Patent ID: 7665325

Claim:
A method of providing a cooling system of a computer system with freeze protection during shipping, the method comprising: providing a cooling loop configured to facilitate cooling of an electronic device of a computer system, the cooling loop being in fluid communication with at least one expansion tank containing a primary coolant and a freeze protect fluid, the primary coolant and the freeze protect fluid being immiscible, the primary coolant having superior cooling properties compared to the freeze protect fluid, and the freeze protect fluid freezing at a lower temperature than the primary coolant, and wherein the cooling loop further comprises multiple valves, the multiple valves including a first valve and a second valve coupled to respective supply lines extending from the at least one expansion tank for selectively, controllably coupling only one of the primary coolant or the freeze protect fluid at a time into the cooling loop from the at least one expansion tank, the first valve and the second valve being independently controllable; placing the cooling system into a shipping state with the freeze protect fluid in the cooling loop and with control logic of the cooling system controlling the first valve and the second valve to automatically maintain the freeze protect fluid in the cooling loop while the cooling system is in the shipping state, the shipping state being a non-operational state, wherein in the shipping state, substantially all primary coolant is in the at least one expansion tank, and wherein the at least one expansion tank is sized to accommodate freezing of the primary coolant therein when the cooling system is in the shipping state; and prior to employing the cooling system to cool the electronic device of the computer system, transitioning the cooling system from the shipping state to an operational state by flushing the freeze protect fluid from the cooling loop into the at least one expansion tank employing the primary coolant, wherein the cooling system achieves the operational state once the freeze protect fluid is replaced in the cooling loop by the primary coolant, and wherein the freeze protect fluid is selected to protect components of the cooling system from freezing when the cooling system is in the shipping state, and the primary coolant is selected to facilitate cooling of the electronic device of the computer system when the cooling system is in the operational state.