Patent Description:
Cooling is a critical consideration in a computer system and data center design. The number of high performance electronics components such as high performance processors packaged inside servers has steadily increased, increasing the amount of heat generated and to be dissipated during the ordinary operations of the servers. The reliability of servers used within a data center decreases if the thermal environment in which they operate is permitted to increase in temperature over time. Maintaining a proper thermal environment is critical for normal operations of these servers in data centers, as well as for maximizing the server performance, reliability and lifetime. It requires more effective and efficient cooling solutions especially in the cases of cooling these high performance servers.

Servers and other high performance electronic components such as central processing units (CPU), graphical processing units (GPU), etc., are usually tightly packaged in clusters of highly integrated chips, boards, or assemblies that are housed in racks to yield very high heat densities. Liquid cooling applications that deliver and distribute fluids to carry away the heat generated by the servers may use blind-mating connectors to interconnect the fluid channels between the servers and racks. The fluid distribution channels on the racks, also referred to as rack side fluid manifold, may be built with connectors having various layouts such as locations, spacing for connecting to the connectors on the servers. The racks may also have various configurations or arrangements of inlet connectors that deliver cooling liquid to the servers and outlet connectors that receive warm liquid from the servers, such as in parallel or staggered configurations. Interoperability and reliability of the fluid connections between the racks and servers is critical for the proper fluid system integration and operation of the servers and data centers. Existing connection designs are often customized for a fixed type of servers, decreasing interoperability between servers and racks with different fluid manifold configurations, increasing cost and reducing the diversity of potential applications to the detriment suppliers of racks and servers, vendors, integrators, and end users. Reliability of the connections is critical since it is the juncture where leaks are mostly likely to occur due to the nature of blind mating fluid connection technology and a key to prevent malfunction or failures due to human operations or designs error.

In some use scenarios, it may be necessary to dynamically change the fluid connections between the racks and servers. Because the rack side fluid manifold is mostly a fixed design, design flexibility for guiding the server side connectors to properly mate with the rack side connectors is also an important consideration to ensure that the servers may populate all the racks to increase performance. <CIT> describes a case including a base, a top plate, a bottom plate, and a front plane, where the base and the top place are enclosed to form a shell and sleeved on an outer side wall of a limiting portion. <CIT> describes a device including a dripless connector having a base and an extension. <CIT> describes a fitting assembly including: a movable connector block including a connector coupler to which a connector is to be coupled, the movable connector block configured to be supported by a base; a floating support configured to support the movable connector block swingably together with the base; and a protrusion provided to one of the movable connector block and the base.

In a first aspect, a connector adaptor as defined in claim <NUM> is provided.

In a second aspect, a server rack of a data center as defined in claim <NUM> is provided.

In a third aspect, a method of connecting two fluid connectors of a liquid cooling loop of a server with two corresponding fluid connectors of a rack housing the server, as defined in claim <NUM> is provided.

Disclosed are designs to interconnect fluid connectors on servers and fluid connectors on racks that house the servers for the delivery and return of fluid used to cool the servers. The servers may have inlet connectors that receive cooling liquid from supply connectors on the racks to distribute the cooling liquid to the servers, and outlet connectors that emit heated liquid to return connectors on the racks to carry away the thermal energy from the servers. The disclosed designs provide the hardware to guide, adjust, and position the connectors of the servers to properly mate with the connectors of the racks to support interoperability of servers having different fluid distribution architectures and racks having different fluid manifold configurations. The designs may be used to provide a reliable and robust blind-mating fluid connections between the connectors, increasing flexibility, efficiency, and serviceability of the liquid cooling system and reducing cost to meet the demands of data centers with high heat densities.

In one aspect, a design includes two plates that are jointly used to facilitate connecting the fluid connectors of a server and the fluid connectors of a rack in either a blind-mating manner or in a manual manner. A first plate has a connector channel to guide the connectors of the server through the first plate. The connector channel provides a range of possible positions for the connectors of the servers along one dimension and allows an adjustment of the horizontal distance between the connectors of the server to align with the horizontal distance between the connectors of the rack. The two ends of the connector channel each have a spring structure to apply a force to push the connectors of the server toward the center of the connector channel. A second plate has a number of positioning holes or positioning slots around its perimeter into which the connectors of the server may be mounted using the force exerted by the spring structure of the connector channel. The positioning holes allows an adjustment of the vertical distance between the connectors of the server in a number of possible values to align with the vertical distance between the connectors of the rack. The first plate is attached to the second plate and rotated around a rotation axis to adjust jointly the horizontal and vertical distances between the connectors of the server to flexibly and securely align the positions of the connectors of the server and the connectors of the rack when mating the connectors. By using second plates with different dimensions and different locations of positioning holes, the connectors of the server may align with the connectors of the rack for different fluid manifold configurations. The force exerted by the spring structures from the opposite ends of the connector channel may be balanced to enable the assembly and secure mounting of two connectors of the server within the positioning holes of the joint assembly, ensuring a proper alignment between the connectors of the server and the connectors of the rack.

