Pump-enhanced, sub-cooling of immersion-cooling fluid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9250024-B2
Application number	US-201313780613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2013
Priority date	Nov 8, 2012
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

A method of fabricating a cooling apparatus is provided to facilitate two-phase, immersion-cooling of one or more electronic components. The cooling apparatus includes a housing having a compartment within which dielectric fluid is disposed which facilitates immersion-cooling of the electronic component(s). A liquid-cooled heat sink is associated with the housing and cools a cooling surface exposed within the compartment. One or more pumps are disposed within the compartment and configured to pump dielectric fluid liquid within the compartment towards the cooling surface to facilitate cooling the liquid within the compartment below a saturation temperature of the dielectric fluid. The heat sink includes or is coupled to condensing and sub-cooling regions exposed within the compartment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
fabricating a cooling apparatus, the fabricating comprising:
providing a housing comprising a compartment;
providing a working fluid disposed within and at least partially filling the compartment, the working fluid facilitating two-phase cooling of at least one electronic component, and during the two-phase cooling, the working fluid comprises a working fluid liquid and a working fluid vapor within the compartment;
associating a liquid-cooled heat sink with the housing to cool, at least in part by thermal conduction, a condenser region and sub-cooling region exposed within the compartment, the condenser region comprising a plurality of condenser fins extending into the compartment in an upper region thereof, the plurality of condenser fins facilitating condensing working fluid vapor in the upper region of the compartment, and the sub-cooling region comprising a plurality of sub-cooling fins extending into the compartment in the upper region thereof;
providing at least one baffle extending downward within the compartment between the plurality of condenser fins of the condenser region and the plurality of sub-cooling fins of the sub-cooling region and separating the condenser region and the sub-cooling region; and
providing at least one pump within the compartment to pump the working fluid liquid within the compartment onto the plurality of sub-cooling fins of the sub-cooling region exposed within the compartment to facilitate sub-cooling of the working fluid liquid within the compartment below a saturation temperature of the working fluid, wherein the at least one baffle prevents pumped working fluid liquid within the sub-cooling region from interfering with working fluid vapor condensing within the condenser region.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the working fluid is a dielectric fluid comprising dielectric fluid liquid and dielectric fluid vapor and the dielectric fluid liquid facilitates cooling the at least one electronic component by at least partial immersion-cooling thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the condenser region facilitates condensing of dielectric coolant vapor within the compartment, and the at least one pump pumps dielectric fluid liquid within the compartment onto the sub-cooling region to sub-cool the dielectric fluid liquid below the saturation temperature of the dielectric fluid.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one electronic component resides within the compartment of the housing.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of condenser fins within the condenser region are thicker than the plurality of sub-cooling fins within the sub-cooling region.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of condenser fins within the condenser region are differently spaced than the plurality of sub-cooling fins within the sub-cooling region.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein one pump of the at least one pump is an impingement-cooling, immersed pump disposed within the compartment and actively pumping dielectric fluid liquid drawn from a lower region of the compartment onto the plurality of sub-cooling fins of the sub-cooling region in the upper region of the compartment.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the providing at least one baffle comprises providing the at least one baffle to extend downward into the dielectric fluid liquid within the compartment to facilitate directing the dielectric fluid vapor within the compartment towards the condenser region and away from the sub-cooling region.

9. A method comprising:
fabricating a cooling apparatus, the fabricating comprising:
providing a housing comprising a compartment;
providing a working fluid disposed within and at least partially filling the compartment, the working fluid facilitating two-phase cooling of at least one electronic component, and during the two-phase cooling, the working fluid comprises a working fluid liquid and a working fluid vapor within the compartment;
associating a liquid-cooled heat sink with the housing to cool, at least in part by thermal conduction, a cooling surface exposed within the compartment;
providing at least one pump within the compartment to pump the working fluid liquid within the compartment towards the cooling surface exposed within the compartment to facilitate sub-cooling of the working fluid liquid within the compartment below a saturation temperature of the working fluid;
wherein the working fluid is a dielectric fluid comprising dielectric fluid liquid and dielectric fluid vapor, and the dielectric fluid liquid facilitates cooling the at least one electronic component by at least partial immersion-cooling thereof;
wherein the liquid-cooled heat sink comprises or is coupled to a condenser region and a sub-cooling region, the condenser region facilitating condensing of dielectric coolant vapor within the compartment, and the at least one pump pumps dielectric fluid liquid within the compartment onto the sub-cooling region to sub-cool the dielectric fluid liquid below the saturation temperature of the dielectric fluid, and wherein the cooling surface is a surface of the sub-cooling region;
wherein the at least one electronic component resides within the compartment of the housing; and
wherein the liquid-cooled heat sink comprises multiple sub-cooling regions, and the cooling apparatus comprises multiple pumps disposed within the compartment to pump dielectric fluid liquid within the compartment towards respective sub-cooling regions of the multiple sub-cooling regions to facilitate cooling of the dielectric fluid liquid within the compartment below the saturation temperature of the dielectric fluid.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Campbell Levi A
• Chu Richard C
• David Milnes P
• Ellsworth Jr Michael J
• Iyengar Madhusudan K
• Schmidt Roger R
• Simons Robert E

Classifications

• F28F3/048

  in the form of ribs integral with the element or local variations in thickness of the element, e.g. grooves, microchannels · CPC title

• F28F2250/08

  Fluid driving means, e.g. pumps, fans · CPC title

• Y10T29/49359

  Cooling apparatus making, e.g., air conditioner, refrigerator · CPC title

• H05K7/20809

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

• H05K7/20772

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