed (see also...). Figure 2 It is easier to assemble and has higher heat transfer efficiency.

[0027] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 As shown, the heat dissipation structure 1 also includes a PCB board (e.g., a motherboard) 21, on which the heat-generating element 20 is mounted. The side plate 14 surrounding the heat source area 101 is fixedly connected to the PCB board 21, thereby forming a shielding space 23 for shielding the heat-generating element 20 by the shielding cover 16 and the PCB board 21.

[0028] In some alternative implementations, such as Figure 2 As shown, a shielding bracket 24 is provided or formed on the PCB board 21 at a position corresponding to the side plate 14 of the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10. The side plate 14 and the shielding bracket 24 are connected to each other by a snap-fit ​​connection. To achieve the snap-fit ​​connection, corresponding corrugations can be formed at the edges of the shielding bracket 24 and the side plate 14, or a groove can be formed at the edge of one and a protrusion that mates with the groove can be formed at the edge of the other. In some alternative embodiments, the shielding bracket may not be provided on the PCB board 21, and the side plate 14 of the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 may be directly inserted or soldered to the PCB board 21. This disclosure does not limit how the side plate 14 of the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 is connected to the PCB board 21 to form the shielding space 23.

[0029] In some cases, a mobile terminal's PCB (motherboard) may have more than one heat-generating component requiring heat dissipation and electromagnetic shielding. In such cases, multiple heat-generating components can share a single vacuum chamber heat spreader. For example... Figure 4 As shown, in some optional embodiments, multiple heating elements correspond to multiple heat source areas 101 ( Figure 4(There can be 3, 2, 4, etc.), each heat source area 101 corresponds to a shielding space 23, that is, the bottom surface and side plates of a vacuum chamber heat spreader can form multiple shields, improving the utilization rate of the vacuum chamber heat spreader. In some optional embodiments, multiple heating elements that do not need to be shielded from each other can be located in the same shielding space.

[0030] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 As shown, the heat dissipation structure 1 also includes a cover 40, which covers the vacuum chamber heat dissipation plate 10 from the bottom side, thereby enclosing the heat-generating element 20, the fan 30, and each heat dissipation fin 13 within the cover 40. The cover 40 includes a bottom wall 41 and a side wall 42. An air inlet 43 corresponding to the air inlet side of the fan 30 is opened on the bottom wall 41 of the cover 40; and an air outlet 44 corresponding to the heat dissipation fins 13 is opened on the side wall 42 of the cover 40.

[0031] Since the air inlet 43 is located on the bottom wall 41 of the cover 40 and the air outlet 44 is located on the side wall 42 of the cover 40, therefore, with Figure 5 Compared to the related technologies shown, the heat dissipation channel according to the embodiments of this disclosure is a short air duct with a 90-degree bend. By shortening the length of the air duct, heat loss is reduced.

[0032] This disclosure does not specify the exact shape and number of the air inlet 43 and the air outlet 44. Figure 3 and Figure 4 Two alternative implementations of the air inlet 43 are shown.

[0033] In some alternative embodiments, the bottom wall and side walls of the cover are a single structure, and the cover can be a battery cover or a mid-frame of a mobile terminal, etc. In other alternative embodiments, such as Figure 1 As shown, the cover 40 is composed of a bottom wall 41 and a side wall 42 connected together. The bottom wall 41 can be the battery cover or the middle frame of the mobile terminal, and the side wall 42 can be the frame of the mobile terminal.

[0034] In some embodiments, the heat dissipation structure 1 further includes a fan bracket 31, which is fixed to the bottom surface 15 of the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate 10 for fixing the fan 30. In this case, the heat dissipation channel (air duct) is defined by the fan bracket 31, the fan 30, the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate 10, at least one heat dissipation fin 13, and the cover 40, so that when the fan 30 is turned on, air passes through the fan 30 from the air inlet 43 in a direction perpendicular to the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate 10, passes through at least one heat dissipation fin 13 in the transverse direction of the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate 10, and exits through the air outlet 44.

[0035] In some embodiments, the fan 30 is attached to the fan bracket 31 with adhesive. The fan bracket 31 can accommodate the fan 30 and the heat dissipation fins 13. In addition, openings corresponding to the air inlet 43 and the air outlet 44 can be respectively formed on the bottom wall and side wall of the fan bracket 31.

[0036] In some embodiments, each heat dissipation fin 13 is fixed to the fin area 103 of the bottom surface 15 of the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 by welding, preferably by spot welding.

[0037] In some alternative implementations, such as Figure 1 As shown, each heat dissipation fin 13 is arranged such that its two side surfaces face the fan 30 and the air outlet 44, respectively. In some alternative embodiments, the heat dissipation fins may be arranged in other ways, such as having both side surfaces extending along the direction from the fan 30 toward the air outlet 44, or extending at an angle in that direction, etc. This disclosure does not specifically limit the arrangement or number of heat dissipation fins 13.