In one aspect, the second plate has an elastic layer and integrated guiding structures to extend the range of horizontal distance between the connectors of the server to align with the horizontal distance between the connectors of the rack. The elastic layer is expandable along its width along the horizontal direction to increase the width of the second plate. When the integrated guiding structures are not applied with an external force, the elastic layer is at its maximum width to cause the second plate to correspondingly have the maximum width. When the integrated guiding structures are applied with an external force to compress the elastic layer, the width of the second plate is correspondingly reduced. By varying the width of the elastic layer, the horizontal distance between the connectors of the server mounted into the positioning holes of the second plate may be adjusted. The compressed elastic layer applies an outward force to the second plate to counteract the inward force exerted by the spring structure of the connector channel of the first plate to securely hold the connectors of the server. The guiding structures of the elastic layer may be inserted or attached to the rack manifold to automatically adjust the relative distance between the connectors of the server in both the vertical and horizontal directions to align with the connectors of the server.

<FIG> are not according to the invention and are present for illustration purposes only. <FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data center or data center unit according to one embodiment. In this example, <FIG> shows a top view of at least a portion of a data center. Referring to <FIG>, according to one embodiment, data center system <NUM> includes one or more rows of electronic racks of information technology (IT) components, equipment or instruments <NUM>-<NUM>, such as, for example, computer servers or computing nodes that provide data services to a variety of clients over a network (e.g., the Internet). In this embodiment, each row includes an array of electronic racks such as electronic racks 110A-110N. However, more or fewer rows of electronic racks may be implemented. Typically, rows <NUM>-<NUM> are aligned in parallel with frontends facing towards each other and backends facing away from each other, forming aisle <NUM> in between to allow an administrative person walking therein. However, other configurations or arrangements may also be applied. For example, two rows of electronic racks may back to back face each other without forming an aisle in between, while their frontends face away from each other. The backends of the electronic racks may be coupled to the room cooling liquid manifolds.

In one embodiment, each of the electronic racks (e.g., electronic racks 110A-110N) includes a housing to house a number of IT components arranged in a stack operating therein. The electronic racks can include a cooling liquid manifold, a number of server slots (e.g., standard shelves or chassis configured with an identical or similar form factor), and a number of server chassis (also referred to as server blades or server shelves) capable of being inserted into and removed from the server slots. Each server chassis represents a computing node having one or more processors, a memory, and/or a persistent storage device (e.g., hard disk), where a computing node may include one or more servers operating therein. At least one of the processors is attached to a liquid cold plate (also referred to as a cold plate assembly) to receive cooling liquid. In addition, an air supply system <NUM> and one or more optional cooling fans are associated with the server chassis to provide air cooling to the computing nodes contained therein. Note that the cooling system <NUM> may be coupled to multiple data center systems such as data center system <NUM>. In one embodiment, a server liquid intake connector and a server liquid outlet connector of each server chassis may be connected to a rack liquid intake connector and a rack liquid outlet connector of the cooling liquid manifold, which is coupled to the liquid supply/return lines <NUM>/<NUM> of the data center.

<FIG> is block diagram illustrating an electronic rack according to one embodiment. Electronic rack <NUM> may represent any of the electronic racks as shown in <FIG>, such as, for example, electronic racks 110A-110N. Referring to <FIG>, according to one embodiment, electronic rack <NUM> includes, but is not limited to, CDU <NUM>, rack management unit (RMU) <NUM>, and one or more server chassis 203A-203E (collectively referred to as server chassis <NUM>). Server chassis <NUM> can be inserted into an array of server slots (e.g., standard shelves) respectively from frontend <NUM> or backend <NUM> of electronic rack <NUM>. Note that although there are five server chassis 203A-203E shown here, more or fewer server chassis may be maintained within electronic rack <NUM>. Also note that the particular positions of CDU <NUM>, RMU <NUM>, and/or server chassis <NUM> are shown for the purpose of illustration only; other arrangements or configurations of CDU <NUM>, RMU <NUM>, and/or server chassis <NUM> may also be implemented. In one embodiment, electronic rack <NUM> can be either open to the environment or partially contained by a rack container, as long as the cooling fans can generate airflows from the frontend to the backend.

In addition, for at least some of the server chassis <NUM>, an optional fan module (not shown) is associated with the server chassis. Each of the fan modules includes one or more cooling fans. The fan modules may be mounted on the backends of server chassis <NUM> or on the electronic rack to generate airflows flowing from frontend <NUM>, traveling through the air space of the sever chassis <NUM>, and existing at backend <NUM> of electronic rack <NUM>.

