Visual heat sink for computers and method of use
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsDaniel A. Ford, James H. Kaufman, Owen R. Melroy, Cameron S. Miner, Kevin P. Roche
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Attractive heat sinks are used to cool the central processing unit and other solid state electronic components in electronic devices such as computers. In preferred embodiments, heat sinks snap onto one or both sides of a laptop computer to provide cooling. The heat sinks may consist of one or more sealed tubes of various cross sections containing a fluid mixture or solution. Preferred embodiments of the heat sinks rely on the principle of Rayleigh-Benard convection to provide a visually attractive “bubble lamp” display, “glitter lamp” display, or other convective fluid lamp display.
Claims57
A method of dissipating heat from a device, comprising:
- providing a conductive material in proximity with a heat-generating solid state electronic component;
- providing a heat exchange material in proximity with the conductive material, the heat exchange material having an appearance that changes upon heating;
- transferring heat to the conductive material;
- transferring heat from the conductive material to the heat exchange material, thereby changing the appearance of the heat exchange material during operation of the device;
- and
- allowing heat to dissipate from the heat exchange material and away from the device.
A method of dissipating heat, comprising:
- providing a conductive material in proximity with a heat-generating solid state electronic component in a device;
- providing a container in proximity with the conductive material, the container having liquid therein;
- transferring heat to the conductive material;
- transferring heat from the conductive material to the liquid;
- and
- using convection or conduction within the liquid to dissipate heat away from the device.
A method of dissipating heat from a solid state electronic device, comprising:
- turning on the device, thereby generating heat from a solid state electronic component within the device;
- directing excess heat away from the component;
- and
- using the excess heat during operation of the device to create an effect designed to be visually pleasing to a user of the device, while dissipating the excess heat away from the device.
A device, comprising:
- at least one solid state electronic element that generates heat;
- a conductor in thermal communication with said at least one element;
- and
- a heat exchange material in thermal communication with said conductor, said heat exchange material having an appearance that changes upon heating during operation of said device, said heat exchange material receiving heat from said conductor and transferring heat away from said device.
A device, comprising:
- at least one solid state electronic element that generates heat;
- a conductor in thermal communication with said element;
- and
- a vessel for containing liquid, said vessel being in thermal communication with said conductor, such that when said vessel contains liquid, heat is transferred from said at least one element to the liquid and from the liquid to away from said device.
A computer, comprising:
- a base portion;
- a cover pivotally mounted to said base portion, wherein at least one of said base portion and said cover includes at least one component that generates heat;
- and
- at least one heat cell configured to receive liquid, wherein said at least one cell is in thermal communication with said at least one component, such that when said at least one cell contains liquid, heat is transferred from said at least one component, to the liquid, and away from said computer, thereby maintaining the temperature of said computer within a working range.
A computer, comprising:
- a base portion;
- a cover pivotally mounted to said base portion, wherein at least one of said base portion and said cover includes at least one component that generates heat;
- and
- at least one liquid-containing cell, wherein said liquid is in thermal communication with said at least one component, such that heat is transferred from said at least one component to said liquid and then from said liquid to away from said computer, thereby maintaining the temperature of said computer within a working range.
A computer, comprising:
- at least one component that generates heat;
- and
- a heat exchange material in thermal communication with said at least one component, the heat exchange material having an appearance that changes upon heating during operation of the computer, wherein heat is transferred from said at least one component to said heat exchange material and then from said material to away from said computer to maintain the temperature of said computer within a working range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.