Liquid DIMM Cooling with Compressible Thermal Adapter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Air cooling methods are inadequate for densely packed powerful microelectronic components like dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs), requiring a more effective cooling solution that is also space-efficient.
Innovation Solution
A liquid cooling device featuring a heat spreader, a cold rail block, and a compressible thermal adapter that adjusts for dimensional inaccuracies and allows easy removal and replacement of DIMMs, ensuring good mechanical and thermal contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If air cooling is used for densely packed DIMMs, then the cooling system is simple to implement, but the cooling effectiveness is insufficient and space consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies liquid cooling instead of air cooling by introducing a cold plate with coolant channels that directly contact the DIMM heat sources. The coolant (liquid) flows through these channels to absorb and remove heat efficiently, resolving the contradiction by providing superior cooling effectiveness through hydraulic/thermal means while maintaining a compact form factor that doesn't require large space-consuming air flow paths or complex fan assemblies.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a thermal adapter as an intermediary component between the DIMM and the cold plate. This thermal adapter ensures optimal thermal contact while accommodating dimensional variations, allowing efficient heat transfer from the DIMM to the coolant without requiring direct rigid contact. This mediator resolves the contradiction by enabling effective cooling through the intermediary thermal path while keeping the overall system simple and compact.
2Reliability
If rigid thermal contact is enforced between cooling components and DIMMs, then thermal contact is optimized, but dimensional inaccuracies cause mechanical stress and assembly difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the mechanical parameter of the thermal adapter from rigid to compliant by using a compressible material. This allows the adapter to deform and accommodate dimensional variations in the DIMM and cold plate while maintaining optimal thermal contact pressure. The compressible material transforms the rigid contact requirement into a flexible contact mechanism that absorbs dimensional inaccuracies, resolving the contradiction between thermal contact quality and assembly ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a compressible thermal adapter made of flexible material that can deform to conform to the mating surfaces of the DIMM and cold plate. This flexible adapter maintains reliable thermal contact despite dimensional variations, eliminating the need for precision machining or complex adjustment mechanisms. The flexible shell approach resolves the contradiction by providing adaptive thermal contact that is both effective and easy to assemble.
3Area of stationary object
If DIMMs are densely packed to save space, then space efficiency is improved, but heat dissipation becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cooling function directly into the DIMM assembly by integrating the cold plate and thermal adapter as a unified cooling subsystem. This allows multiple DIMMs to share a common coolant flow path and thermal management infrastructure, enabling efficient heat dissipation from densely packed components without requiring separate cooling systems for each DIMM. The merged cooling system resolves the contradiction by providing concentrated cooling capacity in a compact form factor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses liquid coolant flowing through channels in the cold plate to remove heat from densely packed DIMMs. The hydraulic cooling system provides high heat transfer efficiency that can handle the thermal density of closely spaced memory modules, resolving the contradiction by enabling effective heat dissipation from compact arrangements through superior liquid-to-air heat transfer coefficients and direct thermal coupling.
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
The solution provides effective cooling with minimal space usage, enabling efficient heat dissipation and easy maintenance without the need for tools, suitable for densely packed components in servers and other space-constrained environments.
Implementation Method 1
a compressible thermal adapter interleaved between the cold rail block and the memory modules of the DIMM
Implementation Method 2
The compressibility of the thermal adapter interleaved between the cold rail and the DIMM allows the components of the cooling device to be moved and adjusted relative to each other
Implementation Method 3
A liquid cooling device featuring a heat spreader, a cold rail block, and a compressible thermal adapter that adjusts for dimensional inaccuracies and allows easy removal and replacement of DIMMs, ensuring good mechanical and thermal contact
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid cooling device comprises a heat spreader disposed along a plurality of memory modules on a dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a cold rail block extending along the heat spreader and a compressible thermal adapter interleaved between the cold rail block and the memory modules. The thermal adapter is compressible in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the DIMM board, thus allowing the components of the cooling device to be moved and adjusted relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the DIMM. In a preferred embodiment, matching smooth surfaces of adjacent components within the cooling device are collated with a lubricant, thus permitting a low-friction gliding of these components relative to each other and allowing the DIMM to be easily removed from the cooling device and to be replaced without effort and without tooling.