In one embodiment, CDU <NUM> mainly includes heat exchanger <NUM>, liquid pump <NUM>, and a pump controller (not shown), and some other components such as a liquid reservoir, a power supply, monitoring sensors and so on. Heat exchanger <NUM> may be a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger. Heat exchanger <NUM> includes a first loop with inlet and outlet ports having a first pair of liquid connectors coupled to external liquid supply/return lines <NUM>-<NUM> to form a primary loop. The connectors coupled to the external liquid supply/return lines <NUM>-<NUM> may be disposed or mounted on backend <NUM> of electronic rack <NUM>. The liquid supply/return lines <NUM>-<NUM>, also referred to as room liquid supply/return lines, may be coupled to cooling system <NUM> as described above.

In addition, heat exchanger <NUM> further includes a second loop with two ports having a second pair of liquid connectors coupled to liquid manifold <NUM> (also referred to as a rack manifold) to form a secondary loop, which may include a supply manifold (also referred to as a rack liquid supply line or rack supply manifold) to supply cooling liquid to server chassis <NUM> and a return manifold (also referred to as a rack liquid return line or rack return manifold) to return warmer liquid back to CDU <NUM>. Note that CDUs <NUM> can be any kind of CDUs commercially available or customized ones. Thus, the details of CDUs <NUM> will not be described herein.

Each of server chassis <NUM> may include one or more IT components (e.g., central processing units or CPUs, general/graphic processing units (GPUs), memory, and/or storage devices). Each IT component may perform data processing tasks, where the IT component may include software installed in a storage device, loaded into the memory, and executed by one or more processors to perform the data processing tasks. Server chassis <NUM> may include a host server (referred to as a host node) coupled to one or more compute servers (also referred to as computing nodes, such as CPU server and GPU server). The host server (having one or more CPUs) typically interfaces with clients over a network (e.g., Internet) to receive a request for a particular service such as storage services (e.g., cloud-based storage services such as backup and/or restoration), executing an application to perform certain operations (e.g., image processing, deep data learning algorithms or modeling, etc., as a part of a software-as-a-service or SaaS platform). In response to the request, the host server distributes the tasks to one or more of the computing nodes or compute servers (having one or more GPUs) managed by the host server. The compute servers perform the actual tasks, which may generate heat during the operations.

Electronic rack <NUM> further includes optional RMU <NUM> configured to provide and manage power supplied to servers <NUM>, and CDU <NUM>. RMU <NUM> may be coupled to a power supply unit (not shown) to manage the power consumption of the power supply unit. The power supply unit may include the necessary circuitry (e.g., an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) or DC to DC power converter, battery, transformer, or regulator, etc.,) to provide power to the rest of the components of electronic rack <NUM>.

In one embodiment, RMU <NUM> includes optimization module <NUM> and rack management controller (RMC) <NUM>. RMC <NUM> may include a monitor to monitor operating status of various components within electronic rack <NUM>, such as, for example, computing nodes <NUM>, CDU <NUM>, and the fan modules. Specifically, the monitor receives operating data from various sensors representing the operating environments of electronic rack <NUM>. For example, the monitor may receive operating data representing temperatures of the processors, cooling liquid, and airflows, which may be captured and collected via various temperature sensors. The monitor may also receive data representing the fan power and pump power generated by fan modules and liquid pump <NUM>, which may be proportional to their respective speeds. These operating data are referred to as real-time operating data. Note that the monitor may be implemented as a separate module within RMU <NUM>.

Based on the operating data, optimization module <NUM> performs an optimization using a predetermined optimization function or optimization model to derive a set of optimal fan speeds for fan modules and an optimal pump speed for liquid pump <NUM>, such that the total power consumption of liquid pump <NUM> and fan modules reaches minimum, while the operating data associated with liquid pump <NUM> and cooling fans of the fan modules are within their respective designed specifications. Once the optimal pump speed and optimal fan speeds have been determined, RMC <NUM> configures liquid pump <NUM> and cooling fans of fan modules based on the optimal pump speeds and fan speeds.

As an example, based on the optimal pump speed, RMC <NUM> communicates with a pump controller of CDU <NUM> to control the speed of liquid pump <NUM>, which in turn controls a liquid flow rate of cooling liquid supplied to the liquid manifold <NUM> to be distributed to at least some of server chassis <NUM>. Similarly, based on the optimal fan speeds, RMC <NUM> communicates with each of the fan modules to control the speed of each cooling fan of the fan modules, which in turn control the airflow rates of the fan modules. Note that each of fan modules may be individually controlled with its specific optimal fan speed, and different fan modules and/or different cooling fans within the same fan module may have different optimal fan speeds.

