Dual-Direction Airflow Cooling for Electric Apparatuses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling solutions for electric apparatuses suffer from thermal stacking, where air temperature increases as it passes through multiple cooling elements in series, leading to uneven cooling, and attempts to increase air flow volume result in larger fans, increased pressure drop, energy consumption, and noise.
Innovation Solution
The use of two separate air flows with different flow directions ensures even cooling for each cooling element by preventing significant mixing and allowing each to maintain an average temperature, achieved through distinct fan arrangements and cooling element configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If multiple cooling elements are arranged in series with a single air flow, then the cooling elements can be cooled sequentially, but thermal stacking occurs causing uneven cooling and temperature rise in subsequent elements
Solution Approach 1:
The air flow path is segmented into multiple independent flows, each cooling specific cooling elements. Instead of one continuous air flow passing through all cooling elements in series, the system divides the cooling task among separate air flows that can be optimized independently, preventing thermal stacking.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a single-dimension serial cooling arrangement to a multi-dimensional parallel cooling structure. Multiple air flows operate in different spatial dimensions and directions, allowing cooling elements to be cooled from multiple perspectives simultaneously, eliminating the sequential temperature rise problem.
2Temperature
If the volumetric flow of air is increased to improve cooling uniformity, then cooling effectiveness improves, but fan size, pressure drop, energy consumption and noise increase
Solution Approach 1:
The total cooling task is segmented into multiple parallel air flows, each handling a portion of the heat load. This segmentation allows each air flow to operate at optimized, lower velocities, reducing energy consumption while achieving uniform cooling across all elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the flow parameters by dividing the air flow into multiple streams with different flow rates and directions. This parameter optimization allows each stream to be tuned for maximum cooling efficiency at minimum energy cost, avoiding the need for high-volume single-stream flow that increases power consumption.
3Temperature
If the volumetric flow of air is increased to improve cooling uniformity, then cooling effectiveness improves, but fan size and noise increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple independent air flow paths, each with its own fan or shared fan resources. This segmentation allows the use of smaller, more efficient fans rather than one large fan, reducing overall device complexity and size while achieving better cooling uniformity.
Solution Approach 2:
The fan arrangements are designed to serve multiple cooling elements simultaneously through strategically directed air flows. Each fan arrangement can cool multiple cooling elements by directing air flows along optimized paths, reducing the total number of fans needed and simplifying the overall system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively prevents thermal stacking, ensuring consistent cooling for all elements while reducing energy consumption and noise by maintaining a stable average operation temperature across cooling elements.
Implementation Method 1
Heat produced by the electric components during their use is conducted to the cooling elements
Implementation Method 2
The air flow passing via the cooling elements receives the heat load from the cooling elements and forwards it to the surroundings
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an electric apparatus (1) comprising at least two cooling elements (4) and a first fan arrangement (5) for cooling the at least two cooling elements (4) with a first air flow (11). In order to obtain an efficient cooling solution the electric apparatus (1) comprises a second fan arrangement (6) for cooling the at least two cooling elements (4) with a second air flow (12). The second fan (6) arrangement passes the second air flow (12) in a different flow direction as compared to the first air flow (11), and the first (11) and second air flows (12) are arranged to cool different parts (13, 17) of the at least two cooling elements (4).