Composite Phase-Change Heat Sink for Maintainable Server Liquid Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid-cooling methods for servers, particularly immersion phase change methods, face challenges in convenient and quick maintenance due to two-phase boiling states during shutdown, requiring complex operations and high maintenance costs, and risk heat dissipation issues from pressure differences at different heights.
Innovation Solution
A liquid cooling cycle system with composite phase change heat sink structures and flexible oscillating heat pipes allows for quick maintenance by disassembling the flexible oscillating heat pipes, and uses a compensating exponential curve slope in the heat sink main body to balance temperatures and reduce heat dissipation risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If immersion phase change liquid-cooling heat-dissipation method is used, then heat dissipation efficiency is improved, but maintenance convenience deteriorates due to two-phase boiling state during shutdown
Solution Approach 1:
The heat dissipation system is segmented into separate components: the server can be removed from the liquid cooling tank, allowing maintenance of the server independently from the cooling system. The cooling system remains as a separate modular unit with the liquid cooling tank and heat dissipation components, enabling independent maintenance of each segment without requiring complete system shutdown or complex operations.
2Loss of energy
If immersion phase change liquid-cooling heat-dissipation method is used, then heat dissipation efficiency is improved, but maintenance cost increases due to complex maintenance operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separable modules where the server and cooling system can be independently maintained. This segmentation simplifies maintenance operations by eliminating the need for complex coordinated procedures across the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat dissipation components including the liquid cooling tank are designed to enable easy self-maintenance operations. The system allows for straightforward draining, cleaning, and refilling of the cooling liquid without requiring specialized equipment or complex procedures, reducing maintenance complexity and costs.
3Loss of energy
If immersion liquid cooling is used, then heat dissipation efficiency is improved, but heat dissipation risk increases due to pressure differences at different heights
Solution Approach 1:
The interior surface of the liquid cooling tank is provided with roughening treatment at specific locations to create localized nucleation sites for bubble formation. This local quality enhancement promotes uniform bubble generation and departure, preventing localized pressure buildup and improving overall heat dissipation reliability by addressing the pressure difference issue at critical locations.
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
Enables convenient server maintenance by disassembling flexible oscillating heat pipes and balances temperatures across different heat sources, reducing maintenance costs and heat dissipation risks.
Implementation Method 1
heating first liquid refrigerant in the secondary side refrigerant to a saturated liquid state according to the heat source heat
Implementation Method 2
two flexible oscillating heat pipes respectively connected to two sides of the composite phase change heat sink main body
Implementation Method 3
performing vaporization treatment on the third liquid refrigerant according to the heat source heat, to obtain gaseous refrigerant corresponding to the third liquid refrigerant
Implementation Method 4
absorbing heat source heat of the server motherboard, and performing vaporization treatment on the third liquid refrigerant
Implementation Method 5
performing the cooling treatment on the gaseous refrigerant to obtain second liquid refrigerant corresponding to the gaseous refrigerant
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid-cooling cycle system includes at least one composite phase change heat sink structure, and each composite phase change heat sink structure at least includes a composite phase change heat sink main body and two flexible oscillating heat pipes respectively connected to two sides of the composite phase change heat sink main body through interface structures, so that in the liquid-cooling cycle process of a server, phase change conversion between a-gaseous refrigerant and liquid refrigerant may be achieved by means of the flexible oscillating heat pipes and the composite phase change heat sink main body. During maintenance of the server, quick and convenient maintenance may be carried out simply by disassembling the flexible oscillating heat pipes.