[0038] In some embodiments, the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 is formed by sealing and welding two metal plates 11 and 12. In some embodiments, when the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 also forms a shield 16, the side plate 14 is first formed by stamping the bottom metal plate 12 among the two metal plates, and then the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 is formed by sealing and welding the two metal plates 11 and 12. The manufacturing process is simple and low-cost. As for forming or attaching capillary structures on the surface of the metal plates 11 and / or 12, evacuating the cavity of the vacuum chamber heat spreader, and filling the cavity of the vacuum chamber heat spreader with working medium, these can be implemented in ways known in the prior art, and this disclosure does not specifically limit them.

[0039] In some alternative embodiments, the vapor chamber heat sink 10 is made of copper, whose excellent thermal conductivity further enhances heat dissipation. In other alternative embodiments, stainless steel is used as the material for the vapor chamber heat sink 10, taking into account manufacturing costs. In still other alternative embodiments, the vapor chamber heat sink 10 is made of both copper and stainless steel to balance heat dissipation and cost; for example, the top metal plate 11 of the vapor chamber heat sink 10 is made of copper, and the bottom metal plate 12 is made of stainless steel. Furthermore, the heat dissipation fins 13 are preferably made of copper, but can also be made of aluminum or other metals.

[0040] In some embodiments, in addition to the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 described above, the heat dissipation structure may also include another vacuum chamber heat spreader, which may be a regular vacuum chamber heat spreader on the middle frame. The vacuum chamber heat spreader 10 can be stacked with the other vacuum chamber heat spreader along the thickness direction and connected together by applying heat dissipation gel to form a dual VC system, thereby achieving better heat dissipation.

[0041] This disclosure also provides a mobile terminal, which includes the heat dissipation structure as described above.

[0042] The mobile terminal can be selected from, but is not limited to, mobile phones, tablets, handheld game consoles, e-readers, laptops, routers, TV boxes, etc. Figure 3 and Figure 4 Rear views of mobile terminals in the form of mobile phones according to two examples of embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The approximate positional relationships of the vacuum chamber heat spreader 10, heat source area 101, fan area 102, fin area 103, and shielding space 23 within the mobile terminal are shown in dashed lines.

[0043] The heat dissipation structure and mobile terminal provided in this disclosure can achieve excellent heat dissipation and low heat transfer loss with an extremely thin overall thickness, while ensuring electromagnetic shielding of electronic chips such as CPUs.

[0044] It is understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments used to illustrate the principles of this disclosure, and the present invention is not limited thereto. Various changes in form and detail can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of this disclosure as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A heat dissipation structure, comprising a heat-generating element, a vacuum chamber heat spreader, a fan, and at least one heat dissipation fin, wherein, The heating element is arranged to face the heat source area on the bottom surface of the vacuum cavity heat spreader and is in thermal contact with the heat source area. The fan is arranged to face the fan area on the bottom surface of the vapor chamber heat exchange plate; The at least one heat dissipation fin is fixed to the fin area on the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate; and Along the transverse direction of the vapor chamber heat spreader, the fan area is located between the heat source area and the fin area.

2. The heat dissipation structure according to claim 1, wherein, The vacuum chamber heat spreader has a side plate surrounding the heat source area, and the side plate and the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat spreader together form a shield that surrounds and covers the heating element.

3. The heat dissipation structure according to claim 2, wherein, The heat dissipation structure also includes a PCB board, and the heat-generating element is mounted on the PCB board; The side plate surrounding the heat source area is fixedly connected to the PCB board, thereby forming a shielding space for shielding the heat-generating element by the shielding cover and the PCB board.

4. The heat dissipation structure according to claim 2, wherein, The vacuum chamber heat spreader is made of two layers of metal plates welded together with edge sealing. The shielding cover is formed by stamping the bottom metal plate of the two metal plates.

5. The heat dissipation structure according to claim 1, wherein, The materials of the vapor chamber heat exchange plate include copper and stainless steel.

6. The heat dissipation structure according to claim 1, wherein, The at least one heat dissipation fin is fixed to the fin area by welding.

7. The heat dissipation structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The heating element is in thermal contact with the heat source area through a heat-conducting medium.

8. The heat dissipation structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The heat dissipation structure also includes a cover, which covers the vacuum chamber heat dissipation plate from the bottom side and covers the heat-generating element, the fan and the at least one heat dissipation fin inside the cover; The cover includes a bottom wall and a side wall. An air inlet corresponding to the air inlet side of the fan is opened on the bottom wall of the cover. An air outlet corresponding to the at least one heat dissipation fin is opened on the side wall of the cover.

9. The heat dissipation structure according to claim 8, wherein, The heat dissipation structure also includes a fan bracket, which is fixed to the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate for fixing the fan. The fan bracket, together with the fan, the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate, the at least one heat dissipation fin, and the cover, defines a heat dissipation channel so that when the fan is turned on, air passes through the fan from the air inlet in a direction perpendicular to the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate, then passes through the at least one heat dissipation fin along the transverse direction of the vacuum chamber heat exchange plate and exits through the air outlet.

10. A mobile terminal, comprising a heat dissipation structure as described in any one of claims 1-9.

Images