Note that the rack configuration as shown in <FIG> is shown and described for the purpose of illustration only; other configurations or arrangements may also be applicable. For example, CDU <NUM> may be an optional unit. The cold plates of server chassis <NUM> may be coupled to a rack manifold, which may be directly coupled to room manifolds <NUM>-<NUM> without using a CDU. Although not shown, a power supply unit may be disposed within electronic rack <NUM>. The power supply unit may be implemented as a standard chassis identical or similar to a sever chassis, where the power supply chassis can be inserted into any of the standard shelves, replacing any of server chassis <NUM>. In addition, the power supply chassis may further include a battery backup unit (BBU) to provide battery power to server chassis <NUM> when the main power is unavailable. The BBU may include one or more battery packages and each battery package include one or more battery cells, as well as the necessary charging and discharging circuits for charging and discharging the battery cells.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating a processor cold plate configuration according to one embodiment. The processor/cold plate assembly <NUM> can represent any of the processors/cold plate structures of server chassis <NUM> as shown in <FIG>. Referring to <FIG>, processor <NUM> is plugged onto a processor socket mounted on printed circuit board (PCB) or motherboard <NUM> coupled to other electrical components or circuits of a data processing system or server. Processor <NUM> also includes a cold plate <NUM> attached to it, which is coupled to a rack manifold that is coupled to liquid supply line <NUM> and/or liquid return line <NUM>. A portion of the heat generated by processor <NUM> is removed by the cooling liquid via cold plate <NUM>. The remaining portion of the heat enters into an air space underneath or above, which may be removed by an airflow generated by cooling fan <NUM>. The supply liquid line <NUM> and return liquid line <NUM> maybe assembled with fluid connectors, which are the interface for connecting with the corresponding connectors on the rack. Design solutions of the current disclosure improves the reliability and robustness of this interface when integrating the cold plate assembly <NUM> or cooling modules to the rack and when connecting to the fluid recirculation system.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a first hardware design <NUM> used for interconnecting between fluid connectors of a server and fluid connectors of a rack that allows an adjustment of the horizontal relative locations of the connectors of the server to match the connectors of the rack according to one embodiment. The design <NUM> includes two components, part I (<NUM>) and part II (<NUM>), also referred to as first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM>, respectively.

In one aspect, first plate <NUM> may have an oblong shape containing a connector channel <NUM> along the width or the longer dimension of first plate <NUM>. A pair of connectors <NUM> of the server may be guided through connector channel <NUM> in a direction perpendicular to first plate <NUM>. The pair of connectors <NUM> may include an inlet connector that receives cooling liquid from a supply connector of the rack to distribute the cooling liquid to the server and an outlet connector that emits heated liquid to a return connector of the rack to carry away the thermal energy generated by the server. The relative distance between the pair of connectors <NUM> may be adjusted along connector channel <NUM> to align with the relative distance between the corresponding connectors of the rack. Each end of connector channel <NUM> is designed with a spring structure <NUM> that applies a springing force to push connectors <NUM> toward each other. The springing force exerts a mounting pressure on connectors <NUM> to secure connectors <NUM> to second plate <NUM> when making connections to the connectors of the rack.

The second plate <NUM> has a number of positioning holes <NUM> situated around its perimeter into which connectors <NUM> may be mounted using the mounting pressure exerted by spring structure <NUM>. First plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> may be overlaid or stacked in an integrated assembly or in a detachable configuration. First plate <NUM> may rotate around a rotation axis <NUM> with respect to second plate <NUM> to allow connectors <NUM> to be mounted into different positioning holes <NUM> on second plate <NUM>. Positioning holes <NUM> may correspond to possible positions of connectors of racks when hardware design <NUM> is attached to the rack using a mounting frame <NUM>. In one aspect, the design of second plate <NUM> as well as the corresponding position holes <NUM> may be determined or highly correlated to the specification of the rack manifold. In one aspect, the connectors of rack may be the rack manifold <NUM> including the supply manifold and the return manifold of <FIG>.

By rotating first plate <NUM> around rotation axis <NUM>, connectors <NUM> of the server may be mounted into positioning holes <NUM> that align with the positions of the corresponding connectors of the rack. The combination of positioning holes <NUM> and connector channel <NUM> allows a range of selections to adjust the horizontal distance and vertical distances between connectors <NUM> of the server to flexibly match the fluid manifold configuration of the rack. <FIG> shows a scenario when the connectors of the rack are positioned along a horizontal plane in a parallel configuration. The first plate <NUM> is rotated to mount connectors <NUM> of the server into the pair of positioning holes <NUM> along the horizontal plane with zero relative vertical distance to align with the connectors of the rack. To further extend the range of adjustments of the horizontal and vertical distances of connectors <NUM> of the server to accommodate a diversity of rack manifolds, second plate <NUM> with different dimensions and different locations of positioning hole <NUM> may be attached to first plate <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a first hardware design used for interconnecting between fluid connectors of a server and fluid connectors of a rack that allows an adjustment of the vertical relative locations of the connectors of the server to match the connectors of the rack according to one embodiment. The first hardware design may be design <NUM> of <FIG>.

