Modular cold-rolled plate structure

Abstract

This invention provides a modular cooling plate structure comprising an assembly composed of multiple plates joined together. Each plate includes a concave surface and a flat surface. The concave surface has an inlet, an outlet, and a microchannel connecting the inlet and outlet. The flat surface of the plate covers the concave surface of an adjacent plate to form a continuous assembly. By using a very small joint gap between the concave surface and the four sides of the plate, the concave surface can obtain a large heat exchange area, thereby replacing the traditional water-cooled plate with shovel-tooth fins, which suffers from poor heat exchange due to the small heat dissipation area of ​​the shovel-tooth fins.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a water-cooling heat dissipation device for electronic devices, and more particularly to a modular cold plate structure that uses spliced ​​multi-layer plates to replace the shovel-tooth fin structure. Background Technology

[0002] In electronic devices, such as servers, there are various electronic components inside, such as central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). These electronic components generate heat when they operate, so coolant (such as cooling water) must be used to cool them to prevent the electronic components from malfunctioning due to overheating, which could lead to the entire server becoming unusable.

[0003] There are many types of liquid cooling technologies and coolants available, each with varying performance characteristics. Among them, water-cooled plates (heads) are widely used in server products due to their high cooling efficiency and relatively low manufacturing cost. A typical water-cooled plate consists of a base plate and a top cover. The base plate has multiple fins, and solder is placed between these fins and the top cover. By heating and melting the solder, the fins and top cover are welded together, thus forming a single, integrated water-cooled plate.

[0004] However, with the ever-increasing demands for cooling efficiency, the spacing between multiple fins in a water-cooled plate structure has been reduced from more than 0.15mm to 0.1mm, or even 0.07mm or smaller. Only microchannel water-cooled plates formed in this way can meet current water-cooling requirements. This significant reduction in the spacing between multiple fins has increased the difficulty of manufacturing fins using the toothed fin process, potentially leading to lower yield rates. Furthermore, when there is a need to manufacture fins with larger cooling areas, the toothed fin process has limitations in terms of fin area, making it unable to meet the manufacturing requirements for fins with larger cooling areas.

[0005] Therefore, how to solve the technical problems caused by the significant reduction in the spacing between multiple fins in the water-cooled plate structure, resulting in a decrease in manufacturing yield and the inability to produce fins with a large heat dissipation area, is a direction that relevant developers are eager to research and improve. Summary of the Invention

[0006] Therefore, in order to effectively solve the above problems, the purpose of this invention is to provide a modular cold plate structure that can replace the shovel-tooth fin structure and is easy to process and manufacture.

[0007] Another objective of this invention is to provide a modular cold plate structure that can flexibly increase the size of the heat absorption zone.

[0008] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a modular cold plate structure, comprising: an assembly composed of a plurality of plates joined together, each plate comprising a concave surface and a flat surface, the concave surface being provided with an inlet, an outlet and a microchannel connecting the inlet and the outlet, wherein the flat surface of the plate covers the concave surface of an adjacent plate to form a continuous assembly.

[0009] The concave surface has a joint gap with the four sides of the plate, and the concave surface is spliced ​​to the plane through the joint gap.

[0010] It further includes: a cover plate, which is disposed on the concave surface of the outermost plate of the assembly.

[0011] It further includes: a plate that is flipped over, wherein the concave surface of the plate covers the concave surface of the outermost plate of the assembly.

[0012] Each of the cold plates includes a bottom side, a top side, and two oppositely arranged end sides. The concave surface and the flat surface connect the bottom side, the top side, and the two end sides. The microchannel extends along the length direction of the bottom side and the top side and is adjacent to the bottom side and the top side. A heat absorption area may be provided on one of the bottom side or the top side. The heat absorption area is used to contact or be adjacent to a heat source to absorb the heat energy of the heat source.

[0013] The microchannel has a centerline extending along its length, and the distance between the bottom side and the centerline is equal to the distance between the top side and the centerline.

[0014] The microchannel includes a groove and a plurality of protrusions disposed within the groove.

