Patent ID: 12250789

SUMMARY

The presently disclosed subject matter is directed to cooling systems having cooling and augmentation loops for electronic components and related methods. According to an aspect, a cooling system for an electronic component includes a cooling loop in thermal transfer interface with a first electronic component. The cooling loop is configured to contain a first flow of a cooling liquid between an inlet and an outlet. The cooling system also includes at least one augmentation loop configured to contain a second flow of the cooling liquid and alternately engage and disengage with respect to the cooling loop, such that engaging the augmentation loop to the cooling loop converts a series flow pattern with the first flow of the cooling liquid into a parallel flow pattern of a portion of the first flow of the cooling liquid with the second flow of the cooling liquid, without disconnection of the cooling loop from the inlet and outlet.

According to another aspect, a cooling system for an electronic component includes a cooling loop in thermal transfer interface with a first electronic component. The cooling loop is configured to contain a first flow of a cooling liquid between an inlet and an outlet. The cooling system includes a first connector at a first point along the cooling loop. Further, the cooling system includes a second connector at a second point along the cooling loop. The first and second connectors are configured to alternately connect to and disconnect from an augmentation loop configured to contain a second flow of the cooling liquid without disconnection of the cooling loop from the inlet and outlet, such that connecting the augmentation loop to the cooling loop converts a series flow pattern with the first flow of the cooling liquid into a parallel flow pattern between the first and second points along the cooling loop of a portion of the first flow of the cooling liquid with the second flow of the cooling liquid.

According to another aspect, a method for cooling an electronic component comprises providing a cooling system that includes a cooling loop in thermal transfer interface with a first electronic component and configured to contain a first flow of a cooling liquid between an inlet and an outlet. The cooling system further includes a first connector at a first point along the cooling loop. The cooling system also includes a second connector at a second point along the cooling loop. The method also includes connecting the first and second connectors to an augmentation loop. The augmentation loop is configured to contain a second flow of the cooling liquid without disconnection of the cooling loop from the inlet and outlet, such that connecting the augmentation loop to the cooling loop converts a series flow pattern with the first flow of the cooling liquid into a parallel flow pattern between the first and second points along the cooling loop of a portion of the first flow of the cooling liquid with the second flow of the cooling liquid.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is made with reference to the figures. Exemplary embodiments are described to illustrate the disclosure, not to limit its scope, which is defined by the claims. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a number of equivalent variations in the description that follows.

Articles “a” and “an” are used herein to refer to one or to more than one (i.e. at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. By way of example, “an element” means at least one element and can include more than one element.

“About” is used to provide flexibility to a numerical endpoint by providing that a given value may be “slightly above” or “slightly below” the endpoint without affecting the desired result.

The use herein of the terms “including,” “comprising,” or “having,” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the elements listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional elements. Embodiments recited as “including,” “comprising,” or “having” certain elements are also contemplated as “consisting essentially of” and “consisting” of those certain elements.

Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. For example, if a range is stated as between 1%-50%, it is intended that values such as between 2%-40%, 10%-30%, or 1%-3%, etc. are expressly enumerated in this specification. These are only examples of what is specifically intended, and all possible combinations of numerical values between and including the lowest value and the highest value enumerated are to be considered to be expressly stated in this disclosure.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

FIGS.1-4illustrate example cooling systems1for an electronic component5in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The cooling system includes a cooling loop3in thermal transfer interface with a first electronic component5and containing a first flow7of a cooling liquid between an inlet9and an outlet11. Further, there is shown an augmentation loop13configured to contain a second flow15of the cooling liquid. The augmentation loop13is configured to alternately engage and disengage with respect to the cooling loop3, such that engaging the augmentation loop13to the cooling loop3converts the flow pattern of cooling liquid through the cooling system1from a series flow pattern (FIGS.1and3) to a parallel flow pattern (FIGS.2and4).

Further, contemplated embodiments are configured to convert the flow pattern of the cooling system1from a series flow pattern (FIG.1) with the first flow7of the cooling liquid cooling a first electronic component5into a parallel flow pattern of the cooling liquid with the first flow7of the cooling liquid and second flow15of the cooling liquid cooling at least a first electronic component5and cooling at least a second electronic component (23,FIG.2) or being cooled by a heat exchanger (19,FIG.4), without disconnection of the cooling loop3from the inlet9and outlet11.

