Multi-Zone Electronic Cooling with Localized Thermoelectric Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current thermal management solutions for high-power electronic devices, such as gas and liquid cooling systems, face challenges in efficiently managing heat distribution due to varying workloads and thermal characteristics across multiple processors, leading to inefficiencies and potential thermal throttling.
Innovation Solution
A cooling system that incorporates multiple active cooling devices, including thermoelectric devices, which are independently thermally coupled to processing units and can be operated independently to provide localized customizable cooling. This system also includes a controller that adjusts operating parameters such as electrical currents and fluid flow rates based on temperature, workload, and thermal load to optimize cooling performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If gas cooling systems are used, then the system is economical and easy to deploy, but the heat transfer capacity is limited and form factor is unfavorable
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple independent zone cooling devices, each responsible for a specific thermal zone. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high heat transfer capacity through multiple parallel cooling paths while maintaining the simplicity of individual gas cooling units, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of deployment and heat transfer capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a hierarchical cooling architecture where zone cooling devices are nested within the electronic device structure, and a central cooling device coordinates their operation. This nested arrangement enables the system to maintain compact form factor while achieving high overall heat transfer capacity through coordinated multi-zone cooling.
2Power
If liquid cooling systems are used, then thermal dissipation performance is improved, but the design envelope becomes tighter and complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid cooling system is segmented into multiple independent zone cooling devices, each with its own heat exchanger and control parameters. This segmentation distributes the thermal dissipation load across multiple simpler units rather than requiring one complex centralized system, thereby achieving high thermal dissipation capacity while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic control where each zone cooling device can be independently adjusted based on real-time thermal conditions. This dynamic operation allows the system to optimize cooling performance for different workload scenarios, achieving high thermal dissipation capacity when needed while operating more simply under lower loads, thus reducing average system complexity.
3Temperature
If extreme solutions like immersion cooling are used, then thermal management requirements are met, but infrastructural costs and maintenance costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of immersing the entire electronic device in cooling fluid, the patent applies cooling only to specific thermal zones where heat generation occurs. This localized cooling approach maintains effective temperature control while dramatically reducing the amount of cooling infrastructure required, thereby lowering both infrastructural costs and maintenance requirements compared to full immersion cooling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the cooling function from a centralized immersion cooling approach and distributes it to multiple independent zone cooling devices. This extraction eliminates the need for large-scale infrastructural elements associated with immersion cooling while maintaining thermal management effectiveness through targeted local cooling.
4Reliability
If multiple independent cooling devices are used for each processing unit, then localized customizable cooling is achieved and thermal throttling is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple independent zone cooling devices, each capable of localized temperature control. This segmentation enables customized cooling for different processing units based on their specific thermal characteristics and workload, preventing thermal throttling while keeping each individual cooling unit relatively simple in design.
Solution Approach 2:
The zone cooling devices are designed with universal functionality to handle different thermal zones and workload scenarios. Each device can be independently configured and controlled, providing multi-functional capability that reduces the need for specialized complex cooling solutions for each processing unit, thereby maintaining reliability while managing device complexity.
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 addresses the challenge of varying thermal loads by providing individualized cooling to each processing unit, reducing the risk of thermal throttling and improving overall system performance while minimizing energy consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a thermoelectric device thermally coupled between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger
Implementation Method 2
extract a thermal load from an electronic device... into a fluid that flows into a heat exchanger
Implementation Method 3
The fluid can then be pumped back into the heat exchanger
Data Source
AI summary
Cooling systems for removing heat from an electronic device (e.g., a computing system), and related systems and methods, are disclosed herein. The cooling system can include multiple active cooling devices (e.g., thermoelectric devices) that are each independently thermally couplable to a processing unit in the electronic device. Further, each of the active cooling devices (and/or systems coupling the cooling device to the processing unit) can be independently operable to deliver localized cooling to the electronic device. The cooling system can also include one or more heat exchangers that are thermally coupled first hot side active cooling devices, as well as one or more external cooling loops that use fluid to cool the one or more heat exchangers.