[0015] The microchannel includes a bottom wall and a top wall. The bottom side is formed on the outer side of the bottom wall, and the top side is formed on the outer side of the top wall. The inner side of the bottom wall and the inner side of the top wall together form the groove. A portion of the plurality of protrusions are disposed on the inner side of the bottom wall and the inner side of the top wall.

[0016] Therefore, the modular cooling plate structure provided by this invention utilizes multiple plates assembled into a single unit to replace the existing water-cooling plate (head) structure with spade-tooth fins. Since each plate is manufactured through a stamping process, and multiple plates can be fixed into a unified, interconnected assembly using diffusion welding or hard welding, this invention not only boasts a relatively simple and easy manufacturing process with high yield, but also eliminates any area limitations for manufacturing plates with large heat dissipation areas. Thus, it effectively solves the manufacturing limitations and low yield issues associated with spade-tooth fins due to process limitations in heat dissipation area. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the modular cold plate structure of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A partially exploded diagram of the modular cold-plate structure;

[0019] Figure 3 for Figure 1 A partial exploded view of the modular cold-plate structure in another direction;

[0020] Figure 4 for Figure 2 A top view of one of the plates;

[0021] Figure 5 This is a partially exploded schematic diagram of another modular cold plate structure of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 6 for Figure 5 A partial exploded view of the modular cold-plate structure in another direction.

[0023] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached drawings: Assembly 1; Plate 11; Heat absorption zone 110; Bottom side 111; Top side 112; Concave surface 113; Inlet 1131; Outlet 1132; Microchannel 1133; Groove 1134; Protrusion 1135; Guide section 1136; Plane 114; End side 115; Bottom wall 116; Top wall 117; Cover plate 2; Modular cold plate structure A; Modular cold plate structure B; Joint spacing C; Distance D; Heat source H; Height h; Centerline L. Detailed Implementation

[0024] The above-mentioned objectives of the present invention and its structural and functional characteristics will be described with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0025] like Figures 1 to 4As shown, the present invention provides a modular cold plate structure A, comprising an assembly 1 and a cover plate 2. The assembly 1 is composed of a plurality of plates 11 assembled together. Each plate 11 includes a bottom side 111, a top side 112, a concave surface 113 and a flat surface 114 oppositely disposed, and two end sides 115 oppositely disposed. The concave surface 113 and the flat surface 114 connect the bottom side 111, the top side 112, and the two end sides 115. An inlet 1131, an outlet 1132, and a microchannel 1133 connecting the inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132 are provided on the concave surface 113. The inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132 simultaneously penetrate the concave surface 113 and the flat surface 114. The microchannel 1133 extends along the length direction of the bottom side 111 and the top side 112 and is adjacent to the bottom side 111 and the top side 112. A heat-absorbing area 110 is provided on the bottom side 111 or the top side 112, and the heat-absorbing area 110 is used to contact or be adjacent to a heat source H to absorb the heat energy of the heat source H. The plane 114 of the plate 11 covers and fits onto the concave surface 113 of the adjacent plate 11, so that the inlet 1131 is connected to the adjacent inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132 is connected to the adjacent outlet 1132, so that multiple plates 11 can be continuously spliced ​​to form a connected assembly 1. The cover plate 2 can be covered on the concave surface 113 of the outermost plate 11 of the assembly 1 to cover the concave surface 113 of the plate 11, thus completing the spliced ​​cold plate structure A.

[0026] In this embodiment, the arrows indicate the direction of coolant flow, as shown below. Figures 1 to 4 As shown, since the heat source H is located on the bottom side 111 of the plate 11, the heat absorption area 110 is located on the bottom side 111, while the top side 112 can be used for heat conduction. However, this is not the only possibility. When the heat source H is located near the top side 112 of the plate 11, the heat absorption area 110 is located on the top side 112, while the bottom side 111 can be used for heat conduction. In other words, the present invention does not limit the location of the heat absorption area 110 to the bottom side 111 or the top side 112; it depends entirely on which of the two sides, the bottom side 111 and the top side 112, is closer to the heat source H, or whether both the top and bottom sides are in contact with the heat source H, or whether both ends are designed as heat absorption areas in contact with the heat source. Therefore, compared to the existing water-cooled plates that limit the heat absorption side to the bottom plate, the design of the present invention is more flexible in practical applications and can be appropriately configured according to the different component positions of electronic devices. Specifically, the heat source H is a GPU chip, but it is not limited to this. Other electronic components can also be used in this invention, and the coolant includes water or other liquid cooling media that can exchange heat to remove heat energy.

