Patent Application
20240397607
The present disclosure relates to computing systems, and more specifically, to closed-circuit fluid cooling systems for circuit boards.
Many computing systems include circuit boards with electronic components that generate heat during operation. In order to better cool these components, various cooling structures can be thermally connected thereto. However, many computing systems have many different circuit boards, and many circuit boards have components with varying sizes, heights, and locations. Thereby, it can be difficult to design, manufacture, inventory, and install traditional solid cooling structures for each of the different circuit boards in a computing system.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a computing system includes a motherboard with an array of card connectors, circuit boards connected to the array of card connectors, wherein the circuit boards include electronic components, constraining walls positioned around the circuit boards to form a housing over the motherboard, and expandable ducts. One of the expandable ducts is positioned in contact with one of the electronic components and constrained by a constraining wall when expanded, and each of the expandable ducts includes an inlet, an outlet, and a fluid flow path from the inlet to the outlet that is parallel to other fluid flow paths of other expandable ducts.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a heat transfer system includes a pump, a heat exchanger fluidly connected to the pump, and a computing system. The computing system includes a circuit board including an electronic component, another circuit board including another electronic component, wherein the circuit boards are positioned alongside each other, and an expandable duct. The expandable duct is positioned between the circuit boards and is in contact with at least one of the electronic components, and the expandable duct forms a path through the computing system that is fluidly connected to the pump and the heat exchanger to form a closed loop.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of operating a heat transfer system for a computing system includes reading outputs of contact sensors positioned in the computing system, determining that there is a lack of contact of an expandable duct against at least one of the contact sensors based on the reading of the outputs of the contact sensors which indicates inadequate contact between the expandable duct and an electronic component of a circuit board in the computing system, and decreasing flow of a cooling fluid through the expandable duct in response to determining that there is a lack of contact of the expandable duct. The method also includes reading output of a temperature sensor of the electronic component, determining that the temperature of the electronic component is higher than an electronic component temperature threshold based on the reading of the output of the temperature sensor, and increasing flow from a cooling fluid pump in response to determining that the temperature of the electronic component is higher than the electronic component temperature threshold.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the related drawings. Alternative embodiments can be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. It is noted that various connections and positional relationships (e.g., over, below, adjacent, etc.) are set forth between elements in the following description and in the drawings. These connections and/or positional relationships, unless specified otherwise, can be direct or indirect, and the present disclosure is not intended to be limiting in this respect. Accordingly, a coupling of entities can refer to either a direct or an indirect coupling, and a positional relationship between entities can be a direct or indirect positional relationship.
The following definitions and abbreviations are to be used for the interpretation of the claims and the specification. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having,” “contains,” or “containing,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a composition, a mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus. In addition, any numerical ranges included herein are inclusive of their boundaries unless explicitly stated otherwise.
For purposes of the description hereinafter, the terms “upper,” “lower,” “right,” “left,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” and derivatives thereof shall relate to the described structures and methods, as oriented in the drawing Figures. The terms “overlying,” “atop,” “on top,” “positioned on,” or “positioned atop” mean that a first element, such as a first structure, is present on a second element, such as a second structure, wherein intervening elements such as an interface structure can be present between the first element and the second element.
In the illustrated embodiment, computing system 102 has several parallel flow paths (as indicated by inlets 112 and outlets 114), so inlet manifold 116 is positioned upstream of computing system 102, and outlet manifold 118 is positioned downstream of computing system 102. In order to control flow through the parallel flow paths of computing system 102, valves 120 are positioned between each outlet 114 and outlet manifold 118. Valves 120 are communicatively connected to and controlled by controller 108. Similarly, pump 104 is communicatively connected to and controlled by controller 108. Controller 108 is also communicatively connected to sensors placed throughout heat transfer system 100, for example, in computing system 102 and heat exchanger 106. Controller 108 can automatically adjust parameters of heat transfer system 100 (e.g., the output of pump 104 and the flow through valves 120) based on data from the sensors and predetermined operating thresholds (e.g., the maximum allowable temperature of the cooling fluid and/or electronic components).
