Tilted Fan Cooling Apparatus for Electronic Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling apparatuses for electronic devices, such as image pickup apparatuses, face challenges in efficiently cooling multiple electronic components while maintaining a compact size, as large fans required for efficient cooling increase the apparatus's size and generate noise and vibration.
Innovation Solution
A small cooling apparatus is designed with a fan that is tilted in two directions: relative to the first plane to position the fan exhaust closer to the heat exchanger, and about the fan shaft to optimize airflow direction, allowing efficient air discharge into an air-leading duct that feeds cooling air to the heat exchanger.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a large fan is used to feed sufficient cooling air to multiple electronic components, then cooling efficiency is improved, but the apparatus size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fan is tilted by a first tilt relative to the first plane and by a second tilt about the fan shaft, creating a three-dimensional airflow path that efficiently reaches the heat exchanger. This dimensional reorientation allows a smaller fan to achieve the same cooling effect that would otherwise require a larger fan in a conventional configuration.
2Productivity
If a large fan is used to ensure sufficient airflow, then cooling performance is improved, but noise and vibration increase
Solution Approach 1:
By tilting the fan in two directions (first tilt relative to the first plane, and second tilt about the fan shaft), the invention creates an optimized airflow path that improves cooling performance without requiring a larger fan size, thereby reducing noise and vibration generated by fan rotation.
3Productivity
If the fan exhaust opening is positioned directly opposite the heat exchanger, then airflow efficiency is improved, but the apparatus layout becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The fan exhaust opening is positioned in a tangent line direction of the rotational direction of the blade, and the air-leading duct is configured to guide airflow from this tangential position to the heat exchanger. This three-dimensional airflow path achieves efficient cooling while simplifying the overall apparatus layout compared to conventional direct-opposition configurations.
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 configuration enables efficient cooling of electronic components while maintaining a compact apparatus size, reducing noise and vibration, and ensuring effective airflow to the heat exchanger.
Implementation Method 1
The fan includes a blade configured to be housed in a casing and to rotate about a fan shaft, and discharges air drawn from a fan inlet opening of the casing into a fan exhaust opening of the casing. The fan exhaust opening is provided in a tangent line direction of a rotational direction of the blade.
Implementation Method 2
A first direction is a direction in which air is fed from the air-leading duct to the heat exchanger. The fan is tilted by a first tilt relatively to the first plane so that, in the first direction, the fan exhaust opening is closer to the heat exchanger than the blade.
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling apparatus includes a body frame holding a fan. The fan includes a blade housed in a casing and rotating about a fan shaft and discharges air from a casing's fan inlet opening surrounding the fan shaft into a casing's fan exhaust opening on a tangent line of the blade's rotational direction. The body frame includes an air-leading duct feeding the discharged air to a heat exchanger in a first direction. The fan tilts by a first tilt from a first plane orthogonal to the first direction to position, in the first direction, the fan exhaust opening closer to the heat exchanger than the blade, and by a second tilt about the fan shaft to tilt, as viewed from the first direction, the fan exhaust opening from a direction parallel to a second plane parallel to the first direction.