The fluid manifold of the rack may be in a staggered configuration in which pairs of connectors have a relative vertical separation. In another scenario, there may be only two connectors (one supply and one return) in the staggered configuration available on the rack, while the other connectors on the rack are all occupied by other servers. For example, a pair of connectors of the rack may extend diagonally at a certain angle from the horizontal plane. As a result, first plate <NUM> is rotated to mount connectors <NUM> of the server into a pair of positioning holes <NUM> along the diagonal plane to align with the connectors of the rack. The connectors <NUM> as positioned are separated both horizontally and vertically. The horizontal distance between connectors <NUM> may be the same as that in <FIG> when connectors <NUM> are positioned along the horizontal plane. The inward mounting pressure exerted by spring structure <NUM> against connectors <NUM> along the axis of connector channel <NUM> ensures that connectors <NUM> are securely mounted into the pair of diagonal positioning holes <NUM>.

If the connectors of the rack extend diagonally at an even steeper angle, or if the available connectors of the rack are even further away from each other vertically, first plate <NUM> may be further rotated to mount connectors <NUM> of the server into a pair of mounting holes <NUM> further away from the horizontal plane to align with the connectors of the rack. Both the horizontal distance and the vertical distance between connectors <NUM> may vary as a function of the pair of positioning holes <NUM> into which connectors <NUM> are mounted to flexibly align with the fluid manifold configuration of the rack.

<FIG> illustrates an example of the first hardware design integrated to a server chassis to interconnect fluid connectors of a server and fluid connectors of a rack that allows an adjustment of the locations of the connectors of the server to match the connectors of the rack according to one embodiment.

In one aspect, the design may include an integrated assembly of second plate <NUM> assembled behind first plate <NUM>. In one aspect, the design may include a detachable configuration allowing different configurations of second plate <NUM> to be attached to the back first plate <NUM>. The assembly of the first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> is mounted to an installation frame <NUM> using mounting frame <NUM>. The installation frame <NUM> is mounted to a chassis of the server (not shown). Connectors <NUM> may include a server liquid intake connector and a server liquid outlet connector coupled respectively to a flexible hose to distribute the cooling liquid to the server and to return heated liquid from the server. Connectors <NUM> are guided through connector channel <NUM> of first plate <NUM> and mounted into positioning holes (not shown) of second plate <NUM> to align with the connectors of the fluid manifold configuration of the rack to make the connections to the rack.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a second hardware design <NUM> with an integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction for interconnecting between fluid connectors of a server and fluid connectors of a rack in a staggered connection configuration according to one embodiment. The hardware design <NUM> includes two components, part I (<NUM>) and part II (<NUM>), also referred to as first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM>, respectively. In one aspect, first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> may be separate units that are joined, attached, or assembled to form the hardware design <NUM> instead of being constructed as an integrated assembly. The two plates are detachable from one another to provide the flexibility to assemble different combinations of first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM>. In one aspect, second plate <NUM> may be attached to the front of first plate <NUM>. The first plate <NUM> may have the same features as in <FIG>. The detailed structures and operations of first plate <NUM> are omitted for sake of brevity.

The second plate <NUM> has a number of positioning holes <NUM> around its perimeter as the second plate <NUM> of <FIG>. In addition, second plate <NUM> has a middle elastic layer <NUM> sandwiched between two rigid sides and running through second plate <NUM> in the vertical or longitudinal direction. Elastic layer <NUM> is designed with an internal elastic structure to generate an outward force to expand the width of second plate <NUM> in the horizontal or lateral direction. Two positioning parts <NUM>, one on each side of elastic layer <NUM>, may project from second plate <NUM>. Positioning parts <NUM>, also referred to as guiding structures, are used to compress elastic layer <NUM> to change the width of elastic layer <NUM> and correspondingly the width of second plate <NUM> to provide more flexibility when adjusting the horizontal distance between connectors <NUM> of the server to align with the horizontal distance between the connectors of the rack. For example, when no external force is applied to positioning parts <NUM>, elastic layer <NUM> and correspondingly second plate <NUM> may expand to its maximum width in the horizontal direction. The horizontal outward force from the fully expanded second plate <NUM> and the inward force exerted by spring structure <NUM> along the axis of connector channel of first plate <NUM> securely mounts connectors <NUM> of the server into positioning holes <NUM>.

When an external force is applied to pressurize positioning parts <NUM> closer together or when the relative distance of positioning parts <NUM> is set at less than the fully expanded width of elastic layer <NUM>, the elastic layer <NUM> is compressed and correspondingly the width of second plate <NUM> is reduced. By varying the width of elastic layer <NUM>, the horizontal distance between connectors <NUM> of the server may be adjusted due to the changed width of second plate <NUM>. Again, the compressed elastic layer <NUM> applies a horizontal outward force to connectors <NUM> to counteract the inward force exerted by spring structure <NUM> along the axis of connector channel of first plate <NUM> to securely hold connectors <NUM> in positioning holes <NUM>. In one aspect, the width of second plate <NUM> may be determined by the dimension of the rack manifold by inserting or attaching positioning parts <NUM> to the rack manifold. This way, the relative distance in the horizontal direction between connectors <NUM> of the server may be automatically adjusted to align with the connectors of the rack based on the fluid manifold configuration of the rack. The relative distance in the vertical direction between connectors <NUM> of the server may be adjusted by rotating first plate <NUM> with respect to second plate <NUM>, similar to <FIG>. <FIG> shows connectors <NUM> of the server in the staggered connection configuration in which connectors <NUM> have relative distance in the vertical direction. To further extend the range of adjustments of the horizontal and vertical distances of connectors <NUM> of the server to accommodate a diversity of rack manifolds, second plate <NUM> with different maximum width and internal elastic structure of elastic layer <NUM> and different locations of positioning hole <NUM> may be attached to first plate <NUM>. In one embodiment, first plate <NUM> with different dimensions of connector channel <NUM> may also be attached to second plate <NUM> to further extend the range of adjustments of the horizontal distance or the maximum width between connectors <NUM> of the server.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a hardware second design with an integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction for interconnecting between fluid connectors of a server and fluid connectors of a rack in a parallel connection configuration according to one embodiment.