[0027] Furthermore, the plurality of heat-absorbing zones 110 on the plurality of bottom sides 111 of the plates 11 are arranged along the heat source H to achieve a better heat absorption effect. In this embodiment, since the heat source H is generally horizontally arranged, the plurality of heat-absorbing zones 110 of the plates 11 are arranged horizontally along the heat source H to form a horizontally assembled structure. However, this is not limited to this; when the heat source H is vertically arranged, the plurality of heat-absorbing zones 110 of the plates 11 are arranged vertically along the heat source H to form a vertically assembled structure stacked vertically. In other words, the present invention does not limit the plurality of heat-absorbing zones 110 to be horizontally or vertically arranged, or to other forms such as inclined arrangement.

[0028] It is understandable that the area of ​​the bottom side 111 of the plate 11 in this invention is smaller than the area of ​​the concave surface 113, thus exhibiting a tall and narrow shape. In contrast, the bottom area of ​​existing water-cooled plates is larger than the side area, thus exhibiting a wide and flat shape. Therefore, the design of this invention is significantly different from that of existing water-cooled plates in appearance. Furthermore, existing water-cooled plates cannot be assembled to form a modular cooling plate structure. In contrast, this invention can assemble multiple plates 11 into a composite body 1. Therefore, the design of this invention is also significantly different from that of existing water-cooled plates in structure. Since the area of ​​the bottom side 111 of each plate 11 in this invention is not large enough to completely cover the maximum surface of the heat source H, it is necessary to continuously assemble multiple plates 11 to form multiple bottom sides 111, allowing the multiple heat-absorbing areas 110 on the multiple bottom sides 111 to be connected together. This effectively forms and expands the overall area of ​​the heat-absorbing areas 110, enabling these heat-absorbing areas 110 to cover the entire maximum surface of the heat source H, thereby achieving a better cooling and heat dissipation effect. It is worth mentioning that this method of splicing and assembling multiple plates 11 can flexibly increase the size of the heat absorption area 110. Therefore, compared with the existing water-cooled plate method with a fixed heat absorption area, it has great design flexibility. By selecting the number of spliced ​​plates 11, it can meet the heat dissipation requirements of heat sources H of different sizes, thus effectively reducing the manufacturing cost of existing molds that need to be made of different sizes.

[0029] Furthermore, each plate 11 can be manufactured through machining methods such as stamping and forging to form a bottom side 111, a top side 112, two end sides 115, and concave surfaces 113 and flat surfaces 114 connecting the bottom side 111, top side 112, and two end sides 115. Therefore, the height h of the end side 115 connecting the bottom side 111 and top side 112 is essentially not limited by any process difficulty during stamping, and the machining technology of the stamping process is already quite mature, with a very high yield and low cost, suitable for mass production. Therefore, each plate 11 can be used to replace the existing fin structure formed by the shovel process, which can not only effectively solve the problem that the height of the fins formed by the shovel process is limited, thus preventing the cooling and heat dissipation area from being larger, but also solve the problem of poor fin yield in the shovel process. In addition, the assembly 1 and cover plate 2 included in the modular cold plate structure A can be fixed together using mature welding technologies such as diffusion welding or hard welding.

[0030] It is understood that in this embodiment, the inlet 1131, outlet 1132, and microchannel 1133 connecting the inlet 1131 and outlet 1132 on the concave surface 113 of the plate 11 can be fabricated by mechanical processing methods such as stamping and forging. However, it is not limited to this; other methods such as etching or laser engraving can also be used to form the microchannel 1133. Furthermore, the internal flow channel design of the microchannel 1133 is flexible and not limited to... Figure 4 As shown, the microchannel 1133 can also form a plurality of microchannels, and these microchannels can be interconnected or formed into various flow channel designs such as radial, mesh, matrix, and tree-like structures to meet different cooling and heat dissipation requirements.

