Patent ID: 8899060

Claim:
An apparatus for cooling electronics comprising: a. a fluid-moving means for moving fluid coolant in a closed loop, adapted to permit the coolant to enter the electronics at a temperature T 0 and leave the electronics at a temperature T 1 that is greater than T 0 ; b. a free-cooling means for receiving the coolant downstream of the electronics, adapted to permit the coolant to enter the free-cooling means at a temperature substantially equal to T 1 and leave the free-cooling means at a temperature T 2 that is less than or equal to T 1 ; c. a chilling means for receiving coolant downstream of the free-cooling means, adapted to permit the coolant to enter the chilling means at a temperature substantially equal to T 2 and leaves the chilling means at the temperature T 0 that is less than or equal to T 2 , thereafter to flow to the electronics to complete the closed loop; d. a control means for modulating the operation of the chilling means to obtain a pre-determined value of the temperature T 0 , e. a first power-measurement means to measure electrical power consumption P 0 of the electronics; f. a second power-measurement means to measure electrical power consumption P Cool of the chilling means; and g. a computing means, in communication with the control means and with the first and second power-measurement means, for calculating an optimum coolant temperature T 0 * based on P 0 and P cool , said optimum coolant temperature T 0 * calculated by: directing the control means to produce a series of values of the temperature T 0 , the i th element of this series being stored in an array denoted T 0 [i], each value T 0 [i] persisting as the fluid temperature T 0 long enough for the apparatus to come to thermal equilibrium, and for the computing means to perform: obtaining a reading P 0 [i] from the first measurement means; obtaining a reading P Cool [i] from the second measurement means; computing and storing the total electrical power consumption for T 0 =T 0 [i] according to P Total [i]≡P 0 [i]+P Cool [i]; and configuring the computing means to: find the value i* of index i for which P Total [i*] is the minimum of the array P Total [i], and select, for subsequent operation of the apparatus, the corresponding coolant temperature T 0 *≡T 0 [i*], such that the apparatus will consume, in subsequent operation, the smallest possible amount of electrical power.