Immersion cooled electronic assemblies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10070558-B2
Application number	US-201615093637-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2016
Priority date	Apr 7, 2016
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

An immersion cooled electronics arrangement includes a sealed housing, a coolant contained within the sealed housing, and an electronic device disposed within the sealed housing. The sealed housing has a variable-volume alterable between at least a first volume and a second volume in response to changes in pressure within the sealed housing to reduce the rate of pressure change in the sealed housing over time from heating of the coolant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An immersion cooled electronics arrangement, comprising:
a sealed housing;
a coolant contained within the sealed housing; and
an electronic device disposed within the sealed housing and in thermal communication with the coolant, a volume of the sealed housing being alterable between at least a first volume and a second volume in response to changes in pressure within the sealed chamber to reduce the rate of pressure change over time in the sealed housing from heating of the coolant,
wherein the sealed housing and the coolant define therebetween an ullage space; and
a variable-volume chamber disposed within the sealed housing fluidly isolated from the coolant,
wherein the variable-volume chamber is in fluid communication with the environment external to the sealed housing.

2. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , wherein the sealed housing has a fixed internal volume.

3. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , further including a gas sealed within the variable-volume chamber.

4. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , wherein the variable-volume chamber encloses an evacuated space sealed from an interior of the sealed housing.

5. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , wherein the variable-volume chamber is submerged within the coolant.

6. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , further including a bellows defining a variable-volume chamber disposed within the sealed housing.

7. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 6 , wherein the bellows includes a metallic material.

8. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , further including a condenser disposed within the ullage space.

9. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , further including a heat exchanger coupled to the housing opposite the ullage space.

10. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 9 , wherein the condenser includes a first fin and a second fin having lengths extending towards the coolant, the second fin having length that is greater than the length of the first fin.

11. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , wherein the electronic devices comprises at least one of a capacitor, an inductor, a printed circuit board, a solid-state switch device, heat sink, a solid-state power converter, and a motor controller.

12. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , wherein the coolant includes a dielectric coolant.

13. The immersion cooled electronics arrangement as recited in claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is at least partially submerged within the coolant.

14. An aircraft electrical system electronics cooling arrangement, comprising:
a sealed housing;
a coolant contained within the sealed housing;
an electronic device including a solid-state power converter disposed within the housing and at least partially submerged within the coolant; and
a bellows defining a variable-volume chamber submerged within the coolant, the variable-volume chamber being alterable between at least a first volume and a second volume in response to changes in pressure within the sealed chamber to reduce change in pressure within the sealed housing,
wherein the variable-volume chamber is fluidly isolated from the interior of the sealed housing and is in fluid communication with the environment external to the sealed housing, and
wherein the sealed housing defines a variable-volume chamber and is itself alterable between a first volume and a second volume according to pressure within the sealed housing.

15. A method of controlling pressure within a sealed housing of an immersion cooled electronics arrangement, comprising:
heating coolant contained within a sealed housing using an electronic device disposed within the housing;
increasing pressure within the sealed housing;
decreasing volume of a variable-volume chamber disposed within the housing using the increased pressure within the sealed housing; and
lowering a liquid level within the sealed housing in response to the increased pressure within the housing,
wherein decreasing volume of the variable-volume chamber includes issuing fluid from the variable-volume chamber to the environment external to the sealed housing.

16. An immersion cooled electronics arrangement, comprising:
a sealed housing with an interior;
a coolant contained within the interior of the sealed housing;
a variable-volume chamber disposed within the sealed housing and submerged within the coolant, wherein the variable-volume chamber is fluidly isolated from the interior of the sealed housing;
a vent fluidly coupling the variable-volume chamber with the environment external to the sealed housing; and
an electronic device disposed within the sealed housing and in thermal communication with the coolant,
wherein a volume of the sealed housing being alterable between at least a first volume and a second volume in response to changes in pressure within the sealed chamber to reduce the rate of pressure change over time in the sealed housing from heating of the coolant.

Assignees

• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp

Inventors

• Campbell Kris H
• Shepard Charles
• Katsumata Shin

Classifications

• H05K7/203

  by immersion · CPC title

• H05K5/06

  Hermetically-sealed casings {(specially adapted for small components H05K5/0095)} · CPC title

• H05K7/20936

  Liquid coolant with phase change · CPC title

• H05K7/20318

  Condensers · CPC title

• H05K7/2039

  characterised by the heat transfer by conduction from the heat generating element to a dissipating body (arrangements for increasing/decreasing heat-transfer, e.g. fins details, F28F13/00) · CPC title