Serialized Liquid Cooling for Datacenter Server Racks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional liquid cooling systems for datacenter server racks require large and heavy piping conduit configurations and large pumps, leading to high costs and reduced productivity due to the need for extensive infrastructure to manage heat dissipation from numerous heat-generating components.
Innovation Solution
A serialized liquid cooling arrangement that connects server clusters and heat exchangers in a configuration allowing for efficient circulation of cooling liquid, using a combination of serialized and parallel connections to reduce global circulatory flow rates and enable the use of smaller, lighter piping and pumps, while maintaining effective cooling temperatures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional liquid cooling systems use large piping conduit configurations and large pumps to service multitude of server racks, then cooling performance is maintained, but system cost and footprint increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the server rack cooling into multiple independent cooling zones, each served by its own smaller pump and localized heat exchanger. This segmentation replaces the conventional single large pump and extensive piping network with multiple small-scale cooling units distributed throughout the rack, reducing overall system complexity and cost while maintaining cooling performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a horizontal piping layout to a vertical cooling architecture where cooling units are stacked within the rack structure. This vertical arrangement eliminates the need for extensive horizontal piping conduits and large footprint equipment, allowing the cooling system to fit within the rack's vertical space and reducing infrastructure requirements.
2Power
If large pumps and extensive piping are used to service vast number of heat-generating components, then cooling capacity is sufficient, but initial investment and operating costs become prohibitive
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using one large pump and piping system, the patent employs multiple smaller pump-cooling unit assemblies that are essentially copies of each other distributed throughout the rack. Each unit handles a portion of the cooling load, and their combined capacity matches that of a single large system, but at lower cost and with greater flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses multiple smaller, less expensive pump and heat exchanger units rather than one large expensive system. These smaller units can be more easily manufactured, installed, and replaced if needed, reducing both initial investment and long-term operating costs while achieving the same total cooling capacity.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If conventional piping conduit configurations are used to service server racks, then heat dissipation is effective, but footprint occupied increases reducing server per unit area productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling units are nested within the server rack structure itself, with heat exchangers and piping integrated into the rack framework. This nesting eliminates the need for separate external piping conduits and large footprint equipment, allowing the cooling system to occupy the same vertical space as the servers without requiring additional floor area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent moves the cooling infrastructure from a horizontal plane (extensive piping across the datacenter floor) to a vertical dimension (stacked cooling units within the rack). This dimensional transition reduces the footprint occupied by cooling infrastructure, increasing server density per unit area while maintaining effective heat dissipation.
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 reduces the need for extensive and costly infrastructure, allowing for efficient heat dissipation with smaller piping and pumps, thereby lowering costs and maintaining effective cooling performance within datacenter server racks.
Implementation Method 1
a liquid cooling loop configured to convey a cooling liquid... heat exchangers configured to receive the heated cooling liquid discharged from the respective liquid cooling units and cool the received heated cooling liquid
Implementation Method 2
a pump fluidly coupled to the plurality of heat exchangers via the liquid cooling loop, wherein at least a portion of the liquid cooling loop comprises a serialized configuration
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid cooling arrangement for cooling heat-generating components of a datacenter server rack. The cooling arrangement includes a liquid cooling loop configured to convey a cooling liquid, a plurality of server clusters each server cluster having a plurality of server assemblies that incorporate at least one respective liquid cooling unit, and a plurality of heat exchangers fluidly connected to the liquid cooling units of the plurality of server clusters via the liquid cooling loop. The heat exchangers configured to receive the heated cooling liquid discharged from the respective liquid cooling units and cool the received heated cooling liquid along with a pump fluidly coupled to the plurality of heat exchangers via the liquid cooling loop, wherein at least a portion of the liquid cooling loop comprises a serialized configuration that serially couples the server clusters and/or serially couples the server clusters and the heat exchangers.