High performance baseboard cooling architecture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cooling solutions for semiconductor devices on a baseboard require individual designs, leading to competing requirements for real estate and airflow, reduced interoperability, and increased complexity due to varying thermal and mechanical needs, especially in high-power density applications like edge computing and autonomous vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A modular architecture with a segregated cooling and electronics design, featuring a stacking approach with a cooling layer and a contact layer, allowing for flexible configuration of air and liquid cooling technologies, decoupling the cooling system from the baseboard layout, and enabling efficient thermal management across different devices with varying power and thermal specifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If individual cooling solutions are designed for each chip, then thermal management effectiveness is improved, but device complexity and design time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling solution is segmented into modular cooling elements that can be independently selected and configured for different chips. Each cooling element is a standardized component that can be attached to specific thermal zones on the baseboard, allowing customized thermal management without designing entirely unique cooling systems for each chip.
Solution Approach 2:
Standardized cooling elements are designed to serve multiple chips and different thermal requirements through a universal interface. These modular components can be configured in various combinations to address different thermal management scenarios, reducing the need for chip-specific cooling designs while maintaining effectiveness.
2Temperature
If cooling elements are made larger to improve heat removal, then thermal performance is improved, but chip density on the baseboard decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The thermal management function is divided into multiple smaller cooling elements distributed across the baseboard. Instead of using one or two large cooling components, numerous smaller modular elements are strategically placed to cover different thermal zones, achieving effective heat removal while preserving baseboard real estate for higher chip density.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling solution transitions from a two-dimensional plane to a three-dimensional structure by utilizing vertical stacking and layered cooling elements. This allows heat removal functionality to be added in the vertical dimension rather than consuming horizontal baseboard space, enabling both improved thermal performance and higher chip density.
3Temperature
If cooling solutions are customized for each baseboard layout, then thermal management precision is improved, but interoperability and resilience decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into standardized modular elements with uniform interfaces that can be consistently applied across different baseboard layouts. This segmentation allows the same set of cooling components to be reconfigured for various chip arrangements, maintaining thermal management precision through proper placement while ensuring interoperability across different system configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system achieves thermal management precision for different layouts by changing the spatial arrangement and configuration of standardized cooling elements rather than changing the elements themselves. By adjusting parameters such as element placement, orientation, and combination, the same modular cooling library can be optimized for different baseboard designs, maintaining both precision and interoperability.
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 solution enhances interoperability, reliability, and adaptability, allowing for efficient thermal management without interference among cooling technologies, improving design flexibility and vendor collaboration, and enabling efficient heat transfer and removal across diverse electronic components.
Implementation Method 1
a contact layer mounted onto the plurality of electronic devices... each of the contact devices is configured to transfer heat from a corresponding electronic device to a corresponding cooling device
Implementation Method 2
a cooling layer mounted onto the contact layer... configured to extract and transfer the heat to the cooling air and to the coolant liquid
Implementation Method 3
extract and transfer the heat to the cooling air and to the coolant liquid
Data Source
AI summary
A vertical architecture for incorporating cooling devices onto a baseboard. The architecture forms four layers: baseboard, electronic device layer, contact layer, and cooling layer. In the electronic device layer multiple electronic chips of different characteristics are mounted onto the baseboard. In the contact layer multiple contact devices are attached to the electronic chips to match the form factor of the chips to the respective cooling device and to function to transfer heat from the chip to the respective cooling device. In the cooling layer multiple cooling devices are used to extract the heat using passive or active air cooling, liquid cooling, or hybrid and/or phase change cooling.