Cooling electronic components and supplying power to the electronic components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10031562-B2
Application number	US-201414173233-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 5, 2014
Priority date	Mar 28, 2013
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

A mechanism is provided for cooling electronic components of a printed circuit board module and for supplying power to the electronic components of the printed circuit board module. The computer module comprises a printed circuit board module, wherein the electronic components are attached to a first side of the printed circuit board module, and a cooling module being attached to a second side of the printed circuit board, being arranged in parallel to the printed circuit board and having a first layer being thermally and electrically conductive. The first layer is arranged such that heat is dissipated from the printed circuit board module and that power from a power source is supplied to the electronic components of the printed circuit board module.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer module for cooling electronic components of a printed circuit board module and for supplying power to the electronic components of the printed circuit board module, the computer module comprising:
the printed circuit board module, wherein the electronic components are attached to a first side of the printed circuit board module, and
a cooling module being attached to a second side of the printed circuit board module and being arranged in parallel to the printed circuit board module wherein the cooling module has:
a first layer being thermally and electrically conductive, wherein the first layer is arranged such that heat is dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the first layer via a first attachment means and wherein power from a power source is supplied to the electronic components on the first side of the printed circuit board module from the first layer via the first attachment means,
a second layer being thermally and electrically conductive, wherein the second layer is arranged such that heat is dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the second layer via a second attachment means and wherein a ground connection is provided to the electronic components on the first side of the printed circuit board module from the second layer via the second attachment means, and
end sections that extend beyond the printed circuit board module in length and are connected to a heat sink such that the heat dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the first layer and the heat dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the second layer is dissipated further to the heat sink via the end sections.

2. The computer module of claim 1 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are electrically isolated from each other and thermally connected.

3. The computer module of claim 1 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are arranged adjacently to each other in a plane parallel to the printed circuit board module.

4. The computer module of claim 1 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are arranged on top of each other in a plane parallel to the printed circuit board module.

5. The computer module of claim 4 , wherein the cooling module has a third layer being thermally and electrically conductive, wherein the third layer is arranged such that heat is dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the third layer via the second attachment means, wherein an additional ground connection is provided to the electronic components on the first side of the printed circuit board module from the third layer via the second attachment means, and wherein the first layer is arranged between the second layer and the third layer.

6. The computer module of claim 1 , wherein the attachment means are rivet elements or spring elements.

7. A modular computer system, comprising:
a plurality of computer modules being arranged on a back plane, wherein one or more electronic components are coupled to a first side of each computer module in the plurality of computer modules,
a cooling module coupled to a second side of each computer module in the plurality of computer modules thereby forming a plurality of cooling modules, wherein each cooling module of the plurality of cooling modules has:
a first layer being thermally and electrically conductive, wherein the first layer is arranged such that heat is dissipated from the associated computer module to the first layer via a first attachment means and wherein power from a power source is supplied to the one or more electronic components on the first side of the associated computer module from the first layer via the first attachment means,
a second layer being thermally and electrically conductive, wherein the second layer is arranged such that heat is dissipated from the associated computer module to the second layer via a second attachment means and wherein a ground connection is provided to the one or more electronic components on the first side of the associated computer module from the second layer via the second attachment means, and
end sections that extend beyond the printed circuit board module in length, and

a cooling system for dissipating heat from the plurality of cooling modules that are dissipating heat from the plurality of computer modules, wherein in the cooling system is at least one heat sink that is connected to the end sections of the plurality of cooling modules such that the heat dissipated from the associated computer module to the first layer and the heat dissipated from the associated computer module to the second layer is dissipated to the at least one heat sink via the end sections.

8. The modular computer system of claim 7 , wherein the cooling system has one or more heat sinks being connected to end sections of the plurality of cooling modules.

9. The modular computer system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling system has one or more cooling pipes being arranged for dissipating heat from the one or more heat sinks.

10. The modular computer system of claim 7 , wherein the cooling system is arranged between the plurality of computer modules or on top of the plurality of computer modules.

11. A method for cooling electronic components of a printed circuit board module and for supplying power to the electronic components of the printed circuit board module, wherein the electronic components are attached to a first side of the printed circuit board module, and wherein a cooling module attached to a second side of the printed circuit board module is arranged in parallel to the printed circuit board module and has a first layer being thermally and electrically conductive, a second layer being thermally and electrically conductive, and end sections that extend beyond the printed circuit board module in length and are connected to a heat sink, the method comprising:
dissipating, by the cooling module, heat from the printed circuit board module to the first layer via a first attachment means,
supplying, by the cooling module, power from a power source to the electronic components on the first side of the printed circuit board module from the first layer via the first attachment means,
dissipating, by the cooling module, heat from the printed circuit board module to the second layer via a second attachment means,
providing, by the cooling module, a ground connection to the electronic components on the first side of the printed circuit board module from the second layer via the second attachment means, and
dissipating, by the heat sink, the heat dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the first layer and the heat dissipated from the printed circuit board module to the second layer via the end sections.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are electrically isolated from each other and thermally connected.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are arranged adjacently to each other in a plane parallel to the printed circuit board module.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are arranged on top of each other in a plane parallel to the printed circuit board module.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the cooling module has a third layer being thermally and electrically conductive, wherein the method further comprises:
dissipating, by the cooling module, heat from the printed circuit board module to the third layer via the second attachment means, and
providing, by the cooling module, an additional ground connection to the electronic components on the first side of the printed

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Doering Andreas C
• Luijten Ronald P
• Michel Bruno
• Paredes Stephan

Classifications

• H10W40/47

  by flowing liquids, e.g. forced water cooling · CPC title

• G06F1/20 Primary

  Cooling means · CPC title

• H05K7/20509

  Multiple-component heat spreaders; Multi-component heat-conducting support plates; Multi-component non-closed heat-conducting structures · CPC title

• H01R12/7088

  Arrangements for power supply · CPC title

• G06F1/189 Primary

  Power distribution · CPC title