The first plate <NUM> is rotated to mount connectors <NUM> of the server into the pair of positioning holes <NUM> along the horizontal plane with zero relative vertical distance to align with the connectors of the rack. The relative distance of positioning parts <NUM> may be adjusted to compress elastic layer <NUM> to change the width of second plate <NUM> and correspondingly the relative distance between connectors <NUM> in the horizontal direction. In one aspect, positioning parts <NUM> may be in a triangular shape to facilitate the insertion of positioning parts <NUM> into the rack manifold to automatically adjust the relative distance in the horizontal direction between connectors <NUM> of the server to align with the connectors of the rack based on the fluid manifold configuration of the rack. In one aspect, positioning parts <NUM> may be configured in different shapes and dimensions to facilitate the insertion or attachment of positioning parts <NUM> to different rack manifolds and the mating of the connectors between the server and the rack. In one aspect, elastic layer <NUM>, positioning parts <NUM>, the two rigid sides sandwiching elastic layer <NUM>, and positioning holes <NUM> are integrated as a single assembly of second plate <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a top view of the connections between fluid connectors of a server and fluid connectors of a rack using the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to allow an adjustment of the locations of the connectors of the server to match the connectors of the rack according to one embodiment.

The connectors <NUM> of the server may include a server liquid intake connector and a server liquid outlet connector coupled respectively to a flexible hose to distribute the cooling liquid to the server and to return heated liquid from the server as part of the liquid loop <NUM> (only partially shown). Server connectors <NUM> are guided through connector channel <NUM> of first plate <NUM>. Second plate <NUM> is attached to the front of first plate <NUM> between server connectors <NUM> and server connectors <NUM> are mounted into positioning holes <NUM> of second plate <NUM>. In one aspect, the assembly of first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> may be mounted to a chassis of the server using a mounting frame. The spring structure <NUM> on each end of connector channel <NUM> of first plate <NUM> exerts an inward force on server connectors <NUM> along the axis of connector channel <NUM>. Elastic layer <NUM> of second plate <NUM> exerts a horizontal outward force on server connectors <NUM>. The inward force and counteracting outward force securely holds server connectors <NUM> in positioning holes <NUM>. In addition, a fixing structure <NUM> is used to lock and keep each one of server connectors <NUM> oriented perpendicularly to connector channel <NUM> of first plate <NUM> to reduce strain on server connectors <NUM> when mated to rack connectors <NUM>.

The rack manifold <NUM> includes a supply side manifold having a rack connector <NUM>, which may also be referred to a rack inlet connector, to be mated to the server liquid intake connector to supply the cooling liquid to the server, and a return side manifold having a rack connector <NUM>, which may also be referred to as a rack outlet connector, to be mated to the server liquid outlet connector to return the heated liquid from the server. The supply side manifold and the return side manifold may be separated by an opening. Positioning parts <NUM> of second plate <NUM> are inserted through the opening of rack manifold <NUM> to compress elastic layer <NUM> to change the relative distance in the horizontal direction between server connectors <NUM> to align with the relative distance in the horizontal direction between rack connectors <NUM>. The width of second plate <NUM> may be automatically adjusted to attain the proper alignment of server connectors <NUM> and rack connectors <NUM> by inserting positioning parts <NUM> through different size openings of rack manifold <NUM>. In one aspect, positioning parts <NUM> may have a triangular pointed end to facilitate the insertion of positioning parts <NUM> into the opening of rack manifold <NUM>.

If rack connectors <NUM> of the supply side manifold and the return side manifold are staggered, first plate <NUM> may be rotated with respect to second plate <NUM> to align server connectors <NUM> and rack connectors <NUM> in the vertical direction. After alignment, server connectors <NUM> and rack connectors <NUM> may be mated using the blind-mating connection to complete the liquid loop <NUM> for the server. The assembly of first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> with elastic layer <NUM> and positioning parts <NUM> allows servers having variable fluid distribution architecture to be integrated to racks with different fluid manifold configuration by automatically aligning server connectors <NUM> with rack connectors <NUM>, improving interoperability between the servers and racks, increasing flexibility in data center design, and providing reliable blind-mating fluid connections.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a rack manifold, <NUM>, the second hardware design that includes the second plate <NUM> with integrated elastic layer <NUM> that is expandable along the horizontal direction, and first plate <NUM> integrated to a server <NUM>, prior to assembling the two plates of the second hardware design and integrating the rack manifold and the assembled second hardware design for connecting the fluid connectors of server <NUM> to the fluid connectors of rack manifold <NUM> according to one embodiment.