Depicted in
In the illustrated embodiment, circuit boards 124 include electronic components 134A-134H (collectively “electronic components 134”), respectively. Circuit boards 124 can have different functions (e.g., at least some can be memory cards) and/or configurations from one another, so the sizes, locations, and orientations of electronic components 134 can vary board-to-board. In addition, electronic components 134 can generate heat during operation, and this heat can be removed by operating heat transfer system 100 (shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, electronic component 134H would not benefit from contact with duct 126C, which can be for a reason such as fragility, lack of heat generation, or need for heat retention. Thereby, restrictor band 130 can be positioned around a portion of duct 126C to locally prevent expansion. Restrictor band 130 can be, for example, an elastomeric rubber component. However, to generally prevent over expansion of ducts 126 and keep ducts 126 in place, constraining walls 128A-128D (collectively “constraining walls 128”) are strategically positioned in computing system 102. For example, constraining walls 128 are positioned where there is an open side around one or more ducts 126 to form a housing over motherboard 122. Thereby, constraining walls 128 assist in maintaining contact between ducts 126 and electronic components 134.
In the illustrated embodiment, duct 126A is positioned between motherboard 122, circuit board 124A, and constraining walls 128A-128D; duct 126B is positioned between motherboard 122, circuit boards 124A and 124B, and constraining walls 128A, 128B, and 128D; and duct 126C is positioned between motherboard 122, circuit boards 124C and 124D, and constraining walls 128A, 128B, and 128D. Duct 126C can cool both electronic components 134F and 134G despite them being on circuit boards 124C and 124D, respectively, since circuit boards 124C and 124D face each other. On the other hand, because there are no electronic components 134 between circuit boards 124B and 124C, there isn't a duct 126 positioned between circuit boards 124B and 124C. In some embodiments, a duct 126 may be placed in between circuit boards 124B and 124C but restrictor bands 130 may be positioned around it. This would prevent unnecessary expansion of the duct 126 to preserve its lifespan, but allow it to be plumbed in during initial assembly in case the configuration of circuit boards 124 was changed later on.
In the illustrated embodiment, computing system 102 includes sensors 136A-136Q (collectively “sensors 136”). Sensors 136 are positioned on motherboard 122, circuit boards 124, and constraining walls 128, respectively. Sensors 136 can detect contact with ducts 126, which can be read by controller 108 (shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, duct 126 includes dividers 140A-140B (collectively “dividers 140”). Dividers 140 can extend across the interior of duct 126, and dividers 140 can be additional material added to duct 126 or they can be formed by local melting/welding of the sides of duct 126 together. Dividers 140 define a flow path for the cooling fluid from inlet 112 to outlet 114 (as indicated by the arrows) to increase the uniformity of flow in duct 126, which increases the cooling capacity at the corners of duct 126 opposite from inlet 112 and outlet 114.
In the illustrated embodiment, method 200 starts at operation 202 where the contact sensors (i.e., sensors 136) are read by controller 108. At operation 204, controller 108 determines whether ducts 126 are contacting the correct electronic components 134 based on the reading of sensors 136. If there is not contact where there should be or if there is contact where there shouldn't be, then the flow in the affected ducts is adjusted at operation 206. For example, if there was insufficient contact of a duct 126, the corresponding valve 120 can be restricted (e.g., closed to an extent). For another example, if there was inappropriate contact of a duct 126, the corresponding valve 120 can be expanded (e.g., opened to an extent). However, if the contact was correct, then method 200 moves to operation 208.
In the illustrated embodiment, at operation 208, the temperature sensors (e.g., sensors 136) are read by controller 108. At operation 210, controller 108 determines whether the temperatures of electronic components 134 cooled by ducts 126 are acceptable based on the reading of the temperature sensors. If any of the temperatures (either direct measurements of electronic components 134 and/or proxy measurements thereof from ducts 126) is above a threshold, then the flow from pump 104 is increased (e.g., by increasing pump speed) at operation 212. However, if the temperatures were below the threshold, then method 200 moves to operation 214 where controller 108 determines that the operation of heat transfer system 100 is acceptable.
Depicted in
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
