Sealed Cabinet Cooling via Convective Gas Loop
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Solution Overview
Problem
In gaming environments, particles and vapors such as dust, smoke, and moisture from crowd activities can coat and interfere with the electronic and electromechanical components of gaming machines, reducing their operational reliability and increasing maintenance needs.
Innovation Solution
A gaming machine with a locked cabinet and internal security box is designed to have a sealed gas-filled containment volume with a clean thermal transfer gas circulation loop, passing through a multi-flow heat exchanger to absorb heat and remove ambient air, ensuring components remain cool and free from contaminants, even in the presence of power failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If components are enclosed in a sealed cabinet to protect from particles and vapors, then reliability is improved, but heat dissipation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A sealed enclosure is introduced as an intermediary between the components and the ambient environment, allowing protection from particles and vapors while maintaining controlled thermal management through dedicated cooling mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The sealed enclosure creates a protected environment for the components, isolating them from harmful ambient particles and vapors while allowing controlled thermal exchange through the enclosure walls
2Temperature
If ambient air is used for cooling components, then heat dissipation is improved, but particles and vapors deposit on components
Solution Approach 1:
A sealed enclosure acts as an intermediary barrier that allows thermal exchange with ambient air while preventing direct contact between ambient particles/vapors and the components
Solution Approach 2:
The sealed enclosure creates a protected environment that isolates components from harmful ambient particles and vapors while still allowing heat dissipation through the enclosure walls
3Reliability
If a sealed enclosure is used to protect components, then particle deposition is prevented, but cooling efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealed enclosure serves as a mediator that enables both particle protection and efficient cooling by providing a controlled interface between the protected components and the cooling mechanism
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively prevents particle deposition on heat exchanger flow-through paths, maintains component temperatures, and extends the mean time between failures and scheduled maintenance, while maintaining efficient cooling and reducing thermal insulation and corrosion issues.
Implementation Method 1
A clean thermal transfer gas is circulated about the loop of the air-tight-wise sealed gas-filled containment volume so as to flow past and absorb heat energy from the one or more of the heat generating components
Implementation Method 2
The gas is circulated in air-tight-wise sealed fashion through at least one air-tight-wise sealed flow-through path of a multi-flow heat exchanger having a plurality of flow-through paths that are heat exchange-wise coupled (thermally coupled) with one another
Implementation Method 3
The heat exchanger is disposed such that cooled denser portions of the clean thermal transfer gas are produced above a bottom portion of the containment volume and are delivered to that bottom portion in a convectively assisted manner
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming machine is provided having a cabinet (and optionally an internal locked box) enclosing one or more heat generating components such that the heat generating components are enclosed within an air-tight gas-filled volume having a convective loop configuration. A clean thermal transfer gas is circulated about the loop so as to flow past and absorb heat energy from the heat generating components and then continue in sealed fashion through at least one flow-through path of a multi-flow heat exchanger having a plurality of flow-through paths in heat exchange coupling with one another. At least one of the other flow-through paths of the heat exchanger has ambient air flowing by or in it so as to remove heat energy from the clean thermal transfer gas. The gaming machine further includes a plurality of computer-controlled blowers operatively coupled to the heat exchanging flow-through paths.