In one aspect, first plate <NUM> may be mounted to an installation frame of server <NUM> using a mounting frame attached to first plate <NUM>. The installation frame may be mounted to the chassis of server <NUM>. A server intake connector <NUM> and a server outlet connector <NUM> of the server fluid distribution system may be guided through the connector channel of first plate <NUM>. In one aspect, second plate <NUM> may be a component developed and provided by a rack vendor to be compatible with racks from the vendor having various fluid manifold configurations. In one aspect, second plate <NUM> may be developed by a server vendor and provided as the hardware assembled with first plate <NUM> for integration with server <NUM>.

Rack manifold <NUM> may include a supply side manifold having multiple rack inlet connectors <NUM> to supply the cooling liquid to server <NUM> and a return side manifold having multiple rack outlet connectors <NUM> to return the heated liquid from server <NUM>. In one aspect, rack inlet connectors <NUM> may be vertically offset from rack outlet connectors <NUM> in a staggered connection configuration. The supply side manifold and the return side manifold may be separated by an opening through which positioning parts <NUM> of second plate <NUM> may be inserted to change the width of second plate <NUM> to align server intake connector <NUM> and server outlet connector <NUM> with rack inlet connector <NUM> and rack outlet connector <NUM>, respectively for making the blind-mating connections. In this respect, second plate <NUM> functions as an adapting layer between the connectors of the server <NUM> and rack manifold <NUM>, and is used to position, secure, and align the connectors for integrating servers and racks.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an integrated assembly of a rack manifold <NUM> and the second hardware design that includes second plate <NUM> with the integrated elastic layer <NUM> that is expandable along the horizontal direction according to one embodiment.

The rack manifold <NUM> has multiple inlet connectors <NUM> vertically offset from multiple rack outlet connectors <NUM> in a staggered connection configuration as in <FIG>.

<FIG> shows that positioning parts <NUM> are inserted into the opening between the supply side manifold and the return side manifold. The width of second plate <NUM> automatically adjusts in accordance with the width of the opening to align rack inlet connectors <NUM> and rack outlet connectors <NUM> with the positioning holes of second plate <NUM> to facilitate aligning rack inlet connectors <NUM> and rack outlet connectors <NUM> with the connectors of the server.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a perspective view of a fully integrated assembly of rack manifold <NUM> and the second hardware design including first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> with the integrated elastic layer <NUM> that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold according to one embodiment.

The elastic layer <NUM> is compressed by the insertion of positioning parts <NUM> into the opening in rack manifold <NUM> to align rack inlet connector <NUM> and rack outlet connector <NUM> with the server intake connector and the server outlet connector (both hidden from view), respectively. The inward force exerted by spring structure <NUM> of first plate <NUM> and the outward force from the compressed elastic layer <NUM> holds the server intake connector and server outlet connector securely in the positioning holes of second plate <NUM> to enable the blind-mating connection to be made to the connectors of the rack manifold. <FIG> shows the connectors of the rack manifold in the parallel configuration. If the connectors of the rack manifold are staggered with a vertical offset, first plate <NUM> may be rotated. The assembly of first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> with elastic layer <NUM> and positioning parts <NUM> allows server <NUM> using a single connector design to be integrated to connectors of rack manifolds with different relative vertical and horizontal distances, improving interoperability between servers and racks, increasing flexibility in data center design, and providing reliable blind-mating fluid connections.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a top view of a fully integrated assembly of a rack manifold and the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold when the connectors are in a parallel configuration according to one embodiment.

