Field-replaceable bank of immersion-cooled electronic components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9686889-B2
Application number	US-201514827617-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2015
Priority date	Oct 21, 2013
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A cooled electronic system and cooling method are provided, wherein a field-replaceable bank of electronic components is cooled by an apparatus which includes an enclosure at least partially surrounding and forming a compartment about the electronic components, a fluid disposed within the compartment, and a heat sink associated with the enclosure. The field-replaceable bank extends, in part, through the enclosure to facilitate operative docking of the electronic components into one or more respective receiving sockets of the electronic system. The electronic components of the field-replaceable bank are, at least partially, immersed within the fluid to facilitate immersion-cooling of the components, and the heat sink facilitates rejection of heat from the fluid disposed within the compartment. In one embodiment, multiple thermal conductors project from an inner surface of the enclosure into the compartment to facilitate transfer of heat from the fluid to the heat sink.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing an electronic system comprising a field-replaceable bank of electronic components, the electronic components of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components comprising multiple substrates with components mounted thereto; and
providing a cooling apparatus to facilitate cooling of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components, the cooling apparatus comprising:
an enclosure at least partially surrounding and forming a compartment about, at least in part, the electronic components of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components, and the substrates of the electronic components of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components extending, in part, through respective openings in the enclosure and operatively docking into respective receiving sockets of the electronic system external to the enclosure;
a fluid disposed within the compartment, the electronic components of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components being, at least partially, immersed within the compartment in the fluid to facilitate immersion-cooling thereof; and
a heat sink attached to or integrated with the enclosure, the heat sink facilitating rejection of heat from the fluid disposed within the compartment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing at least one thermal conductor, the at least one thermal conductor being disposed within the compartment of the enclosure and projecting from at least one inner surface of the enclosure into the compartment to facilitate transfer of heat from the fluid to the heat sink.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one thermal conductor comprises at least one heat pipe, the at least one heat pipe facilitating transfer of heat from the fluid within the compartment to the heat sink attached to or integrated with the enclosure.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing multiple heat pipes projecting from the at least one inner surface of the enclosure into the compartment and interleaved within the compartment with multiple electronic components of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the multiple heat pipes are in thermal communication at opposite ends thereof, with opposite, inner surfaces of the enclosure to facilitate transfer of heat from the fluid within the compartment to the opposite, inner surfaces of the enclosure.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the heat sink is a first heat sink and the cooling apparatus further comprises a second heat sink, the first heat sink and the second heat sink each being in thermal communication with, and disposed adjacent to, a different inner surface of the opposite, inner surfaces of the enclosure.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the heat sink comprises a liquid-cooled heat sink comprising at least one coolant-carrying channel accommodating the flow of liquid coolant therethrough.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the heat sink comprises an air-cooled heat sink with a plurality of air-cooled fins extending therefrom, and at least one thermoelectric module sized and positioned to facilitate transfer of heat from a respective inner surface of the at least one inner surface of the enclosure to the air-cooled heat sink.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the field-replaceable bank of electronic components comprises a field-replaceable bank of dual-in-line memory modules.

10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the multiple heat pipes project downward, into the compartment from an upper, inner surface of the enclosure, and the heat sink comprises a liquid-cooled heat sink comprising at least one coolant-carrying channel accommodating the flow of liquid coolant therethrough.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the cooling apparatus further comprises providing the cooling apparatus with multiple thermal conductors, the multiple thermal conductors being disposed within the compartment of the enclosure and projecting from at least one inner surface of the enclosure into the compartment to facilitate transfer of heat from the fluid to the heat sink, the multiple thermal conductors being interleaved within the compartment with multiple electronic components of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the cooling apparatus comprises providing the cooling apparatus with at least one compliant layer associated with the enclosure and coupled to the field-replaceable bank of electronic components, the at least one compliant layer facilitating docking of the field-replaceable bank of electronic components into the one or more respective receiving sockets of the electronic system.

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

• H05K7/20336

  Heat pipes, e.g. wicks or capillary pumps · CPC title

• H05K7/20781

  within cabinets for removing heat from server blades · CPC title

• H05K7/203 Primary

  by immersion · CPC title

• H05K7/20236 Primary

  by immersion · CPC title

• H05K7/20

  Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating · CPC title