Embedded and immersed vapor chambers in automated driving system computers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11324144-B2
Application number	US-201916730492-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2019
Priority date	Dec 30, 2019
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

Technologies for embedded and immersed vapor chambers in automated driving system computers (ADSC) are described herein. In some examples, an ADSC can include one or more cold plates including one or more fluid channels, the one or more fluid channels being configured to circulate a first working fluid from a respective ingress point to a respective egress point; one or more processors coupled to the one or more cold plates; one or more vapor chambers coupled to or embedded in the one or more cold plates and configured to collect heat from the one or more processors and transfer the heat away from the one or more processors via a second working fluid in the one or more vapor chambers; and a chassis housing the one or more cold plates, the one or more processors, and the one or more vapor chambers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system associated with an autonomous vehicle, the computer system comprising:
one or more cold plates comprising one or more fluid channels, each of the one or more fluid channels being configured to circulate a first working fluid from a respective fluid ingress point to a respective fluid egress point;
one or more processors coupled to the one or more cold plates;
at least one of (i) one or more vapor chambers and (ii) one or more heat pipes contained within the one or more fluid channels, the at least one of (i) one or more vapor chambers and (ii) one or more heat pipes contained within the one or more fluid channels being configured to collect a first portion of heat from the one or more processors and transfer the first portion of the heat from the one or more processors via a second working fluid in the at least one of (i) the one or more vapor chambers and (ii) the one or more heat pipes to the first working fluid in the one or more fluid channels;
one or more heat sinks enclosed within the one or more fluid channels and coupled to the at least one of (i) the one or more vapor chambers and (ii) the one or more heat pipes, the one or more heat sinks configured to transfer the first portion of the heat from the at least one of (i) the one or more vapor chambers and (ii) the one or more heat pipes to the first working fluid circulating in the one or more fluid channels; and
a chassis housing the one or more cold plates, the one or more processors, and the at least one of (i) the one or more vapor chambers and (ii) the one or more heat pipes.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of (i) one or more additional vapor chambers and (ii) one or more additional heat pipes coupled to the one or more cold plates.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , further comprising one or more additional heat sinks coupled to at least one of (i) the one or more fluid channels, and (ii) the at least one of (a) the one or more additional vapor chambers and (b) the one or more additional heat pipes, the one or more additional heat sinks configured to dissipate heat from the first working fluid circulating in the one or more fluid channels.

4. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more additional vapor chambers comprise a plurality of additional vapor chambers and/or the one or more additional heat pipes comprise a plurality of additional heat pipes.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of (i) one or more additional heat pipes and (ii) one or more additional vapor chambers coupled to or embedded in the one or more cold plates and configured to collect at least a portion of the heat from at least one of (i) the one or more processors and (ii) one or more electronic components in the computer system, and transfer at least the portion of the heat away from the at least one of (i) the one or more processors and (ii) the one or more electronic components via a third working fluid in at least one of (i) the one or more additional heat pipes and (ii) one or more additional vapor chambers.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more electronic components coupled to the one or more cold plates, the one or more electronic components comprising at least one of a circuit board, a memory, a field-programmable gate array, an application-specific integrated circuit, a storage device, a system-on-chip, and power electronics.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one of (i) the one or more vapor chambers and (ii) the one or more heat pipes is configured to collect at least a portion of heat generated by the one or more electronic components and transfer at least the portion of the heat away from the one or more electronic components via the second working fluid.

8. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors comprise at least one of a central processing unit, a graphics processing unit, and a digital signal processor, and wherein the one or more fluid channels is configured to collect at least a portion of the heat from (i) at least one of the one or more processors and (ii) the at least one of (a) the one or more vapor chambers and (b) the one or more heat pipes, and transfer the at least the portion of the heat away from (i) the at least one of the one or more processors and (ii) the at least one of (a) the one or more vapor chambers and (b) the one or more heat pipes.

9. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of (i) the one or more vapor chambers and (ii) the one or more heat pipes is coupled to the one or more processors, and wherein the one or more fluid channels is embedded in the one or more cold plates and run through an inside portion of the one or more cold plates.

10. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is coupled to the autonomous vehicle and configured to perform one or more operations of the autonomous vehicle.

11. A method comprising:
transferring, via a first working fluid in at least one of (i) one or more vapor chambers and (ii) one or more heat pipes contained within one or more fluid channels in one or more cold plates on a computer-system, a first portion of heat away from one or more processors in the computer system;
transferring, via one or more heat sinks enclosed within the one or more fluid channels, the first portion of the heat from the at least one of (i) one or more vapor chambers and (ii) one or more heat pipes;
collecting, from the one or more heat sinks, the first portion of the heat to the one or more fluid channels in the one or more cold plates, each of the one or more fluid channels being configured to circulate a second working fluid from a respective fluid ingress point to a respective fluid egress point; and
removing the first portion of the heat via the second working fluid in the one or more fluid channels.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
collecting, via at least one of (i) one or more additional vapor chambers and (ii) one or more additional heat pipes, at least part of the first portion of the heat transferred away from the one or more processors to yield a portion of collected heat; and
transferring the portion of the collected heat via the second working fluid in the one or more fluid channels.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the transferring the portion of the collected heat via the second working fluid in the one or more fluid channels comprises:
dissipating the portion of the collected heat via one or more additional heat sinks coupled to at least one of (i) the one or more fluid channels and (ii) the at least one of (a) the one or more additional vapor chambers and (b) the one or more additional heat pipes.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more additional vapor chambers comprise a plurality of additional vapor chambers and/or the one or more additional heat pipes comprise a plurality of additional heat pipes.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more cold plates comprise at least one of (i) one or more additional heat pipes and (ii) one or more vapor chambers coupled to or embedded in the one or more cold plates and configured to collect at least a portion of the heat from at least one of the one or more processors and at least a portion of the heat from one or more electronic components, and transfer the at least the portion of the heat away from the at least one of (i) the one or more processors and (ii) the one or more electronic components via a third working fluid in at least one of (i) the one or more additional heat pipes and (ii) the one or mor

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Stefanoski Zoran
• Ko Yung Chang

Classifications

• H10W40/73

  for cooling by change of state · CPC title

• H10W40/47

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

• G05D1/021

  specially adapted to land vehicles · CPC title

• H05K7/20881 Primary

  Liquid coolant with phase change · CPC title

• H05K7/20872

  Liquid coolant without phase change · CPC title