Rack-Level Liquid Cooling Plenum for Blade Server Heat Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional air cooling systems are inefficient, leading to high infrastructure and energy costs, while liquid cooling systems face challenges in flexibility and reliability, especially in highly parallel systems like blade servers, due to potential fluid contact with electronic components and increased costs from redundant pumps.
Innovation Solution
A cooling system for an electronic component system cabinet that uses a spreader plate with a flexible membrane and a centralized pumping system, where coolant reservoirs are non-fluidly connected to the spreader plate, allowing for efficient heat transfer without direct liquid contact with electronic components, and enabling hot swapping of components without fluid connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If liquid cooling systems are implemented with individual blade liquid loops and quick-connect members, then cooling efficiency is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to potential fluid leakage and contact with electronic components
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the cooling function into two independent segments: a rack-level liquid cooling loop and individual blade air cooling loops. The liquid cooling system operates at the rack level with a plenum chamber, while blade servers use air cooling with heat exchangers that interface with the liquid-cooled plenum. This segmentation eliminates the need for quick-connect liquid fluid connections at the blade level, preventing fluid leakage risks while maintaining high cooling efficiency through the liquid-cooled plenum structure.
2Reliability
If redundant pumps are added to each blade server for liquid cooling, then cooling reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the pumping function into a single centralized rack-level liquid cooling loop, eliminating the need for individual pumps at each blade server. The rack-level pump circulates coolant through the plenum chamber, which then distributes cooled air to multiple blade servers. This consolidation reduces system complexity and component count while maintaining cooling reliability through the unified liquid cooling infrastructure.
3Device complexity
If air cooling systems are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but cooling efficiency deteriorates leading to high energy costs
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a liquid-cooled plenum chamber as an intermediary between the rack-level liquid cooling system and blade-level air cooling loops. The plenum chamber acts as a heat exchange interface where liquid-cooled surfaces transfer thermal energy to the air flowing through blade server heat exchangers. This intermediary structure enables efficient heat transfer from blades to the liquid cooling system while maintaining simple air cooling infrastructure at the blade level, thereby reducing energy costs without increasing blade server 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 solution provides efficient heat removal with reduced risk of fluid leakage and lower fluid usage, eliminating the need for quick disconnects and reducing the risk of coolant exposure to electronic components, thus enhancing system flexibility and reducing operational costs.
Implementation Method 1
The at least one pump is selectively operated to circulate a flow of coolant to the at least one coolant reservoir, the coolant flow expanding and contracting the flexible membrane
Implementation Method 2
a spreader plate having a first surface arranged in a heat exchange relationship with the at least one heat producing component and a second surface including a flexible membrane portion
Data Source
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AI summary
An electronic component system cabinet includes a plurality of electronic component system bays, and a plurality of electronic component systems mounted in respective ones of the plurality of electronic component system bays. The electronic component system cabinet further includes a cooling system including a plurality of coolant reservoirs. Each of the plurality of coolant reservoirs is associated with at least one of the plurality of electronic component system bays. The cooling system further includes at least one pump fluidly connected to each of the plurality of coolant reservoirs. The at least one pump is selectively operated to circulate a supply of coolant to each of the plurality of coolant reservoirs.