Apple patents a tube-shaped computer case that uses its walls to cool air
Apple describes a desktop computer housed in a tube-shaped enclosure with openings at both ends. The design uses a fan to push air through the case, where the housing walls are thicker near the exit to absorb heat from the air before it leaves the device.
In the filing’s own words
A desktop computing system having at least a central core surrounded by housing having a shape that defines a volume in which the central core resides is described. The housing includes a first opening and a second opening axially displaced from the first opening. The first opening having a size and shape in accordance with an amount of airflow used as a heat transfer medium for cooling internal components, the second opening defined by a lip that engages a portion of the airflow in such a way that at least some of the heat transferred to the air flow from the internal components is passed to the housing.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A desktop electronic device, comprising: an enclosure having a tubular shape extending along a longitudinal axis, the enclosure defining a first opening at a first end and a second opening at a second end opposite the first end; the enclosure defining an exterior surface and an internal volume, the external volume including a varying profile; a wall of the enclosure having a variable thickness along the longitudinal axis, wherein a first portion of the wall proximate the second opening has a first thickness and a second portion of the wall spaced from the second opening has a second thickness less than the first thickness; a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising an active surface having an electronic component mounted thereon; and an air-moving component disposed in the internal volume to move air towards the second opening.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- COMPUTER HOUSING
- Publication number
- US20260267380A1
- Application number
- 19659883
- Filed
- Apr 27, 2026
- Published
- Sep 10, 2026
- Inventors
- 11
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 1/181 Physics & computingG02B 6/0001 Physics & computingG02B 6/0008 Physics & computingG02B 6/001 Physics & computingG06F 1/182 Physics & computingG06F 1/183 Physics & computingMore from Apple in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.