System for cooling hard disk drives using vapor momentum driven by boiling of dielectric liquid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9773526-B2
Application number	US-201615139567-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2016
Priority date	Feb 1, 2013
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

A system for cooling hard disk drives (HDDs) includes: an enclosure having (i) a lower volume within which a cooling liquid is heated to a boiling point to cause some of the cooling liquid to evaporate, creating a plume of rising vapor and (ii) an upper volume having (a) a HDD cooling area with HDD(s) placed in the direct path of the rising vapor, which cools the HDD(s) during functional operation of the HDD(s) and (b) a condenser located above the HDD cooling area and which cools a substantial portion of the rising vapor that impacts the condenser within the upper volume such that the rising vapor condenses back into liquid phase on contact with the condenser; and a heat source that dissipates heat into the lower volume of the enclosure, sufficient to heat the cooling liquid to the boiling point temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for cooling hard disk drives (HDDs), the system comprising:
an enclosure having (i) a lower volume within which a cooling liquid can be heated to, and maintained at, a boiling point temperature to cause at least a portion of the cooling liquid to evaporate, generating a mass of rising vapor constituting a vapor plume and (ii) an upper volume having (a) a HDD cooling area located at a first distance above a surface layer of the cooling liquid within the enclosure and in a direct path of the rising vapor and (b) a condenser located above the HDD cooling area and which cools a substantial portion of the rising vapor that impacts the condenser within the upper volume such that the rising vapor condenses back into liquid phase on contact with the condenser;
at least one HDD placed within the HDD cooling area, wherein the HDD cooling area provides an area in the direct path of the rising vapor at which the at least one HDD can be cooled during functional operation of the at least one HDD; and
a heat source that dissipates heat into the lower volume of the enclosure sufficient to heat the liquid within the lower volume to the boiling point temperature.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plume of rising vapor rises rapidly towards and through the HDD cooling area and across one or more surface of the at least one HDD and provide convection cooling of the at least one HDD as the rising vapor comes into contact with and moves across the one or more surfaces of the at least one HDD.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the condenser is located at a second distance that is above both the HDD cooling area and the at least one HDD, the condenser including a condensation surface and a condensation fluid that flows proximate to the condensation surface and which maintains the condensation surface at a lower temperature than a condensation point of the rising vapor, wherein a substantial portion of the rising vapor that passes through the HDD cooling area and cools the at least one HDD is condensed back into liquid phase on contact with the condensation surface.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the condenser comprises at least one extended length of tubular piping running from the outside of the enclosure to the inside of the enclosure, and the condensation fluid flows through the interior bore of the tubular pipe from an external condensation fluid source at a temperature that is less than the condensation temperature of the rising vapor.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a condensed liquid return system including a cooling liquid collection portion and a cooling liquid return channel, wherein the cooling liquid collection portion is located above the HDD cooling area and below the condensation surface and the cooling liquid return channel extends downwards past the HDD cooling area to channel the condensed cooling liquid back towards the lower volume of the enclosure without the collected fluid coming into contact with the at least one HDDs, wherein the condensation surface is angled to at least one side relative to a horizontal plane to cause the condensed cooling liquid generated from the condensation of the rising vapor to flow off towards at least one fluid collection and return area of the condensed liquid return system and into the return channel.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is a server rack immersion tank comprising:
an upper volume in which the condenser, HDD cooling area, and a liquid return system are housed;
a cover that provides an air-tight seal when closed on the upper volume; and
a server rack within the lower volume for insertably placing one or more servers submerged into the cooling liquid, wherein the one or more servers operate as the heat source by dissipating heat during an on-cycle of the one or more server in which the server is consuming power.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is an immersion cooling cabinet comprising:
at least one immersion drawer inserted into the immersion cooling cabinet and having a lower volume in which is located the dielectric fluid and a vertically-oriented liquid and vapor cooled immersion server (VLVCIS) comprising a motherboard submerged in the dielectric fluid and affixed to a vertical backplane which extends above the motherboard and the dielectric liquid and on which the one or more HDDs are physically connected.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one heat source is at least one server submerged into the cooling liquid and which dissipates heat during an on-cycle in which the server is consuming power; and
the cooling liquid is a dielectric liquid that has high volatility and a low boiling point relative to a resulting temperature increase from the heat dissipating from the at least one server, such that during normal server operations, the at least one server dissipates heat sufficient to raise the temperature of the dielectric liquid to the boiling point temperature of the dielectric liquid to cause the vaporization of a portion of the dielectric liquid.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the HDD cooling area comprises at least one of: (a) a rigid, mesh type structure extended across the inner perimeter of the enclosure at the first distance above the above the cooling liquid to provide a porous platform on which the at least one HDDs are placed; (b) a set of holding clips and sleeves designed to receive one or more of the HDDs and hold the HDDs in place within the HDD cooling area.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more cables connected to the HDDs and which enable (a) data communication exchange with one or more connected processing devices that utilize the at least one HDDs and (b) receipt of power to the at least one HDDs, wherein the cables are extended out of the HDD cooling area, and wherein the cables are rated to operate at a temperature that is at least a maximum of (a) an ambient exterior temperature of the HDDs and (b) a temperature of the rising vapor.

11. An information handling system having a multi-phase heat transfer immersion cooling tank designed to enable cooling of hard disk drives (HDDs), the immersion cooling tank comprising:
an enclosure having (i) a lower volume within which a cooling liquid can be heated to, and maintained at, a boiling point temperature to cause at least a portion of the cooling liquid to evaporate and generate a mass of rising vapor constituting a vapor plume and (ii) an upper volume having (a) a HDD cooling area located at a first distance above a surface layer of the cooling liquid within the enclosure and in a direct path of the rising vapor and (b) a condenser located above the HDD cooling area and which cools a substantial portion of the rising vapor that impacts the condenser within the upper volume such that the rising vapor condenses back into liquid phase on contact with the condenser;
a HDD cooling area located at a first distance above a surface layer of the cooling liquid within the enclosure and in a direct path of the rising vapor;
at least one HDD placed within the HDD cooling area, wherein the HDD cooling area provides an area in the direct path of the rising vapor at which the at least one HDD can be cooled during functional operation of the at least one HDD; and
at least one processing device submerged in the cooling liquid and which serves as a heat source that dissipates heat into the lower volume of the enclosure sufficient to heat the cooling liquid within the lower volume to the boiling point temperature;
wherein the plume of rising vapor rises rapidly towards and through the HDD cooling area and across one or more surface of the at least one HDD and provide c

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Shelnutt Austin Michael
• Curlee James Don
• Bailey Edmond I
• Mills Richard Steven

Classifications

• Y02B60/1275

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H05K7/20809

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

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G11B33/142 Primary

  by air cooling · CPC title

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title