Multi-Stage Liquid Cooling With Pressure-Expansion Heat Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fluid cooling systems for heat-generating electronic components are limited by the ambient temperature, restricting their heat removal capacity.
Innovation Solution
A multi-stage cooling system with a first stage that circulates a first cooling fluid to absorb heat from components, a second stage that increases the pressure of a second cooling fluid to remove heat, and a heat exchanger that transfers heat between the fluids, allowing for further temperature reduction through pressure decrease.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single-stage liquid cooling system is used, then the system structure is simple, but the heat removal capacity is limited by ambient temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into two independent stages: a first stage that circulates first cooling fluid to absorb heat from electronic components, and a second stage that circulates second cooling fluid through a heat exchanger to absorb heat from the first cooling fluid. This segmentation allows each stage to operate independently, enabling the second stage to cool the first cooling fluid below ambient temperature through pressure manipulation, thereby overcoming the ambient temperature limitation while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the pressure parameter of the second cooling fluid to achieve temperature manipulation. The second cooling fluid is pressurized to increase its temperature, then expanded to decrease its temperature below ambient level. This parameter change enables the second stage to act as an active cooling source rather than passive heat rejection, allowing heat removal capacity to exceed ambient temperature constraints.
2Productivity
If pressure is increased to remove heat from the second cooling fluid, then heat removal efficiency improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The second cooling fluid undergoes phase transitions as it passes through the heat exchanger and expansion device. The fluid is pressurized and heated, then expanded to cause cooling through phase change or near-phase-change conditions. This utilization of phase transition physics achieves high heat removal efficiency while keeping the added complexity limited to standard refrigeration components rather than complex active cooling systems.
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
Enhances the heat removal capacity beyond ambient temperature limitations by effectively utilizing a two-stage fluid circulation and pressure manipulation to cool electronic components efficiently.
Implementation Method 1
The first cooling path causes the first cooling fluid to absorb heat from the one or more heat-generating electronic components such that a temperature of the first cooling fluid increases
Implementation Method 2
The heat exchanger is fluidly connected to the first cooling path and the second cooling path, and is configured to cause the second cooling fluid to flow past and absorb heat from the first cooling fluid
Implementation Method 3
The second cooling path causes (i) an initial increase in a pressure of the second cooling fluid, (ii) subsequent to the initial increase in the pressure, heat to be removed from the second cooling fluid such that a temperature of the second cooling fluid decreases, and (iii) in response to the heat being removed, a decrease in the pressure of the second cooling fluid to further decrease the temperature of the second cooling fluid
Data Source
AI summary
A system for cooling a heat-generating electronic component includes a first stage, a second stage, and a heat exchanger. The first stage has a first cooling path that circulates a first cooling fluid past the heat-generating electronic component to cause the first cooling fluid to absorb heat from the heat-generating electronic component and the temperature of the first cooling fluid to increase. The second stage circulates a second cooling fluid to increase a pressure of the second cooling fluid, remove heat from the second cooling fluid to decrease a temperature of the second cooling fluid, and decrease the pressure of the second cooling fluid to further decrease the temperature of the second cooling fluid. The heat exchanger is fluidly connected to the first stage and the second stage, and causes the second cooling fluid to flow past and absorb heat from the first cooling fluid.