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US 12,745,364 B2Granted
Dual mode cooling system for use with in-wall video-codec and other electronic circuits
AssigneeCrestron Electronics, Inc.
InventorsMark LaBosco, Sanjay Upasani, Edward Joy, Dario Pagano, Alec Magrini
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Described herein is a compact combined active and passive cooling system to cool electronic audio-video circuitry, wherein all of the AV circuitry and cooling system fits within an enclosure that can be installed in a standard wall gang-box located in interior walls of structures. The combined active and passive cooling system uses convection, conduction, and radiation in active and passive cooling modes to dissipate heat generated by the AV circuitry into the room in which the gang box is located, and further uses the wall plate surface to dissipate heat into the room.
Claims20
A dual mode cooling system, comprising:
- electronic heat generating circuitry;
- a printed circuit board upon which the electronic heat generating circuitry is located on a first side;
- a substantially adiabatic enclosure adapted to house the electronic heat generating circuitry, printed circuit board and other components of the dual mode cooling system;
- a finned heat sink adapted to be in thermal contact with the electronic heat generating circuitry, the finned heat sink comprising a plurality of heat radiating fins, each of the plurality of heat radiating fins comprising a plurality of heated surfaces;
- a faceplate adapted to enclose the substantially adiabatic enclosure and seal the substantially adiabatic enclosure against an interior wall, and wherein the faceplate comprises—
- a cool air intake port adapted to receive cool air from an area external to the substantially adiabatic enclosure and provide the cool air to an interior portion of the substantially adiabatic enclosure, and
- a heated air exhaust port adapted to exhaust heated air out of the substantially adiabatic enclosure into an area external to the substantially adiabatic enclosure;
- a fan adapted to receive cool air from the cool air intake port and blow the cool air through the plurality of heat radiating fins of the finned heat sink to remove substantially all of the heat generated by the electronic heat generating circuitry via convection and generate heated air, and wherein the heated air is exhausted through the heated air exhaust port by the fan, and wherein an active cooling path comprises a path of air as it is received from the cool air intake port, passes through the fan, over each of the plurality of heated surfaces, and then is exhausted from the heated air exhaust port, and further wherein,
- the heated air exhaust port comprises—
- one or more holes in the faceplate formed at a first acute angle β with respect to an imaginary line perpendicular to a surface of the faceplate such that the heated air is expelled away from the faceplate in a first direction, and
- the cool air intake port comprises—
- one or more holes in the faceplate formed at a second acute angle α with respect to an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface of the faceplate such that the cool air is ingested into the substantially adiabatic enclosure from a second direction, and wherein
- the first and second acute angles are in opposition to each other, and further wherein
- the heated air exhaust port is separated with respect to the cool air intake port;
- and
- a first passive cooling path comprising:
- the electronic heat generating circuitry;
- the printed circuit board upon which the electronic heat generating circuitry is located;
- one or more through hole thermal vias located in the printed circuit board that are each adapted to be in thermal contact with the electronic heat generating circuitry and to accept heat generated by the electronic heat generating circuitry and transfer the heat generated by the electronic heat generating circuitry;
- a first heat conducting device adapted to be in thermal contact with the one or more through hole thermal vias, and which is adapted to transfer heat via conduction from the one or more through hole thermal vias, and which is further adapted to be a compressible gap pad to form a thermal transfer path between two objects;
- a second heat conducting device adapted to be in thermal contact with the first heat conducting device and to accept heat conducted by the first heat conducting device;
- and
- a third heat conducting device adopted to be in thermal contact with the second heat conducting device and to accept heat conducted from the first heat conducting device and is further adapted to be compressible to form a thermal transfer path between two objects, and wherein
- the face plate is adapted to be in thermal contact with the third heat conducting device and to accept heat conducted from the second heat conducting device, and is further adapted to convectively transfer received heat from its surface to air surrounding the face plate.
21 more elements
An audio-video distribution system, comprising:
- an audio-video encoder adapted to receive at least one high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) encoded audio-video (AV) signal via an HDMI cable, encode the same as an AV-over-internet protocol (AV-over-IP) signal, transmit the AV-over-IP signal to an AV receiver/splitter, wherein the AV receiver/splitter is adapted to receive the AV-over-IP signal, split the audio portion from the video portion of the AV-over-IP signal, convert the video portion back to an HDMI encoded video signal, re-transmit the HDMI encoded video signal to a display that is adapted to display an HDMI encoded video signal, and re-transmit the audio portion to one or more loudspeakers, and wherein the audio-video encoder comprises—
- electronic heat generating circuitry;
- a printed circuit board upon which the electronic heat generating circuitry is located on a first side;
- a substantially adiabatic enclosure adapted to house the electronic heat generating circuitry, printed circuit board and other components of the dual mode cooling system;
- a finned heat sink adapted to be in thermal contact with the electronic heat generating circuitry, the finned heat sink comprising a plurality of heat radiating fins, each of the plurality of heat radiating fins comprising a plurality of heated surfaces;
- a faceplate adapted to enclose the substantially adiabatic enclosure and seal the substantially adiabatic enclosure against an interior wall, and wherein the faceplate comprises—
- a cool air intake port adapted to receive cool air from an area external to the substantially adiabatic enclosure and provide the cool air to an interior portion of the substantially adiabatic enclosure, and
- a heated air exhaust port adapted to exhaust heated air out of the substantially adiabatic enclosure into an area external to the substantially adiabatic enclosure;
- a fan adapted to receive cool air from the cool air intake port and blow the cool air through the plurality of heat radiating fins of the finned heat sink to remove substantially all of the heat generated by the electronic heat generating circuitry via convection and generate heated air, and wherein the heated air is exhausted through the heated air exhaust portal by the fan, and wherein an active cooling path comprises a path of air as it is received from the cool air intake port, passes through the fan, over each of the plurality of heated surfaces, and then is exhausted from the heated air exhaust port, and further wherein,
- the heated air exhaust port comprises—
- one or more holes in the faceplate formed at a first acute angle β with respect to an imaginary line perpendicular to a surface of the faceplate such that the heated air is expelled away from the faceplate in a first direction, and
- the cool air intake port comprises—
- one or more holes in the faceplate formed at a second acute angle α with respect to an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface of the faceplate such that the cool air is ingested into the substantially adiabatic enclosure from a second direction, and wherein
- the first and second acute angles are in opposition to each other, and further wherein
- the heated air exhaust port is separated with respect to the cool air intake port;
- and
- a first passive cooling path comprising:
- the electronic heat generating circuitry;
- the printed circuit board upon which the electronic heat generating circuitry is located;
- one or more through hole thermal vias located in the printed circuit board that are each adapted to be in thermal contact with the electronic heat generating circuitry and to accept heat generated by the electronic heat generating circuitry and transfer the heat generated by the electronic heat generating circuitry;
- a first heat conducting device adapted to be in thermal contact with the one or more through hole thermal vias, and which is adapted to transfer heat via conduction from the one or more through hole vias, and which is further adapted to be a compressible gap pad to form a thermal transfer path between two objects;
- a second heat conducting device adapted to be in thermal contact with the first heat conducting device and to accept heat conducted by the first heat conducting device;
- and
- a third heat conducting device adopted to be in thermal contact with the second heat conducting device and to accept heat conducted from the first heat conducting device and is further adapted to be a compressible gap pad to form a thermal transfer path between two objects, and wherein
- the face plate is adapted to be in thermal contact with the third heat conducting device and to accept heat conducted from the second heat conducting device, and is further adapted to transfer received heat from its surface to the surrounding air via convection and radiation.
22 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.