# US 2013/0152854 A1 · Thermal grease smearing apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0152854 A1 - Document ID: US20130152854A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/467,123 - Filed: 2012-05-09 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-20 - Assignees: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.; Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. - Inventors: WEI-MIN QIN; CHANG-JUN LI; YU-LIN LIU - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130152854A1 ## CPC - B05B 12/20: Masking elements, i.e. elements defining uncoated areas on an object to be coated - B05C 5/00: Apparatus in which liquid or other fluent material is projected, poured or allowed to flow on to the surface of the work (B05C7/00 takes precedence; essentially involving spraying or electrostatic projection B05B) - B05C 11/02: Apparatus for spreading or distributing liquids or other fluent materials already applied to a surface {; Controlling means therefor}(B05C7/00 takes precedence; Hand tools for such purposes B05C17/10); Control of the thickness of a coating {by spreading or distributing liquids or other fluent materials already applied to the coated surface}(controlling supply of liquid or other fluent material B05C11/10) - B05B: SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES (spray-mixers with nozzles B01F25/72; processes for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces by spraying B05D) - B05C: APPARATUS FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL (spraying apparatus, atomising apparatus, nozzles B05B; plant for applying liquids or other fluent materials to objects by electrostatic spraying B05B5/08) ## Abstract A thermal grease smearing apparatus includes a platform for placing a heat sink, a supporting post projecting from the platform, and a bracket mounted to the supporting post. The bracket includes a bottom plate with a smearing hole. A thermal grease pipe is mounted to the bracket and includes a pipe body having an upper opening for introducing thermal grease and a lower opening for applying the thermal grease onto a bottom surface of the heat sink. When the bracket is positioned in a working position, the bottom surface aligns with a the smearing hole and abuts a lower surface of the bottom plate, a smearing portion contacts with the thermal grease applied onto the bottom surface and is actuated to rotate about a central axis of the thermal grease pipe thereby smearing the thermal grease uniformly spread on the bottom surface of the heat sink. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A thermal grease smearing apparatus, comprising: a platform configured to receive a heat sink with a bottom surface of the heat sink facing up; a supporting post projecting upwardly from the platform; a bracket mounted to the supporting post and being adapted to be positioned in various positions relative to the platform, the bracket comprising a bottom plate formed with at least one smearing hole, and a top plate defining a first through hole; and a thermal grease pipe received in the first through hole and mounted to the top plate of the bracket, the thermal grease pipe comprising a pipe body comprising an upper opening for introducing thermal grease, a lower opening for applying the thermal grease onto the bottom surface of the heat sink, and a smearing portion adjacent to the lower opening, wherein when the bracket is positioned in a working position, a selected one of the at least one smearing hole is aligned with the bottom surface of the heat sink, a lower surface of the bottom plate abuts the bottom surface of the heat sink, and the smearing portion is adapted to rotate about a central axis of the thermal grease pipe and to smear the thermal grease uniformly on the bottom surface of the heat sink. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a shifting mechanism configured to mount the bracket to the supporting post, the shifting mechanism is adapted to adjust the height of the bracket relative to the platform. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the shifting mechanism defines a receiving hole configured to receive and to surround the supporting post. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a driving member adapted to drive the thermal grease pipe to rotate thereby driving the smearing portion to rotate about the central axis of the thermal grease pipe. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 4, wherein the driving member comprises a cylindrical body, the top plate further defines a second through hole configured to receive the cylindrical body. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the thermal grease pipe further comprises a driven gear surrounding the pipe body, the driving member further comprises a driving gear surrounding the cylindrical body, the driving gear is engaged with the driven gear to drive the thermal grease pipe to rotate. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the driving member further comprises an operating handle extending laterally from the cylindrical body, the operating handle is operable to rotate the cylindrical body thereby rotating the driving gear. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pipe body of the thermal grease pipe is made from a transparent material, a scale is marked on an exterior surface of the pipe body to indicate a volume of the thermal grease. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the smearing portion comprises two propeller blades, each of the two propeller blades defines an edge inclined to the bottom plate of the bracket. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bracket further comprises two opposite sidewalls, the bottom plate is slidably coupled to each of the two opposite sidewalls. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 10, wherein each of the two opposite sidewalls defines a sliding groove on an exterior side thereof, the bottom plate comprises two sliding rails, each of the two sliding rails being engaged with each of the two sliding grooves so that the bottom plate is slidable relative to the two opposite sidewalls. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the bottom plate is adapted to slide along the two opposite sidewalls to select one of the at least one smearing hole. ### Claim 13 A thermal grease smearing apparatus for smearing thermal grease on a bottom surface of a heat sink, the thermal grease smearing apparatus comprising: a platform configured to receive a heat sink; a supporting post projecting upwardly from the platform; a bracket comprising a bottom plate defining with at least one smearing hole, and a top plate defining a through hole; a shifting mechanism extending laterally from the bracket, the shifting mechanism adapted to mount the bracket to the supporting post and to adjust a height of the bracket relative to the platform; a thermal grease pipe received in the through hole and mounted to the top plate of the bracket, the thermal grease pipe comprising a pipe body comprising an upper opening for introducing thermal grease, a lower opening for applying the thermal grease onto the bottom surface of the heat sink, and a smearing portion adjacent to the lower opening; when the bracket is positioned in a working position, a selected one of the at least one smearing hole is aligned with the bottom surface of the heat sink, a lower surface of the bottom plate abuts the bottom surface of the heat sink, and the smearing portion is adapted to rotate about a central axis of the thermal grease pipe and to smear the thermal grease uniformly on the bottom surface of the heat sink. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a driving member adapted to drive the thermal grease pipe to rotate thereby driving the smearing portion to rotate about the central axis of the thermal grease pipe. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the driving member comprises a cylindrical body, the top plate further defines a second through hole configured to receive the cylindrical body. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the thermal grease pipe further comprises a driven gear surrounding the pipe body, the driving member further comprises a driving gear surrounding the cylindrical body, the driving gear is engaged with the driven gear to drive the thermal grease pipe to rotate. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 16, wherein the driving member further comprises an operating handle extending laterally from the cylindrical body, the operating handle is operable to rotate the cylindrical body thereby rotating the driving gear. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the smearing portion comprises two propeller blades, each of the two propeller blades defines an edge inclined to the bottom plate of the bracket. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the bracket further comprises two opposite sidewalls, each of the two opposite sidewalls defines a sliding groove on an exterior side thereof, the bottom plate comprises two sliding rails, each of the two sliding rails being engaged with each of the two sliding grooves so that the bottom plate is slidable relative to the two opposite sidewalls. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The thermal grease smearing apparatus of claim 19, wherein the bottom plate is adapted to slide along the two opposite sidewalls to select one of the at least one smearing hole.