In all ofFIGS.1-4, the exemplary embodiments of cooling systems1comprise quick disconnect connectors17on the cooling loop3and augmentation loop13, but should be considered non-limiting upon methods and devices for the augmentation loop13to alternately engage and disengage with respect to the cooling loop3.

FIG.1shows a cooling system1comprising a cooling loop3for an electronic component5, and an augmentation loop13, disengaged, with respect to the cooling loop3. As the first flow7of cooling liquid passes through the cooling loop3, a first amount of heat Q1is transferred from the electronic component5to the first flow7of cooling liquid, such that the heat Q1is carried out of the system1via outlet11. A second electronic component23is in heat transfer interface with the augmentation loop13, but is disengaged from the cooling loop3, and there is no flow of the cooling liquid passing through the augmentation loop13.

FIG.2shows a similar embodiment to the system1ofFIG.1, but here, a cooling system1comprises a cooling loop3for an electronic component5and an augmentation loop13that is engaged to the cooling loop3, providing a first flow7of a cooling liquid and a second flow15of a cooling liquid in a parallel pattern, cooling a first electronic component5and a second electronic component23.

Specifically, the augmentation loop13is in thermal transfer interface with a second electronic component23, such that engaging the augmentation loop13to the cooling loop3cools the second electronic component23with the second flow15of cooling liquid in a parallel pattern, with respect to the first flow7of cooling liquid. As the first flow7of cooling liquid passes through the cooling loop3, a first amount of heat Q1is transferred from the electronic component5to the first flow7of cooling liquid. Then, via the quick disconnects17, cooling liquid is diverted into the second flow13, and a second amount of heat Q2is transferred from the second electronic component23to the second flow13of cooling liquid. Thereby, heat Q1and heat Q2is carried out of the system1via outlet11.

With such alternately engageable and disengageable systems1ofFIGS.1and2, respectively, the present invention contemplates solutions for cooling systems designed for longer lifetimes of use, with fewer replacements and shorter downtimes, for enduring the cooling load of a device initially specified to particular electronic burden, such as computing systems, which may change significantly over time. For a range of computing systems, any particular computing system may need to incorporate more heat-producing electronic components over time, or the form factor or scale or heat demands of some electronic components may change over time, or the computing system may face a reduced computing burden, relative to the originally estimated burden, and the heat production may decrease or simply be lower than expected. Therefore, for any of these scenarios, the solutions inherent in the cooling systems1ofFIGS.1and2facilitate tailoring of a cooling system without necessitating complete replacement of the systems1.

A comparison ofFIGS.1and2demonstrates how the cooling systems1facilitate multiple cooling burden arrangements with a single flow rate, for a system with increased quantities of heat and increased quantities of heat-producing electronic components. ComparingFIG.1toFIG.2, where the electronic component5produces the same amount of heat, the flow rate at the inlet is the same, the cooling liquid has the same heat capacity, the temperature of the cooling liquid entering the inlet9is Ti, and the temperature of the cooling liquid exiting the outlet11is Tf. InFIG.1, where the electronic component5is the only heat-contributing component in thermal transfer interface with a flow of the cooling liquid, then the heat absorbed in is limited to Q1, and the difference between Tf and Ti is proportional to Q1. InFIG.2, where the electronic component5and the second electronic component23are both in thermal transfer interface with the cooling liquid (both the first flow7and the second flow15), then both the heat Q1from the first electronic component5and the heat Q2from the second electronic component23are absorbed by the cooling liquid, and the difference between Tf and Ti is proportional to the sum of Q1and Q2.

FIG.3shows a similar embodiment to the cooling system1ofFIG.2, but here, a cooling system1comprising a cooling loop3for a first electronic component5and an augmentation loop13is shown with the augmentation loop13sealingly disengaged, with respect to the cooling loop3. Specifically, for this cooling system1, the augmentation loop13is configured to sealingly disengage from the cooling loop3by being physically grasped and moved away (indicated by the large arrow) from the cooling loop3and/or spatially translated away from the cooling loop3. Further, the augmentation loop13is configured to sealingly disengage from the cooling loop3by interrupting the second flow (15,FIG.2) of cooling liquid and without interrupting the first flow7of the cooling liquid.