The assembly of first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> is mounted to a server chassis <NUM> using a mounting frame <NUM>. The server chassis <NUM> houses one or more PCBs <NUM> of a server on which are populated electronic components and cooling modules <NUM>. In one aspect, PCB <NUM>, electronic components and cooling module <NUM> may be the PCB and the processor/cold plate assembly <NUM> as described in <FIG>. The cooling liquid, supplied by the rack inlet connector of the rack manifold through the server intake connector aligned using first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM>, flows through loop supply line <NUM> for distribution to modules <NUM>. A portion of the heat generated by the electronic components is removed by the cooling liquid via cooling modules <NUM>. The heated liquid returns through loop return line <NUM>, the server outlet connector aligned using first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM>, and out to the rack outlet connector of the rack manifold.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a top view of a fully integrated assembly of a rack manifold and the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold when the connectors are in a staggered configuration according to one embodiment. <FIG> differs from <FIG> in that the connectors of the rack manifold are staggered with a vertical offset. Using the same hardware design, first plate <NUM> may be rotated to maintain the alignment of the connectors of the server with the connectors of the rack manifold.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a top view of a fully integrated assembly of a rack manifold and the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold when the connectors are in a reversed configuration according to one embodiment. <FIG> differs from <FIG> in that the positions of the rack inlet connector and the rack outlet connector are reversed. Using the same hardware design, first plate may be rotated by <NUM> degrees to align the connectors of the server to the connectors of the rack manifold with the right flow direction.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a view from behind the rack of a fully integrated assembly of a rack manifold and the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold when the connectors are in a parallel configuration corresponding to <FIG> according to one embodiment. <FIG> shows the rack inlet connector connected to loop supply line <NUM> of the server and the rack outlet connector connected to loop return line <NUM> of the server are in the parallel configuration with no vertical offset.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a view from behind the rack of a fully integrated assembly of a rack manifold and the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold when the connectors are in a staggered configuration corresponding to <FIG> according to one embodiment. <FIG> shows the rack inlet connector connected to loop supply line <NUM> of the server and the rack outlet connector connected to loop return line <NUM> of the server are in the staggered configuration with a vertical offset. First plate <NUM> may be rotated to maintain the alignment of the connectors of the server with the connectors of the rack manifold.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a view from behind the rack of a fully integrated assembly of a rack manifold and the second hardware design with the integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction to match and connect fluid connectors of the server to fluid connectors of the rack manifold when the connectors are in a reversed configuration corresponding to <FIG> according to one embodiment. <FIG> shows that the rack inlet connector connected to loop supply line <NUM> of the server and the rack outlet connector connected to loop return line <NUM> of the server are reversed from those of <FIG>. First plate <NUM> may be rotated by <NUM> degrees to align the server intake connector and server outlet connector to the rack inlet connector and the rack outlet connector, respectively, to achieve the right flow direction of loop supply line <NUM> and loop return line <NUM>.

As illustrated in <FIG>, <FIG>, the hardware design of first plate <NUM> and second plate <NUM> with elastic layer <NUM> allows a server using a single connector design to be integrated to connectors of rack manifolds with different relative vertical distances, different horizontal distances, and different directions of fluid flow, improving interoperability between servers and racks, increasing flexibility in data center design, and providing reliable blind-mating fluid connections.

<FIG> is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method <NUM> for aligning two fluid connectors of a server with two corresponding fluid connectors of a rack housing the server using the second hardware design with an integrated elastic layer that is expandable along the horizontal direction prior to connecting the two fluid connectors of the server with the two corresponding fluid connectors of the rack using blind-mating connections. In one embodiment, method <NUM> may be performed to achieve the blind-mating connections of <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>.

In operation <NUM>, method <NUM> guides the two fluid connectors of a server through a connector channel of a first plate. The first plate has a springing structure at each of two opposite ends of the connector channel. The pair of springing structures are used to apply an inward force on the two fluid connectors in the connector channel toward each other and away from the opposite ends of the connector channel.

In operation <NUM>, method <NUM> attaches the first plate to a second plate. The second plate has a number of positioning holes around its perimeter, an elastic layer along a vertical direction of the second plate, and a pair of positioning parts used to apply an external force to compress the elastic layer to change a width of the second plate in the horizontal direction.

In operation <NUM>, method <NUM> rotates the first plate around a rotation axis with respect to the second plate to mount the two fluid connectors of the server into two positioning holes on opposite edges of the second plate using the inward force applied by the pair of springing structure to adjust a relative distance in the vertical direction between the two fluid connectors of the server to match a relative distance in the vertical direction between the two corresponding fluid connectors of the rack.

In operation <NUM>, method <NUM> attaches the pair of positioning parts of the second plate to the rack to compress the elastic layer to automatically adjust a relative distance in the horizontal direction between the two fluid connectors of the server to match a relative distance in the horizontal direction between the two corresponding fluid connectors of the rack.

Claim 1:
A connector adaptor, comprising:
a first plate (<NUM>) including:
a connector channel (<NUM>) configured to guide two fluid connectors through the first plate (<NUM>) at two opposite positions along the connector channel (<NUM>); and
a pair of springing structures (<NUM>) each situated at one of two opposite ends of the connector channel (<NUM>), the pair of springing structures (<NUM>) being configured to apply an inward force on the two fluid connectors toward each other;
and
a second plate (<NUM>) having a plurality of positioning holes (<NUM>) located around a perimeter of the second plate (<NUM>),
the first plate (<NUM>) being rotatable around a rotation axis (<NUM>) with respect to the second plate (<NUM>), when the first plate (<NUM>) and the second plate (<NUM>) are assembled to allow the two fluid connectors to be mounted into two of the positioning holes (<NUM>) on opposite edges of the second plate (<NUM>) by the inward force applied by the pair of springing structures (<NUM>).