System and method for cooling structures having both an active state and an inactive state

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9644869-B2
Application number	US-92433507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2007
Priority date	Oct 25, 2007
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a cooling system for heat-generating structures comprises a cooling loop and a heat exchanger. The cooling loop directs a flow of a fluid coolant to both an active heat-generating structure and an inactive heat-generating structure. The fluid coolant receiving thermal energy from the active heat-generating structure and transfers thermal energy to the inactive heat-generating structure when a temperature of the fluid coolant is greater than an ambient temperature of an environment surrounding the heat-generating structures. The active heat-generating structure is operable to switch to an inactive state and the inactive heat-generating structure is operable to switch to an active state. The heat exchanger is in thermal communication with the first and second heat-generating structures and is operable to receive the fluid coolant at a first temperature and dispense of the fluid coolant out of the heat exchanger at a second temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling system comprising:
a cooling loop configured to:
provide, from a pump, a flow of a fluid coolant in parallel to two or more heat-generating structures, the pump configured to provide the flow of the fluid coolant through separate paths of fluid communication between the pump and the two or more heat-generating structures, the pump comprising a positive-displacement pump having multiple sections, each section of the positive-displacement pump having a pump inlet and a pump outlet associated only with that section, each of the two or more heat-generating structures configured to alternate between being active and being inactive, at least one of the two or more heat-generating structures configured to be active only while another of the two or more heat-generating structures is inactive and vice versa;
allow portions of the fluid coolant provided to each of the two or more heat-generating structures to:
receive thermal energy from the respective heat-generating structure when the respective heat-generating structure is active and generating heat such that the fluid coolant has a temperature less than the respective heat-generating structure, and
dispense thermal energy to the respective heat-generating structure when the respective heat-generating structure is inactive and not generating heat such that the fluid coolant has a temperature greater than the respective heat-generating structure;

combine the portions of the fluid coolant provided to the two or more heat-generating structures; and
exchange thermal energy received from the two or more heat-generating structures to reduce a temperature of the combined fluid coolant.

2. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the two or more heat-generating structures comprise two heat-generating structures, and wherein each section of the positive displacement pump is configured to separately provide the fluid coolant to a corresponding one of the two heat-generating structures.

3. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the separate paths of fluid communication between the pump and the two or more heat-generating structures lack valves.

4. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein each of the two or more heat-generating structures comprises a separate array of a phased array antenna.

5. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a heat exchanger configured to exchange the thermal energy received from the two or more heat-generating structures to reduce the temperature of the combined fluid coolant.

6. The cooling system of claim 5 , wherein the heat exchanger is a liquid-air heat exchanger.

7. The cooling system of claim 5 , wherein the heat exchanger is a liquid-liquid heat exchanger.

8. A cooling system comprising:
a cooling loop having a pump configured to provide a flow of fluid coolant in parallel to two or more heat-generating structures, the cooling loop including separate paths of fluid communication between the pump and the two or more heat-generating structures, the pump comprising a positive-displacement pump having multiple sections, each section of the positive-displacement pump having a pump inlet and a pump outlet associated only with that section, each of the two or more heat-generating structures configured to alternate between being active and being inactive, at least one of the two or more heat-generating structures configured to be active only while another of the two or more heat-generating structures is inactive and vice versa;
wherein the cooling loop is configured to:
allow portions of the fluid coolant provided to each of the two or more heat-generating structures to receive thermal energy from the respective heat-generating structure when the fluid coolant has a temperature less than the respective heat-generating structure and to dispense thermal energy to the respective heat-generating structure when the fluid coolant has a temperature greater than the respective heat-generating structure;
combine the portions of the fluid coolant provided to the two or more heat-generating structures; and
exchange thermal energy received from the two or more heat-generating structures to reduce a temperature of the combined fluid coolant.

9. The cooling system of claim 8 , wherein the two or more heat-generating structures comprise two heat-generating structures, and wherein each section of the positive displacement pump is configured to separately provide the fluid coolant to a corresponding one of the two heat-generating structures.

10. The cooling system of claim 8 , wherein the separate paths of fluid communication between the pump and the two or more heat-generating structures lack valves.

11. The cooling system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a heat exchanger configured to exchange the thermal energy received from the two or more heat-generating structures to reduce the temperature of the combined fluid coolant.

12. The cooling system of claim 11 , wherein the heat exchanger is a liquid-air heat exchanger.

13. The cooling system of claim 11 , wherein the heat exchanger is a liquid-liquid heat exchanger.

14. A method comprising:
providing, from a pump, a flow of a fluid coolant in parallel to two or more heat-generating structures, the flow of the fluid coolant occurring through separate paths of fluid communication between the pump and the two or more heat-generating structures, the pump comprising a positive-displacement pump having multiple sections, each section of the positive-displacement pump having a pump inlet and a pump outlet associated only with that section;
alternating, by each of the two or more heat-generating structures, between active and inactive states such that at least one of the two or more heat-generating structures is configured to be active only while another of the two or more heat-generating structures is inactive and vice versa;
allowing portions of the fluid coolant provided to each of the two or more heat-generating structures to:
receive thermal energy from the respective heat-generating structure when the respective heat-generating structure is active and generating heat such that the fluid coolant has a temperature less than the respective heat-generating structure, and
dispense thermal energy to the respective heat-generating structure when the respective heat-generating structure is inactive and not generating heat such that the fluid coolant has a temperature greater than the respective heat-generating structure;

combining the portions of the fluid coolant provided to the two or more heat-generating structures; and
exchanging thermal energy received from the two or more heat-generating structures to reduce a temperature of the combined fluid coolant.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the two or more heat-generating structures comprise two heat-generating structures, and wherein each section of the positive displacement pump separately provides the fluid coolant to a corresponding one of the two heat-generating structures.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the separate paths of fluid communication between the pump and the two or more heat-generating structures lack valves.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein each of the two or more heat-generating structures comprises a separate array of a phased array antenna.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein a heat exchanger exchanges the thermal energy received from the two or more heat-generating structures to reduce the temperature of the combined fluid coolant.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the heat exchanger is a liquid-air h

Assignees

• Weber Richard M
• Allen Brandon H
• Weissmann Daniel J
• Wyatt William G
• Raytheon Co

Inventors

• Weber Richard M
• Allen Brandon H
• Weissmann Daniel J
• Wyatt William G

Classifications

• F28D15/00

  Heat-exchange apparatus with the intermediate heat-transfer medium in closed tubes passing into or through the conduit walls {; Heat-exchange apparatus employing intermediate heat-transfer medium or bodies (F28D17/00, F28D19/00, F28D20/00 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H05K7/20281

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

• H01Q1/02

  Arrangements for de-icing; Arrangements for drying-out {; Arrangements for cooling; Arrangements for preventing corrosion} · CPC title

• F25B23/006 Primary

  boiling cooling systems · CPC title