[0031] In this embodiment, as Figure 4As shown, the microchannel 1133 includes a groove 1134 and a plurality of protrusions 1135 disposed within the groove 1134. Each protrusion 1135 is a protruding post (rib, strip), which is generally cylindrical, but not limited thereto; the protrusion 1135 can also be a fin. In other words, the present invention does not limit the specific shape of the protrusion 1135, as long as its structure can protrude and extend into the groove 1134, thereby increasing the heat exchange area in contact with the coolant. In addition, the plate 11 includes a bottom wall 116 and a top wall 117 disposed vertically opposite each other. The outer side of the bottom wall 116 forms a bottom side 111, and the outer side of the top wall 117 forms a top side 112. The inner sides of the bottom wall 116 and the top wall 117 together form the groove 1134, and a portion of the protrusions 1135 are disposed on the inner sides of the bottom wall 116 and the top wall 117, thereby increasing the heat exchange area between the bottom wall 116 and the top wall 117. It is understandable that when the protrusion 1135 is simultaneously provided on the groove 1134 and the bottom wall 116, or simultaneously provided on the groove 1134 and the top wall 117, the shape of the protrusion 1135 will change from the original cylindrical shape to a semi-cylindrical shape, thereby increasing the heat exchange area between the bottom wall 116 and the top wall 117.

[0032] It is worth mentioning that, such as Figure 4 As shown, except for the concave surface 113 being joined to the four sides of the plate 11 with a very small joint spacing C, the other areas are all shaped as concave surfaces. This allows the concave surface 113 to obtain a large heat exchange area, thereby replacing the traditional water-cooled plate with shovel-tooth fins. This solves the problem of poor heat exchange caused by the small heat dissipation area of ​​the shovel-tooth fins. In this embodiment, the joint spacing C of the bottom wall 116 is equal to the joint spacing C of the top wall 117. The concave surface 113 is spliced ​​to the plane 114 through this joint spacing C, making the heat exchange distance (i.e., the joint spacing C) between the coolant and the heat source H extremely small. This allows the concave surface 113 to obtain a large heat exchange area, thereby improving the cooling efficiency.

[0033] In addition, please continue to see Figure 4 As shown, the inlet 1131 and outlet 1132 are symmetrically (or asymmetrically) arranged on both sides of the concave surface 113, and are equidistant (or not equidistant) from the two end sides 115 of the plate 11. The microchannel 1133 further includes two guide sections 1136, disposed within the groove 1134 and located between the inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132. The left guide section 1136 is adjacent to the inlet 1131, and the right guide section 1136 is adjacent to the outlet 1132. It can be understood that the left guide section 1136 guides the coolant from the inlet 1131 towards the bottom side 111 and the top side 112, while the right guide section 1136 guides the coolant from the bottom side 111 and the top side 112 towards the outlet 1132. Additionally, as... Figures 2 to 3As shown, inlet 1131 is aligned and connected to another adjacent inlet 1131, and outlet 1132 is aligned and connected to another adjacent outlet 1132. In other words, multiple inlets 1131 on multiple plates 11 are aligned and connected to each other, and multiple outlets 1132 are also aligned and connected to each other. This ensures that the coolant flow is unobstructed and thus the flow rate is slowed down.

[0034] It is worth mentioning that, such as Figure 4 As shown, the microchannel 1133 is roughly rectangular and has a center line L extending along its length. The distance D between the bottom side 111 and the center line L is equal to the distance D between the top side 112 and the center line L. The value of distance D is exactly half the height h of the end side 115. The inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132 are of equal size and are both located on the center line L, so that the microchannel 1133 is symmetrically designed on the plate 11 along this center line L. This ensures that the cooling effect is not substantially different regardless of whether the heat absorption area 110 is located on the bottom side 111 or the top side 112. It is understood that when both the inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132 are circular holes, the center line L will pass through the center of both the inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132. Furthermore, the heat absorption zone 110 is roughly located in the middle of the bottom side 111, and is between the projection areas of the inlet 1131 and the outlet 1132, in order to correspond with the shape design of the microchannel 1133 and achieve a better cooling effect.

