Conducting plastic cold plates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10582640-B2
Application number	US-201815974798-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2018
Priority date	May 9, 2018
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

Cold plates are described herein. In one example, a cold plate can include a heat plate bay coupled to a first side and a second side of a coolant channel, a heat plate removably coupled within the heat plate bay, and a gasket coupled to the heat plate to seal the heat plate within the heat plate bay to provide a fluid path between the first side and the second side of the coolant channel.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a cold plate;
a heat plate bay formed in the cold plate, the heat plate bay fluidly coupled to a first side and a second side of a coolant channel;
a heat plate to removably couple to the cold plate and cover an opening into the heat plate bay; and
a gasket coupled to the heat plate to form a seal between the heat plate and the cold plate around the opening to provide a fluid path between the first side and the second side of the coolant channel through the heat plate bay.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a position of the heat plate relative to a device in which the apparatus is installed depends on a height of the gasket.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein a portion of the heat plate protrudes through the opening into the heat plate bay when the heat plate is coupled to the cold plate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heat plate includes a plurality of fins extending from a surface of the heat plate that protrude through the opening into the heat plate bay when the heat plate is coupled to the cold plate.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first side of the coolant channel includes a first coolant return and a first coolant supply.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the second side of the coolant channel includes a second coolant return that corresponds to the first coolant supply and a second coolant supply that corresponds to the first coolant return.

7. A computing device, comprising:
a thermally conductive plastic cold plate that comprises a heat plate bay formed therein from the thermally conductive plastic of the cold plate and in fluid communications with a first side and a second side of a coolant channel;
a heat plate formed of a metallic material removably coupled to the cold plate and covering an opening into the heat plate bay; and
a gasket coupled to the heat plate to form a seal between the heat plate and the cold plate around the opening to provide a fluid path between the first side and the second side of the coolant channel through the heat plate bay.

8. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the heat plate bay is positioned over a heat generating component of the computing device.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the gasket alters a height of the heat plate based on a height of the heat generating component.

10. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the first side is a coolant input channel formed within the conductive plastic of the cold plate and wherein the second side is a coolant output channel formed within the conductive plastic of the cold plate.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the coolant input channel is coupled to the heat plate bay and the coolant output channel is coupled to the heat plate bay to form the fluid path between the first side and the second side.

12. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the heat plate bay comprises an aperture to receive a first side of the heat plate; wherein the heat plate comprises a plurality of fins formed on the first side and positioned within the fluid path; and
wherein a second side of the heat plate is exposed when the heat plate is coupled to the heat plate bay.

13. A system, comprising:
a thermally conductive plastic cold plate comprising:
a coolant input coupled to a plurality of coolant input channels;
a coolant output coupled to a plurality of coolant output channels;
a heat plate bay formed in the cold plate from the thermally conductive plastic of the cold plate and in fluid communications with a first coolant input channel and a first coolant output channel on a first side and coupled to a second coolant input channel and a second coolant output channel on a second side;
a heat plate to removably couple to the cold plate and cover an opening into the heat plate bay such that a first side of the heat plate is exposed to the heat plate bay and a second side of the heat plate is exposed to an exterior of the cold plate; and
a gasket coupled to the heat plate to form a seal between the heat plate and the cold plate around the opening to provide a first fluid path between the first coolant input channel and the second coolant output channel through the heat plate bay and a second fluid path between the second coolant input channel and the first coolant output channel through the heat plate bay.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a number of apertures positioned within the heat plate to receive a number of corresponding retention mechanisms to couple the heat plate within the heat plate bay.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the heat plate bay is a first heat plate bay and further comprising a second heat plate bay positioned on the cold plate and in fluid communications with the first heat plate bay by the second coolant input channel and the second coolant output channel.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the thermally conductive plastic cold plate is positioned over a motherboard of a computing device.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the heat plate bay is divided into a plurality of portions.

18. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a coolant channel input manifold coupled to the plurality of coolant input channels and a coolant channel output manifold coupled to the plurality of coolant output channels.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Cader Tahir
• Lunsman Harvey
• Medina Ernesto Ferrer
• Franz John

Classifications

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title

• G06F2200/201

  Cooling arrangements using cooling fluid · CPC title

• H05K7/20281

  Thermal management, e.g. liquid flow control · CPC title

• H05K7/20254 Primary

  Cold plates transferring heat from heat source to coolant · CPC title

• H05K7/20772

  within server blades for removing heat from heat source · CPC title