Cooling electronic devices in a data center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10966352-B2
Application number	US-201816139377-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2018
Priority date	Sep 24, 2018
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

This disclosure describes a cooling system, for example, for rack mounted electronic devices (e.g., servers, processors, memory, networking devices or otherwise) in a data center. In various disclosed implementations, the cooling system may be or include a liquid cold plate assembly that is part of or integrated with a server tray package. In some implementations, the liquid cold plate assembly includes a base portion and a top portion that, in combination, form a cooling liquid flow path through which a cooling liquid is circulated and a thermal interface between one or more heat generating devices and the cooling liquid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A server tray package, comprising:
a motherboard assembly that comprises a plurality of data center electronic devices, the plurality of data center electronic devices comprising at least one heat generating processor device;
a liquid cold plate assembly that comprises:
a base portion mounted to the motherboard assembly, the base portion and motherboard assembly defining a volume that at least partially encloses the plurality of data center electronic devices; and
a top portion mounted to the base portion and comprising a heat transfer member that comprises an inlet port and an outlet port that are in fluid communication with a cooling liquid flow path defined through the heat transfer member; and

a vapor chamber positioned between the base portion and the top portion, the vapor chamber comprising a housing that fluidly encloses a heat transfer fluid in thermal contact with the motherboard assembly and the liquid cold plate assembly, the heat transfer fluid comprising a vapor phase fluid in conductive thermal contact with the top portion of the liquid cold plate assembly and a liquid phase fluid in conductive thermal contact with the base portion of the liquid cold plate assembly, the vapor chamber comprising a plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers, each sub-chamber formed and spaced within the housing without vertically overlapping the others of the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers, each of the fluidly independent sub-chambers fluidly isolated from the other of the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers, at least one of the fluidly independent sub-chambers comprising a first volume and at least another of the fluidly independent sub-chambers comprising a second volume greater than the first volume, each of the fluidly independent sub-chambers enclosing at least a portion of the heat transfer fluid, each of the fluidly independent sub-chambers positioned over a respective one of the plurality of data center electronic devices, with at least one of the first volume and the second volume determined based on a heat power output of the respective one of the plurality of data center electronic devices.

2. The server tray package of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first thermal interface material positioned between a bottom surface of the top portion and the vapor chamber; and
a second thermal interface material positioned between a bottom surface of the base portion and at least a portion of the plurality of data center electronic devices; and
a third thermal interface material positioned between a top surface of the base portion and the vapor chamber.

3. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein the liquid cold plate assembly further comprises a plurality of heat transfer surfaces enclosed within the cooling liquid flow path.

4. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein each of the fluidly independent sub-chambers comprises a floor and a ceiling, wherein the floors reside on a common first horizontal plane and the ceilings reside on a common second horizontal plane.

5. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein the portions of the heat transfer fluid vary in at least one of type or amount of heat transfer fluid based at least in part on one or more of the data center electronic devices in conductive thermal contact with the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers.

6. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein the vapor chamber further comprises a floor and a ceiling that overlay the at least one heat generating processor device, the vapor chamber comprising a uniform height between the floor and the ceiling across the vapor chamber.

7. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein the second volume is positioned in vertical alignment above the heat generating processor device.

8. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein the vapor chamber is integrally formed as a base of the top portion of the liquid cold plate assembly, and the vapor chamber is positioned on top of a cap of the base portion and in conductive heat transfer contact with the cap through a thermal interface material.

9. The server tray package of claim 1 , wherein the vapor chamber is integrally formed as a cap of the base portion of the liquid cold plate assembly, and the vapor chamber supports a base of the top portion and is in conductive heat transfer contact with the base through a thermal interface material.

10. A method for cooling heat generating devices in a data center, comprising:
circulating a flow of a cooling liquid to a server tray package that comprises:
a motherboard assembly that comprises a plurality of data center electronic devices, the plurality of data center electronic devices comprising at least one heat generating processor device;
a liquid cold plate assembly that comprises a base portion mounted to the motherboard assembly, the base portion and motherboard assembly defining a volume that at least partially encloses the plurality of data center electronic devices, and a top portion mounted to the base portion; and
a vapor chamber positioned between the base portion and the top portion and comprising a plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers formed and spaced within a housing of the vapor chamber without vertically overlapping the others of the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers;

circulating a flow of a cooling liquid into an inlet port of a heat transfer member of the top portion;
receiving heat from the plurality of data center electronic devices into a plurality of separated portions of a heat transfer fluid that are fluidly enclosed within the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers, each of the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers fluidly isolated from the other of the plurality of fluidly independent sub-chambers, at least one of the fluidly independent sub-chambers comprising a first volume and at least another of the fluidly independent sub-chambers comprising a second volume greater than the first volume, each of the fluidly independent sub-chambers positioned over a respective one of the plurality of data center electronic devices, with at least one of the first volume and the second volume determined based on a heat power output of the respective one of the plurality of data center electronic devices;
vaporizing a liquid phase of the heat transfer fluid that is in conductive thermal contact with the base portion of the liquid cold plate assembly with the heat transferred from the plurality of data center electronic devices;
condensing a vapor phase of the heat transfer fluid that is in conductive thermal contact with the top portion of the liquid cold plate assembly by transferring heat to the flow of the cooling liquid;
circulating the flow of the cooling liquid from the inlet port through a cooling liquid flow path defined through the heat transfer member to receive the transferred heat from the vapor phase of the heat transfer fluid into the cooling liquid; and
circulating the heated flow of the cooling liquid from the cooling liquid flow path to an outlet port of the heat transfer member.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
transferring the heat from the plurality of data center electronic devices through a first thermal interface material positioned between the plurality of data center electronic devices and a bottom surface of the base portion;
transferring the heat from a top surface of the base portion through a second thermal interface material positioned between the base portion and the vapor chamber; and
transferring the heat from the vapor chamber through a third thermal interface material positioned between a bottom surface of the top portion of the liquid cold p

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Iyengar Madhusudan Krishnan
• Padilla Jorge

Classifications

• H10W40/73

  for cooling by change of state · CPC title

• H10W40/47

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

• H05K7/20772 Primary

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

• H05K7/20254

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

• H05K7/20809 Primary

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