Single Motor Drives Multiple Fans via Linkage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional thermal modules with multiple fans increase cooling efficiency but also raise noise and energy consumption, while increasing the overall volume of electronic devices.
Innovation Solution
A thermal module design where a single driving member drives multiple fans through a connected mechanism, reducing the need for multiple driving elements and allowing for efficient cooling while minimizing noise, energy consumption, and volume.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the number of fans is increased to improve cooling efficiency, then cooling efficiency is improved, but noise and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple fan driving functions into a single driving member. The driving member is coupled to multiple fans through a shared transmission mechanism, allowing one motor to drive multiple fans simultaneously. This consolidation maintains the cooling efficiency of multiple fans while eliminating the noise and energy consumption associated with multiple separate driving motors.
2Productivity
If the number of fans is increased to improve cooling efficiency, then cooling efficiency is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple fan driving functions into a single driving member with one motor. This single motor drives multiple fans through a shared transmission mechanism, significantly reducing energy consumption compared to using multiple independent motors, while still achieving the enhanced cooling efficiency provided by multiple fans operating simultaneously.
3Productivity
If the number of fans is increased to improve cooling efficiency, then cooling efficiency is improved, but the overall volume of the electronic device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple fan assemblies into a compact configuration driven by a single motor. By sharing the driving mechanism and optimizing the spatial arrangement of multiple fans around a common drive unit, the overall volume is minimized while still providing the cooling efficiency benefits of multiple fans.
4Ease of operation
If multiple driving elements are used to drive multiple fans, then each fan can be driven independently, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple fan driving functions into a single driving member with a shared transmission mechanism. This reduces device complexity by eliminating multiple independent motors and control systems, while still allowing for effective operation of multiple fans through the unified driving system.
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
The solution effectively increases cooling efficiency, reduces noise and energy consumption, and minimizes the overall volume of the thermal module, addressing the limitations of conventional designs.
Implementation Method 1
With a forced convection provided by a fan, an air flow passing through the heat sink is increased, and the air flow carrying the heat energy could be brought out of the electronic device
Implementation Method 2
a thermal device such as a heat sink is generally disposed on an electronic device to guide a heat energy of the electronic device out of the electronic device
Data Source
AI summary
A thermal module for being disposed in an electronic device comprises a driving device and at least one thermal device. The driving device includes a driving member and a driven member which are connected together, wherein the driving member is adapted to drive the driven member to operate. The at least one thermal device includes a fan, wherein two opposite ends of the fan respectively have a mating portion and a connecting portion. The mating portion is adapted to be connected to the driven member, so that the driving member drives the driven member to drive the fan to rotate. The connecting portion of the fan is adapted to be connected to the mating portion of a fan of another thermal device, so that when the driving member drives the fan to rotate, the fan drives the fan of the another thermal device to rotate.