Cooling an electronic system becomes more challenging as the heat produced by the system's heat-producing components increases with evolving system designs. If a cooling system is attached to a heat-producing component, replacing the component or cooling system may require tools, time, and generally be difficult and cumbersome. Further, failure to properly secure the cooling mechanism to the heat-producing component may result in sub-optimal cooling.
For a detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, computer companies may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ” Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect, direct, optical or wireless electrical connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections, through an optical electrical connection, or through a wireless electrical connection. The term “system” refers to a combination of two or more components. A system may comprise, for example, the combination of a server and a client communicatively coupled thereto, or a server alone, a client alone, or a subsystem within a computer.
In some embodiments, the magnet in each cooling block comprises a rare-earth magnet such as neodymium. In other embodiments, each cooling block's magnet comprises an electromagnet which receives current from a power supply in the system in which the heat-producing component resides. In some embodiments, the power is received from the heat-producing component itself.
In various embodiments, the cooling blocks 12 and 14 comprise water blocks. As such, at least one of the cooling blocks, and possibly both, comprise an inlet port 16 and an outlet port 18. A cold liquid flows into the inlet port 16, receives heat transferred to the liquid from the heat-producing component, and flows out the outlet port 18. The warm liquid is cooled and re-circulated back to the inlet port 16. In this manner, the heat-producing component 20 is cooled by the cooling mechanism.
In embodiments in which the magnets on the cooling blocks 12, 14 comprise electromagnets, power is not likely to be available to activate the magnets prior to the time the system is turned on. For example, during shipment of the system containing the heat-producing component 20, the magnets of the cooling blocks 12, 14 are not activated due to a lack of available electrical power. While the there would be no need to cool the heat-producing component during shipment, or at any time in which the system is powered off, the cooling blocks 12, 14 nevertheless should be retained in place on the heat-producing mechanism.
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.