[0035] It is worth mentioning that the cover plate 2 in the above embodiment can also be replaced by a plate 11. Simply flip the plate 11 over and place it over the concave surface 113 of the outermost plate 11 of the assembly 1. A detailed illustration is shown below. Figures 5 to 6 As shown. The present invention also provides a modular cold plate structure B, which includes a composite body 1 and a flipped (i.e., rotated 180 degrees) plate 11, wherein the composite body 1 is also assembled from a plurality of plates 11. Since the structure of the plate 11 is the same as that in the above embodiment, it will not be described again here. A flipped plate 11 has its concave surface 113 directly covering the concave surface 113 of the outermost plate 11 of the assembly 1, so that the microchannels 1133 on the concave surface 113 of the flipped plate 11 merge with the microchannels 1133 on the concave surface 113 of the outermost plate 11. At the same time, the inlet 1131 and outlet 1132 on the concave surface 113 of the flipped plate 11 are respectively connected to the inlet 1131 and outlet 1132 on the concave surface 113 of the outermost plate 11. In this way, the modular cold plate structure B can be completed. By assembling the concave surfaces of the two plates together, a larger chamber can be obtained to accommodate more liquid cooling medium.

[0036] In summary, this invention provides a modular cold plate structure comprising an assembly composed of multiple plates joined together. Each plate is manufactured using a stamping process, and the multiple plates are fixed together using diffusion welding, hard welding, or laser welding. Therefore, the structure of this invention not only boasts simple manufacturing technology and high process yield, but also virtually eliminates area limitations for producing large-area plates. This overcomes the limitations of traditional spade-tooth fins in terms of fin heat dissipation area and low yield due to manufacturing processes.

[0037] The present invention has been described in detail above, but the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made based on the present invention should still fall within the patent coverage of the present invention.

Claims

1. A modular cold-rolled plate structure, characterized in that, Include: An assembly is formed by splicing together a plurality of plates, each plate including a concave surface and a flat surface. The concave surface is provided with an inlet, an outlet and a microchannel connecting the inlet and the outlet. The flat surface of the plate covers the concave surface of an adjacent plate, so as to continuously splice together to form an interconnected assembly.

2. The modular cold-rolled plate structure as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The concave surface has a joint gap with the four sides of the plate, and the concave surface is spliced ​​to the plane through the joint gap.

3. The modular cold-plate structure as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: A cover plate is provided on the concave surface of the outermost plate of the assembly.

4. The modular cold-plate structure as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The plate body is flipped over, and the concave surface therein covers the concave surface of the outermost plate body of the assembly.

5. The modular cold-rolled plate structure as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Each cold plate includes a bottom side, a top side, and two oppositely disposed end sides. The concave surface connects the bottom side, the top side, and the two end sides to the flat surface. The microchannel extends along the length direction of the bottom side and the top side and is adjacent to the bottom side and the top side. A heat absorption area is provided on one of the bottom side and the top side. The heat absorption area is used to contact or be adjacent to a heat source to absorb the heat energy of the heat source.

6. The modular cold-plate structure as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The microchannel has a centerline extending along its length, and the distance between the bottom side and the centerline is equal to the distance between the top side and the centerline.

7. The modular cold-plate structure as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The microchannel includes a groove and a plurality of protrusions disposed within the groove.

8. The modular cold-rolled plate structure as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The microchannel includes a bottom wall and a top wall. The bottom side is formed on the outer side of the bottom wall, and the top side is formed on the outer side of the top wall. The inner side of the bottom wall and the inner side of the top wall together form the groove. A portion of the plurality of protrusions are disposed on the inner side of the bottom wall and the inner side of the top wall.

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