Automatic cooling mechanism for electrical device

#The present invention relates to an automatic cooling mechanism, and more particularly to an automatic cooling mechanism for an electrical device.

#Today's electrical devices are required to have high integrations and high performances. Accordingly, some of the electrical elements are often have high temperatures. For example, an automatic document feeder (ADF) is developed to be used with a flatbed scanner. The ADF can automatically feed document sheets one by one to the flatbed scanner to be scanned. However, most of the ADFs are asked to have reduced volumes and increased document-feeding speeds. As a result, a lot of heat is generated by the elements such as the print circuit board of the ADF. Cooling elements made of aluminum or copper, etc . . . are often used to reduce the temperature. However, the cooling effects are limited. The effect of a cooling cream is also limited. Furthermore, the cooling cream must be coated on the surface of the high-temperature uniformly, otherwise many problems may happen.

#A more efficient method is to use a fan to cool the high-temperature element. However, conventional fan is equipped with a motor. The additional motor will also generate heat to increase the temperature within the electrical device. Furthermore, the additional motor will increase the cost.

#FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a cooling mechanism for an electrical device according to the present invention;

#FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of a cooling mechanism for an electrical device according to the present invention;

#FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an automatic document feeder (ADF); and

#The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.

#Referring to FIG. 1, an electrical device 1 has a shell 16, a high-temperature element 2, and a rolling shaft 12. The high-temperature element 2 is a print circuit board (PCB) or other element that will generate heat during the operation of the electrical device 1. A cooling mechanism 4 is mounted within the electrical device 1. The cooling mechanism 4 includes a fan 6, a transmission mechanism 10, and a prop 8. Slots 14 and 18 are formed on the rolling shaft 12 and the fan 6 respectively for receive therein the transmission mechanism 10 so that the fan 6 can be rotated through the rotational kinetic energy transmitted by the transmission mechanism 10. The transmission mechanism 10 is a belt, a rope, or any other elastic element.

#The fan 6 and the rolling shaft 12 are connected by the transmission mechanism 10. Accordingly, the fan will be rotated in accordance with the rotation of the rolling shaft 12. Consequently, a cool wind will blow to the high-temperature element 2 and reduce its temperature.