Patent Publication Number: US-2015062803-A1

Title: Server

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 201310382710.0 filed in China on Aug. 28, 2013, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a server, more particularly to a server having a heat dissipation module. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the development of the technology, electrical device has been widely used nowadays. Moreover, engineers are devoted to the development of the electrical device in its efficiency and performance. Specifically, the operating speed of the electrical device becomes increasingly faster and the performance is better than before, which meets people&#39;s expectations of the electrical device. For example, a server comprises multiple electrical components such as several central processing units, several storage devices, or several interface cards. Therefore, the operating speed of a server is increased by means of disposing more electrical components, expanding the storage capacity as well as improving the performance of the server. 
     However, when the operating speed of the electrical device is getting faster or the number of the electrical devices is increased, the rising heat of the electrical devices is accompanied with the operating speed or the increase of the electrical device. Thus, the temperature of the electrical component is getting higher, accordingly affecting the normal operation of the server. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the server generally includes a plurality of fan modules for performing a thermal exchange by increasing the speed of thermal convection within the server, which accordingly decreases the temperature of the server. The fans having larger size and greater power, or more fans are adopted in the prior art, in order to enhance heat dissipation and accordingly decrease the temperature of electrical component. Nevertheless, when people utilize more fans or larger fans with high power, those fans occupy some part of interior spaces originally belonged to electrical components and generate more noises. Therefore, there is a need to design a server including a heat dissipation module having less volume and better performance. 
     SUMMARY 
     An embodiment of the disclosure provides a server comprising a motherboard and a heat dissipation module. The motherboard includes a heat source. The heat dissipation module includes a cooling plate, a liquid cooling heat exchanger, a circulation line and a plurality of fans. The cooling plate is thermally contacted with the heat source. The liquid cooling heat exchanger is located on one side of the motherboard. The liquid cooling heat exchanger is connected with the cooling plate via the circulation line for forming a circulation circuit. The plurality of fans are located next to the liquid cooling heat exchanger. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the drawing are for illustration only, and thus does not limit the present disclosure, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a top-view of a server according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing. 
     Please refer to the  FIG. 1 , which is a top view of a server according to an embodiment of the disclosure. A server  10  comprises a housing  100 , a motherboard  200 , a heat dissipation module  300  and a power supply  400 . 
     In this embodiment, the motherboard  200  is located inside the housing  100 . The motherboard  200  comprises a heat source  210 , a plurality of slots  230  and a plurality of interface cards  231 . In this embodiment, the heat source  210  is a central processing unit but the disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments of the disclosure, the heat source  210  is a chip, a storage device or a power supply. The number of heat sources is plural and both of them are separated by a distance. The heat source  210  generates thermal energy when the server  10  operates. In this embodiment, the slots  230  are located on the two sides of the heat source  210 , respectively. The interface card  231  is located on the slot  230  and the interface card  231  generates thermal energy as well when the server  10  operates. 
     In this embodiment, the heat dissipation module  300  is located inside the housing  100 , but the location of the heat dissipation module  300  is not limited to the disclosure. The heat dissipation module  300  comprises a cooling plate  380 , a liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 , a circulation line  360  and a plurality of fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350 . The cooling plate  380  is in thermal contact with the heat source  210 . The cooling plate  380  includes a chamber (not shown) and a heat sink set (not shown) located on the chamber. The liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  is located on one side of the motherboard  200 . A plurality of fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  are located next to the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 . The liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  is connected with the cooling plate  380  via the circulation line  360 . Therefore, a circulation circuit is formed by the circulation line  360 , the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  and the cooling plate  380 . The heat of the cooling plate  380  is transferred to the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  by a liquid flowing in the circulation circuit. It is noted that the number and the location of the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  and the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  are not limited to the disclosure. In some embodiments of the disclosure, the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  and the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  are located outside the housing  100 . Moreover, the number of fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  is not limited to singular one. 
     The following describes the detailed locations of the fans. In this embodiment, the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  are located between the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 , and the cooling plate  380  and the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  are arranged side by side. For example, each of the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  includes a fan inlet  322 , 332 , 342  and a fan outlet  324 , 334 , 344 , respectively, and all of the fan inlet  322 , 332 , 342  face toward the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 . Two of the fan outlets  334 , 344  face toward the heat source  210  whereas another fan outlet  324  faces toward the slot  230 . In this embodiment, the total width of the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  is substantially equal to the overall width accumulated by  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350 . Therefore, the rotation of fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  drives the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  to perform thermal exchange with the outside air. 
