Multi-Evaporator Coolant Pressure Control for Two-Phase Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling solutions for electronic devices face challenges in efficiently managing high heat loads and heat fluxes due to increased performance and compactness, leading to potential thermal failures, and conventional methods struggle with acoustic noise and power concerns, while liquid-cooling methods require careful handling to avoid corrosion and electrical issues.
Innovation Solution
A two-phase liquid-cooling system with a closed loop and parallel coolant branches, where evaporators are coupled to electronic devices, and a control unit maintains system coolant pressure at or above saturation pressure for effective heat transfer, ensuring stable coolant flow and temperature regulation across varying power states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If air-cooled heat sinks with greater airflow are used to increase heat removal capability, then heat dissipation performance is improved, but acoustic noise and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical air-cooling system (fans, blowers) with a liquid-cooling system that uses fluid circulation through evaporators. This substitution eliminates the need for high-velocity airflow mechanisms, thereby reducing acoustic noise and power consumption while maintaining effective heat removal through phase change heat transfer
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs two-phase liquid cooling where the coolant undergoes phase transition from liquid to vapor in the evaporators, absorbing large amounts of heat. This phase change mechanism provides superior heat dissipation performance without requiring the high airflow rates that cause noise and power consumption issues in air-cooled systems
2Temperature
If water-based coolants are used to improve thermal conductivity and specific heat, then heat transfer efficiency is improved, but corrosion and electrical short circuit problems occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses dielectric liquids that combine the necessary thermal properties for effective heat transfer with electrical insulation characteristics. These composite fluid materials provide both the heat transfer efficiency of water-based coolants and the electrical protection and corrosion resistance of non-conductive fluids, eliminating the harmful effects while maintaining performance
3Volume of moving object
If electronic devices are made more compact to increase system density, then device footprint is reduced, but heat density and thermal management challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs liquid coolant circulation through evaporators that can be directly coupled to electronic devices. This hydraulic cooling approach provides intensive heat removal capability that can handle the high heat densities generated by compact, high-performance electronic devices, maintaining thermal management effectiveness despite reduced device footprint and increased heat density
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 system effectively manages heat transfer by phase change, maintaining electronic device temperatures within safe limits, reducing thermal runaway risks and optimizing coolant flow distribution, while minimizing power consumption and avoiding corrosion and electrical issues.
Implementation Method 1
the heat that is transferred by convection is done so principally by a change in coolant phase
Implementation Method 2
facilitate two-phase heat transfer in the plurality of evaporators from the plurality of electronic devices to the system coolant
Implementation Method 3
the heat that is transferred by convection is done so principally by a change in coolant phase
Implementation Method 4
Conventional cooling solutions depend on conduction cooling through one or more thermal interfaces to an air-cooled heat sink
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling system and method are provided for facilitating two-phase heat transfer from an electronics system including a plurality of electronic devices to be cooled. The cooling system includes a plurality of evaporators coupled to the electronic devices, and a coolant loop for passing system coolant through the evaporators. The coolant loop includes a plurality of coolant branches coupled in parallel, with each coolant branch being coupled in fluid communication with a respective evaporator. The cooling system further includes a control unit for maintaining pressure of system coolant at a system coolant supply side of the coolant branches within a specific pressure range at or above saturation pressure of the system coolant for a given desired saturation temperature of system coolant into the evaporators to facilitate two-phase heat transfer in the plurality of evaporators from the electronic devices to the system coolant at the given desired saturation temperature.