Immersion-Cooled Electronic Rack With Cold Plates for Lower Coolant Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current liquid cooling systems for servers require excessive amounts of dielectric coolant, leading to high costs and inefficient heat dissipation, particularly for heat sources generating significant heat.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device and rack design that incorporates a casing with separate liquid and gas chambers, where the motherboard is partially immersed in a coolant, and heat sources are thermally coupled to cold plates connected via pipelines, allowing efficient heat dissipation with reduced coolant usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If servers are directly immersed in a tank filled with dielectric coolant, then heat dissipation is achieved, but the amount of coolant required becomes excessive leading to high cost
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the cooling system into multiple independent cooling channels, each serving specific heat sources. Instead of using a single large tank containing all servers, the system segments the coolant into separate pathways that deliver cooling fluid directly to each heat source, thereby reducing the total quantity of coolant required while maintaining effective heat dissipation
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces cold plates as intermediary components between the heat sources and the coolant. These cold plates are thermally coupled to heat sources and have coolant channels that allow heat transfer from the heat sources to the coolant, enabling efficient heat dissipation with minimal coolant quantity required
2Quantity of substance
If a large tank is used to immerse all motherboards, then all heat sources can be cooled, but the dielectric coolant cannot be concentrated on high-heat generating components
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements local quality by providing dedicated coolant channels and cold plates for each heat source, allowing the cooling system to concentrate coolant flow precisely where it is most needed. High-heat generating components receive intensified coolant flow through their dedicated channels, while low-heat components receive minimal or no coolant, optimizing the distribution of cooling resources according to local heat generation characteristics
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 design significantly reduces coolant consumption by approximately 60% while enhancing heat dissipation efficiency for high-heat generating components, maintaining effective cooling and simplifying maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
The first cold plate is thermally coupled to the first heat source
Implementation Method 2
The dielectric coolant absorbs heat generated by multiple heat sources in each server and takes heat away
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a casing assembly, a motherboard, a first heat source, a first cold plate and a first pipeline. The casing assembly includes a casing, a regulating joint, an outlet joint and an inlet joint. An interior space of the casing accommodates a coolant, the regulating joint, the outlet joint and the inlet joint are disposed on the casing, and the regulating joint and the outlet joint communicate with the interior space. The motherboard is located in the interior space and immersed in the coolant. The first heat source is located in the interior space. The first cold plate is thermally coupled to the first heat source. The first cold plate has a first inlet and a first outlet, and the first outlet communicates with the interior space. The first pipeline is connected to the inlet joint and the first inlet of the first cold plate.