Vapor compression assisted liquid cooling system for electronic components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12520458-B2
Application number	US-202318398228-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2023
Priority date	Dec 28, 2023
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

Disclosed herein are devices, methods, and systems for cooling an electronic component. The cooling device includes a liquid cooling loop with a heat exchanger, wherein the liquid cooling loop thermally conductively connects to the electronic component. The cooling device also includes a vapor compression cooling loop with a compressor and an expansion nozzle. The cooling device also includes an intermediate heat exchanger between the liquid cooling loop and the vapor compression cooling loop for exchanging heat between the liquid cooling loop and the vapor compression cooling loop. The cooling device also includes a controller configured to selectively activate the vapor compression cooling loop based on a power consumption of the electronic component.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A cooling device for cooling an electronic component, the cooling device comprising:
a liquid cooling loop with a heat exchanger, wherein the liquid cooling loop thermally conductively connects to the electronic component; a vapor compression cooling loop with a compressor and an expansion nozzle; an intermediate heat exchanger between the liquid cooling loop and the vapor compression cooling loop for exchanging heat between the liquid cooling loop and the vapor compression cooling loop; and a controller configured to selectively activate the vapor compression cooling loop based on a power consumption of the electronic component.

2 . The cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the vapor compression cooling loop further comprises an other heat exchanger between the compressor and the expansion nozzle.

3 . The cooling device of claim 2 , the cooling device further comprising a compressor bypass loop that connects the liquid cooling loop to the other heat exchanger and bypasses the compressor and the expansion nozzle, wherein the controller is configured to selectively activate the compressor bypass loop based on an operating mode of the cooling device.

4 . The cooling device of claim 3 , wherein when the operating mode is in a standard mode, the vapor compression cooling loop is deactivated and the compressor bypass loop is deactivated, wherein when the operating mode is in an enhanced standard mode, the vapor compression cooling loop is deactivated and the compressor bypass loop is activated, and when the operating mode is in a vapor compression cooling mode, the vapor compression cooling loop is activated and the compressor bypass loop is deactivated.

5 . The cooling device of any one of claim 1 , wherein the cooling device in a standard cooling mode comprises the controller configured to deactivate the vapor compression cooling loop, wherein the cooling device in a vapor compression cooling mode comprises the controller configured to activate the vapor compression cooling loop.

6 . The cooling device of claim 5 , wherein when the cooling device is in the vapor compression cooling mode, the heat exchanger is switched into the vapor compression cooling loop between the compressor and the expansion nozzle.

7 . The cooling device of either one of claim 5 , wherein when the cooling device is in the standard cooling mode, the heat exchanger is switched into the vapor compression cooling loop between the compressor and the expansion nozzle.

8 . The cooling device of any one of claim 1 , wherein the liquid cooling loop is configured to circulate liquid from a cooling head that is in contact with the electronic component, through the heat exchanger, and then through the intermediate heat exchanger.

9 . The cooling device of claim 8 , wherein the cooling head comprises a pump for circulating the liquid and a heatsink for contacting the electronic component through a thermal interface material.

10 . The cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to activate the vapor compression cooling loop to maintain a temperature at an input of the heat exchanger in the liquid cooling loop to be at or above dew point.

11 . The cooling device of claim 10 , the cooling device further comprising a dew point sensor configured to determine the dew point.

12 . The cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger further comprises a heatsink and one or more fans for directing air towards the heatsink, wherein the controller is further configured to deactivate the fans if a temperature at an input of the heat exchanger in the liquid cooling loop is at or above ambient temperature.

13 . The cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the liquid cooling loop is configured to circulate liquid from a cooling head that is in contact with the electronic component, through the heat exchanger, through the intermediate heat exchanger, and then back to the cooling head.

14 . The cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the vapor compression cooling loop is configured to circulate a vapor from the intermediate heat exchanger and through the compressor to output a fluid to an other heat exchanger and then through the expansion nozzle to output the vapor back to the intermediate heat exchanger.

15 . The cooling device of claim 1 , where in the controller is configured to activate the vapor compression cooling loop when the power consumption of the electronic component is higher than a power threshold and the controller is configured to deactivate the vapor compression cooling loop when the power consumption of the electronic component is less than or equal to the power threshold.

16 . The cooling device of claim 15 , wherein the electronic component comprises a processor and the power threshold comprises a number of threaded processes executing in the processor.

17 . A cooling system comprising:
a first cooling loop and second cooling loop in a hybrid cooling configuration, wherein the first cooling loop comprises a liquid cooling loop with a heat exchanger thermally connected to an electronic component and the second cooling loop comprises a vapor compression cooling loop with a compressor and an expansion nozzle; an intermediate heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the liquid cooling loop and the vapor compression cooling loop; and a controller configured to selectively activating the vapor compression cooling loop based on a power consumption of the electronic component.

18 . The cooling system of claim 17 , the cooling system further comprising an additional heat exchanger between the compressor and the expansion nozzle in the vapor compression cooling loop.

19 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:
selectively activate a vapor compression cooling loop based on a power consumption of an electronic component that is to be cooled by the vapor compression cooling loop, wherein the vapor compression cooling loop is thermally connected to a liquid cooling loop through an intermediate heat exchanger, wherein the liquid cooling loop is thermally conductively connected to the electronic component and comprises a heat exchanger; and enable a compressor bypass loop based on an operating mode of cooling, wherein the compressor bypass loop connects the liquid cooling loop to an other heat exchanger of the vapor compression cooling loop and bypasses a compressor and an expansion nozzle of the vapor compression cooling loop.

20 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions cause the liquid cooling loop to circulate liquid from a cooling head that is in contact with the electronic component, through the heat exchanger of the liquid cooling loop, and then through the intermediate heat exchanger.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Basak Sankarananda
• Rallabandi Akhilesh

Classifications

• H10W40/47

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

• H05K7/20327

  Accessories for moving fluid, for connecting fluid conduits, for distributing fluid or for preventing leakage, e.g. pumps, tanks or manifolds · CPC title

• H05K7/20318

  Condensers · CPC title

• G06F2200/201

  Cooling arrangements using cooling fluid · CPC title