Redundant Cooling Plates for High-Density Server Thermal Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data centers face reliability issues due to increased heat generation from high-performance electronics, requiring more effective and efficient cooling solutions, especially in mission-critical applications where single points of failure in cooling systems can lead to temperature increases and reduced server performance.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a redundant cooling system using single phase and unified cooling plates with separate coolant loops, allowing for continued heat dissipation even if one coolant circulation fails, by circulating different coolants through single phase and unified cooling plates, respectively, to ensure continuous operation and prevent overheating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single coolant loop is used for cooling high-performance servers, then the cooling system is simple, but the reliability decreases when the coolant circulation fails
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple independent coolant loops (first coolant loop and second coolant loop), each capable of independently cooling the electronics device. This segmentation allows one loop to fail without affecting the other, thereby improving reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the electronics device are assigned to different coolant loops (first portion to first loop, second portion to second loop). This local differentiation ensures that cooling capacity is distributed across independent pathways, preventing single-point failure and enhancing overall system reliability
2Reliability
If redundant cooling systems are implemented, then the reliability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple coolant loops are merged to share common components such as the cooling plate, mounting structure, and potentially heat sinks. This merging approach provides redundancy through multiple coolant pathways while reducing overall complexity by eliminating the need for completely separate cooling systems for each loop
3Reliability
If distributed airflow cooling is used, then the system level cooling is achieved, but the electronics devices are impacted by temperature increases when airflow source fails
Solution Approach 1:
A cooling plate is introduced as an intermediary component that directly contacts the electronics device and provides a stable thermal interface. This mediator ensures consistent heat transfer from the device to the coolant, preventing temperature spikes even when coolant flow is compromised, thereby protecting the electronics from thermal damage
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
This solution provides high reliability and uptime for high-powered devices by maintaining optimal temperatures and preventing the impact of single or multiple cooling system failures, facilitating efficient deployment and easy integration with existing hardware.
Implementation Method 1
a single phase cooling plate to dissipate heat from the electronics device when a first coolant is circulated through the single phase cooling plate
Implementation Method 2
a unified cooling plate to dissipate a portion of the heat transferred from the single phase cooling plate to the unified cooling plate when a second coolant is circulated through the unified cooling plate
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure provides a cooling device, for cooling devices that generate heat during their operation. The cooling device includes single phase cooling plates to be attached to the devices to dissipate a majority of the heat from the devices while a first coolant is circulated through the single phase cooling plates. The cooling device also includes a unified cooling plate. The plate is directly attached on top of the single phase cooling plates. The unified cooling plate dissipates a portion of the heat transferred from the single phase cooling plates to the unified cooling plate while a second coolant is circulated through the unified cooling plate and when the first coolant is insufficient to remove the portion of the heat from at least one of the single phase cooling plates. The cooling device may be used as part of an electronic rack, a data center, and in other environments.