Server Rack Cooling Modules for Coolant Temperature Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for computing devices, such as servers, face challenges in maintaining the temperature of the coolant at a sufficiently low level before it reaches heat-generating components, especially when the coolant becomes heated during transport through fluid circuits.
Innovation Solution
A fluid circuit system for cooling a rack of servers, which includes a conduit and one or more cooling modules thermally connected to the conduit. Each cooling module comprises a heat-exchanger connected to the conduit and a chiller fluidly coupled to the heat-exchanger, ensuring that the coolant remains at a low temperature through active cooling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the coolant flows through long conduits to reach distant heat-generating components, then the cooling coverage is improved, but the coolant temperature rises before reaching the components
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple cooling modules distributed along the conduit, each equipped with its own chiller and heat exchanger. This segmentation allows local cooling at multiple points along the coolant flow path, ensuring that coolant remains at effective temperatures even after traveling long distances to reach heat-generating components.
2Reliability
If additional cooling devices are added to maintain coolant temperature, then the cooling effectiveness is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Cooling modules are positioned upstream in the coolant flow path to pre-cool the coolant before it reaches heat-generating components. This preliminary cooling action prevents temperature rise in advance, maintaining effective cooling throughout the system without requiring complex real-time temperature control mechanisms at each component.
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 maintains the coolant temperature at a low level, ensuring efficient heat removal from heat-generating components across the computing device, thereby enhancing thermal performance and improving cooling efficiency by up to 30.7% in some cases.
Implementation Method 1
Each cooling module includes a heat-exchanger thermally connected to the conduit and a chiller fluidly coupled to the heat-exchanger
Implementation Method 2
a chiller fluidly coupled to the heat-exchanger
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a rack of servers and a fluid circuit for cooling the rack of servers. The fluid circuit includes one or more cooling modules, a heat-exchanging module, and a pump. The one or more cooling modules are thermally connected to a conduit for flowing a coolant therethrough. Each cooling module includes a heat-exchanger thermally connected to the conduit and a chiller fluidly coupled to the heat-exchanger. The heat-exchanging module is fluidly connected to an outlet of the conduit. The pump is configured to drive the coolant from the heat-exchanging module to each server in the rack of servers.