Patent ID: 7885074

Claim:
A cooling apparatus comprising: a cooling subassembly comprising: a jet impingement structure for directing coolant into a chamber of the cooling subassembly onto a surface to be cooled when in a jet impingement mode; and a housing, the housing including the jet impingement structure and the chamber; a condenser disposed above the housing; a first coolant line coupling the chamber of the housing in fluid communication with the condenser and facilitating convective cooling of the surface to be cooled via the coolant within the chamber when in a thermosyphon mode; a second coolant line coupling the condenser in fluid communication with the jet impingement structure of the housing; a pump in fluid communication with the second coolant line, the pump for actively pumping the coolant via the jet impingement structure of the cooling subassembly towards the surface to be cooled when in the jet impingement mode; and a controller coupled to the pump for controlling activation and deactivation of the pump, and transitioning between the jet impingement mode and the thermosyphon mode, wherein the cooling apparatus provides greater cooling in the jet impingement mode than in the thermosyphon mode, and the controller controls transitioning between the jet impingement mode and the thermosyphon mode depending on cooling requirements for the surface to be cooled; wherein the first coolant line functions as a thermosyphon tube when the cooling apparatus is in the thermosyphon mode, with the coolant flowing bi-directionally between the chamber and the condenser through the first coolant line, and the first coolant line functions as a coolant return tube when the cooling apparatus is in the jet impingement mode, with the coolant flowing unidirectionally from the chamber towards the condenser via the first coolant line, and the coolant returning from the condenser to the chamber via the second coolant line.