     In some embodiments of the disclosure, the heat dissipation module  300  further comprises at least an air duct hood (not shown) which are located on the fan inlet  322 , 332 , 342  or fan outlet  324 , 334 , 344  of the fans, respectively. The outside air is effectively guided into the fans  320 , 330 , 340  when the air duct hood is located on the fan inlets  322 , 332 , 342  of the fans  320 , 330 , 340 . Therefore, the air duct hood guides the airflow generated by the fans  320 , 330 , 340  to increase the heat dissipation efficiency. 
     In this embodiment, the heat dissipation module  300  further comprises a water pump  370  which is located in the circulation line  360 . The liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  includes a liquid inlet  314  and a liquid outlet  312 . Moreover, the cooling plate  380  includes an entry port  382  and an exit port  384 , wherein the entry port  382  and the exit port  384  are connected with the two sides of the chamber of the cooling plate  380 , respectively. The circulation line  360  comprises a first circulation pipe  362 , a second circulation pipe  364  and a third circulation pipe  365 . Firstly, one end of the first circulation pipe  362  is connected with the liquid outlet  312  of the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  and the other end of the first circulation pipe  362  is connected with one end of the water pump  370 . Secondly, one end of the second circulation pipe  364  is connected with the other end of the water pump  370  and the other end of the second circulation pipe  364  is connected with the entry port  382  of the cooling plate  380 . Lastly, one end of the third circulation pipe  365  is connected with the exit port  384  of the cooling plate  380  and the other end of the third circulation pipe  365  is connected with the liquid inlet  314  of the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 . Namely, in this embodiment, the liquid outlet  312  of the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  is connected with the entry port  382  of the cooling plate  380  via the water pump  370 . 
     The power supply  400  is located on the other side of the motherboard  200 , which is opposite to the side having liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 . The number and the location of the power supply  400  are adjusted according to the actual requirement. 
     The following is the heat dissipating process from the heat dissipation module  300 . Firstly, the heat is generated from the heat source  210 , the interface card  231 , the power supply  400  and the motherboard  200  when the server  10  operates. The liquid with lower temperature on the liquid outlet  312  inside the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  is extracted by the water pump  370  and flows toward the water pump  370  via the first circulation pipe  362 . Next, the liquid orderly passes through the second circulation pipe  364  and the entry port  382  of the cooling plate  380  and then enters the cooling plate  380 . Moreover, the heat source  210  is in thermal contact with the cooling plate  380  and the heat generated by the heat source  210  is transferred to the cooling plate  380 . Then, the cooling plate  380  performs thermal exchange with the heat from the heat source  210 . Therefore, the heat is transferred to the liquid and the temperature of the liquid is increased because the liquid absorbs the heat released from the heat source  210 . Afterward, the liquid with high temperature on the exit port  384  of the cooling plate  380  flows toward the liquid inlet  314  of the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  via the third circulation pipe  365 . Finally, the heat of the liquid with high temperature is transferred to the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  and the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  performs thermal exchange with the outside air for taking heat out of the server  10 , which decreases the temperature of the liquid. In addition, the rotation of fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  speeds up the thermal convection with outside air. Simultaneously, the outside air is guided into the server  10  by the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  to perform thermal exchange with the heat source  210 , the interface card  231 , the power supply  400  and other electrical components on the motherboard  200  for removing the heat. By doing so, the temperature of the whole server  10  rapidly decreases, which further maintains the stable operation of the server  10 . After the temperature of the liquid inside the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  decreases, the liquid flows from the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310  for performing the thermal exchange with the cooling plate  380 . 
     As a whole, the heat source  210  is the main heat source of the server  10 , thus, the temperature of the server  10  rapidly decreases for maintaining stable operation after the heat of the heat source  210  is removed by the heat dissipation module  300 . Even the airflow into the server  10  guided by the fans  320 ,  330 ,  340  and  350  has absorbed the heat from the liquid cooling heat exchanger  310 , the airflow inside the server  10  does not affect the thermal exchange with other electrical components. 
     In addition, compared with the prior art where more fans or fans with high power are adopted (e.g., model: 4056), fewer fans or fans with lower power are adopted by the heat dissipation modules  300  of the server  10  (e.g., model: 4028) in this embodiment of the disclosure, so that the heat dissipation efficiency of the server  10  is effectively raised. Therefore, the server  10  accommodates more electrical components or central processing units for improving the performance and the operating speed of the server. 
     According to the embodiment of the server, the heat generated from the heat source is transferred to the liquid cooling heat exchanger via the cooling plate and the rotating fans enhance the thermal exchange speed of the liquid cooling heat exchanger with outside air. Therefore, compared with the prior art, the temperature of the heat source is significantly decreased and the heat dissipating efficiency is significantly increased, so the embodiment of the disclosure solves the problem of poor heat dissipation. Furthermore, the server in this embodiment decreases the number of the fans and the volume of fans but increases the heat dissipating efficiency for energy saving as well.