As mentioned above, the augmentation loop13is configured to be sealingly disengaged from the cooling loop3with the quick disconnects17. As such, removal of the augmentation loop13seals the augmentation loop13against leakage, and arrests the second flow15of cooling liquid within the augmentation loop13.

For any particular computing system, some electronic components may become obsolete or unnecessary. For example, where many computing systems once required disk drives or removable media for updates, some became updateable with remotely-accessible programming or networked communications. For such computing systems, the previous hardware for installing such data would be obsolete, and retaining the hardware would amount to cooling unnecessary devices. With computing systems requiring complete replacement of a cooling system, just to remove auxiliary components, the waste of the excess heat consumed would have to be balanced against the cost of the entirely new cooling hardware and the large maintenance efforts and time-costs of shutting down. By comparison, for the cooling system1ofFIG.3, removing components in the manner similar to the removal of the augmentation loop13ofFIG.3would allow for the prospect of updating hardware by removing the undesired components without interrupting the cooling loop3or the first flow7of the cooling liquid or affecting the first electronic component5.

FIG.4shows a similar embodiment to the cooling system1ofFIG.2, the instant cooling system1comprising a cooling loop3for an electronic component5and an augmentation loop13engaged to the cooling loop3, providing a first flow7of a cooling liquid and a second flow15of a cooling liquid in a parallel pattern, the first flow7cooling a first electronic component5. Here, however, the augmentation loop13comprises a fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19in thermal transfer interface (Q2) with the augmentation loop13that is configured to transfer heat (Q3) between the second flow15of cooling liquid and a fluid21, where the fluid21is separated from the cooling liquid. Here, the fluid21comprises a flow of air ambient to the system1, passing by the fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19, such that its movement passing the fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19arranges it in a convective heat transfer interface with the heat exchanger19, represented by the arrows indicating a heat flow Q3from the fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19. In some embodiments the fluid21may be a volume of air or gaseous mixture proximate to the heat exchanger19. Other gases, gaseous mixtures, and other fluids, other than air, are also contemplated, in other embodiments.

For a range of computing systems, any particular computing system may produce more heat from the same electronic components over time, or the computing system may face a higher computing burden, relative to the originally estimated burden, and the heat production may increase or simply be higher than expected. Therefore, for any of these scenarios, the solutions inherent in the cooling systems1ofFIGS.1and4facilitate tailoring of a cooling system without necessitating complete replacement of the systems

A comparison ofFIGS.1and4demonstrates how the cooling systems1facilitate multiple cooling burden arrangements with a single flow rate, for a system with a stable heat production but increased quantities of heat. ComparingFIG.1toFIG.4, where the electronic component5produces the same amount of heat, the flow rate at the inlet is the same, the cooling liquid has the same heat capacity, the temperature of the cooling liquid entering the inlet9is Ti, and the temperature of the cooling liquid exiting the outlet11is Tf. InFIG.1, where the electronic component5is the only heat-contributing component in thermal transfer interface with a flow of the cooling liquid, then the heat absorbed is intended to accommodate the estimated amount of heat Q1, and the designed difference between Tf and Ti is intended to be proportional to Q1. InFIG.4, where the electronic component5and the fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19are both in thermal transfer interface with the cooling liquid (both the first flow7and the second flow15), then while the first flow of cooling liquid7may absorb Q1in an amount that would result in a Tf that is higher than desired, the fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19can remove an amount of heat Q2from the second flow of cooling liquid13, to the approximate amount of heat Q3that can be contributed to the fluid21. Therefore, the difference between Tf and Ti can be brought to a desired amount, proportional to the heat Q1from the first electronic component5, reduced by the heat Q2removed from the second flow of cooling liquid13by the fluid-to-liquid heat exchanger19.

While the embodiments have been described in connection with the various embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used, or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims.