Thermal bus bar

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10185375-B2
Application number	US-201515550500-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2015
Priority date	Feb 13, 2015
Publication date	Jan 22, 2019
Grant date	Jan 22, 2019

Abstract

An example method includes positioning a thermal bus bar into a bus bar support channel of a cooling wall, the cooling wall comprising a plurality of thermal bus bars. The positioning comprises removably connecting first portions of at least two dripless connectors coupled to a fluid flow path of the thermal bus bar to second portions of the dripless connectors coupled to coolant transport lines that receive and return coolant from a coolant source. The method further includes flowing coolant received from the coolant transport lines through the fluid flow path and returning the coolant to the coolant transport lines. The thermal bus bar is positioned while coolant provided by the coolant transport lines is flowing through other thermal bus bars of the cooling wall.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
a housing to house a plurality of computing units;
a cooling wall coupled to the housing, the cooling wall comprising:
a main wall;
coolant transport lines to receive and return coolant from a coolant source;
a plurality of thermal bus bars each comprising an internal fluid flow path; and
a plurality of dripless connectors, each dripless connector comprising a first connector portion coupled to one of the thermal bus bars and a second connector portion coupled to the coolant transport lines, each thermal bus bar being coupled to at least two of the plurality of dripless connectors to receive the coolant from the coolant transport lines and return the coolant to the coolant transport lines,

wherein the plurality of thermal bus bars are coupled to the main wall and to the plurality of dripless connectors such that each thermal bus bar may be removed from the cooling wall independently of the other thermal bus bars without interrupting the coolant flowing through the other thermal bus bars.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein, the plurality of thermal bus bars are slideably coupled to the main wall such that each thermal bus bar may be disconnected from the coolant transport lines via the dripless connectors by sliding the thermal bus bar parallel to the main wall.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the thermal bus bars each comprise a T-frame and the thermal bus bars are slideably coupled to the main wall with the T-frame contained within a T-frame acceptor that accepts a portion of the T-frame within.

4. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of removal brackets, one of the plurality of removal bracket to secure a respective one of the plurality of thermal bus bars against the main wall, each removal bracket configured to be removed such that the respective thermal bus bar may be removed independently from the cooling wall.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of each of the plurality of dripless connectors is configured to be translated in a direction perpendicular to the main wall to be disengaged from the respective first portion of the dripless connector when one of the thermal bus bars is being removed.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the second portions of the dripless connectors are spring loaded such that after being disengaged, a spring translates the second portion of the dripless connector to shut a valve of the coolant transport lines.

7. A device, comprising:
a cooling wall configured to couple to a computer rack to cool computing units contained in the computer rack, the cooling wall comprising:
a main wall;
coolant transport lines to receive and return coolant from a coolant source;
a plurality of thermal bus bars each comprising an internal fluid flow path; and
a plurality of dripless connectors, each dripless connector comprising a first connector portion coupled to one of the thermal bus bars and a second connector portion coupled to the coolant transport lines, each thermal bus bar being coupled to at least two of the plurality of dripless connectors to receive the coolant from the coolant transport lines and return the coolant to the coolant transport lines,

wherein the plurality of thermal bus bars are coupled to the main wall and to the plurality of dripless connectors such that each thermal bus bar may be removed from the cooling wall independently of the other thermal bus bars without interrupting the coolant flowing through the other thermal bus bars.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein, the plurality of thermal bus bars are slideably coupled to the main wall such that each thermal bus bar may be disconnected from the coolant transport lines via the dripless connectors by sliding the thermal bus bar parallel to the main wall.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the thermal bus bars each comprise a T-frame and the thermal bus bars are slideably coupled to the main wall with the T-frame contained within a T-frame acceptor that accepts a portion of the T-frame within.

10. The device of claim 7 , further comprising a plurality of removal brackets, one of the plurality of removal bracket to secure a respective one of the plurality of thermal bus bars against the main wall, each removal bracket configured to be removed such that the respective thermal bus bar may be removed independently from the cooling wall.

11. The device of claim 7 , wherein the second portion of each of the plurality of dripless connectors is configured to be translated in a direction perpendicular to the main wall to be disengaged from the respective first portion of the dripless connector when one of the thermal bus bars is being removed.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the second portions of the dripless connectors are spring loaded such that after being disengaged, a spring translates the second portion of the dripless connector to shut a valve of the coolant transport lines.

13. A method, comprising:
positioning a thermal bus bar into a bus bar support channel of a cooling wall, the cooling wall comprising a plurality of other thermal bus bars, the positioning comprising removably connecting first portions of at least two dripless connectors coupled to a fluid flow path of the thermal bus bar to second portions of the dripless connectors coupled to coolant transport lines that receive and return coolant from a coolant source; and
flowing the coolant received from the coolant transport lines through the fluid flow path and returning the coolant to the coolant transport lines,
wherein the thermal bus bar is positioned while the coolant provided by the coolant transport lines is flowing through other thermal bus bars of the cooling wall.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising removing the thermal bus bar from the bus bar support channel to disengage the first portions of the dripless connectors from the second portions while coolant is flowing to the other thermal bus bars without interrupting flow of the coolant.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein positioning the thermal bus bar to be accepted by the bus bar support channel comprises sliding a T-frame coupled to the thermal bus bar into a T-frame acceptor coupled to the cooling wall in the bus bar support channel.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Franz John
• Cader Tahir
• Norton William K

Classifications

• F28D15/00

  Heat-exchange apparatus with the intermediate heat-transfer medium in closed tubes passing into or through the conduit walls {; Heat-exchange apparatus employing intermediate heat-transfer medium or bodies (F28D17/00, F28D19/00, F28D20/00 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H05K7/20781

  within cabinets for removing heat from server blades · CPC title

• H05K7/20

  Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating · CPC title

• G05D23/1928

  sensing the temperature of one space · CPC title

• G06F1/20 Primary

  Cooling means · CPC title