JP2007234791A - Electronic apparatus cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic apparatus cooling device corresponding to an increase of an amount of heat generation of an electronic apparatus without increasing an installation floor area. <P>SOLUTION: A cooling module 20 having a cooling heat exchanger 22 (water-cooled compact heat exchanger, for example) and at least one cooling fan 21 (cross-flow fan, for example) is disposed above or below a cabinet 1 storing the electronic apparatus 5. Cooling wind of the electronic apparatus is circulated between the cooling module 20 and the electronic apparatus 5, through air ducts arranged at a front face and a rear face of the cabinet in a state where vent holes installed in a rear cover 4 and a front cover 3 of the cabinet are covered. Generated heat of the electronic apparatus is radiated to an outer part of an air-conditioned room through the cooling heat exchanger 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device for an electronic device, and more particularly to a cooling device for a large electronic device with a large heat generation amount such as a server system including a large scale integrated circuit and a high performance CPU.

  Regarding the cooling device for electronic devices, various configurations have been proposed according to the scale and the amount of heat generated (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  Large electronic devices are usually used in a dedicated air-conditioning environment by air-conditioning a room in which electronic devices are installed, for example, a computer room. The heat generated by the electronic device is dissipated to the installation environment, and this heat is removed by a dedicated air conditioner.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view for explaining the conventional electronic device cooling apparatus as described above, and FIG. 9 is a schematic top view of the electronic device cooling apparatus of FIG. 9 and 10, part number 1 is a housing in which electronic device 5 is accommodated, 2 is a side cover, 3 is a front cover (with a vent), 4 is a back cover (with a vent), and 6 is an image. A heating element of the electronic device shown, 7 is a cooling fan, and 8 is a pedestal. In FIG. 9, the flow path of the cooling air is indicated by an arrow, and heat generated by the electronic device is radiated from the ventilation opening of the front cover 3 to the installation environment by the cooling air.

  By the way, in recent years, the amount of heat generated by electronic devices has been increasing year by year, and the capacity of cooling air conditioners has reached the limit due to the increase in capacity. ing. This is because a large amount of capital investment is required to add a new computer room or increase the air conditioning capacity.

  In order to solve the above problems, a configuration of a cooling device for an electronic device as shown in FIG. 8 can be considered. FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of an electronic device cooling device provided with a side-by-side cooling device having a water-cooled heat exchanger on the side surface of the housing in order to exhaust heat to the outside through the cooling water without radiating heat to the installation environment. FIG. 8, the same members as those in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 8, 9 is a horizontal cooling device having a water-cooled heat exchanger 10, and 11 and 12 are air ducts provided on the front and back surfaces of the casing, respectively. In FIG. 8, the circulation of the cooling air is as shown by the arrows: heating element 6 → fan 7 → air duct 11 → horizontal cooling device 9 → air duct 12 → electronic device 5 and the electronic device along the circulation passage of the cooling air 5 is carried to the horizontal cooling device 9 and removed in the water-cooled heat exchanger 10.
JP-A-5-235570 JP 2002-366258 A

  By the way, in the case of the electronic device cooling apparatus shown in FIG. 8, the horizontal cooling apparatus 9 does not include a dedicated circulation fan from the viewpoint of cost reduction, and the ventilation depends on the electronic device fan 7, so that There are cases where the cooling capacity is insufficient with respect to an increase in the amount of heat generated by the device.

  In addition, since the horizontal cooling device 9 is provided on the side surface of the housing 1 that houses the electronic device, it is only required that the dimension of the cooling air flow width direction in the horizontal cooling device 9 be as small as possible. However, there is an inherent problem that the floor area required for installation increases as compared with the conventional apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device cooling apparatus that can cope with an increase in the amount of heat generated by an electronic device without increasing the installation floor area. Is to provide.

  The above-mentioned subject is achieved by the following. That is, heat generated by a plurality of electronic devices installed in an air-conditioned room and housed in a housing is removed by cooling air introduced through a ventilation port provided in the back cover of the housing by a fan provided in the housing. In an electronic device cooling apparatus having a configuration that heats and dissipates heat from an air vent provided in a front cover of a housing into the air-conditioned room, a cooling module having a cooling heat exchanger and at least one cooling fan is provided. The cooling air of the electronic device is installed between the cooling module and the electronic device through the air ducts provided on the front and back surfaces of the housing in the state where the upper and lower portions of the housing are installed and the two ventilation openings are shielded. A configuration is provided in which the heat generated by the electronic device is radiated to the outside of the air-conditioned room through the cooling heat exchanger by circulating between them (invention of claim 1). According to the above invention, the ineffective space of the current device is effectively used, and the cooling module having a relatively high cooling capacity having a dedicated cooling fan is provided. It is possible to provide a compatible electronic device cooling apparatus.

  As an embodiment of the invention of claim 1, the inventions of claims 2 to 8 below are preferable. That is, in the electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 1, the cooling heat exchanger is a water-cooled heat exchanger and is a plate fin type compact heat exchanger (invention of claim 2). The cooling heat exchanger may be a plate fin & tube type heat exchanger, but it can be downsized to about 1/5 by using a compact heat exchanger. This is particularly suitable when installed in the lower part of the case.

  Furthermore, in the electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 1, the cooling fan is a cross flow fan (invention of claim 3). The cross-flow fan can be made relatively thin and can be reduced in thickness because it can generate a high static pressure by generating cooling air over almost the entire width of the device. It is particularly suitable when installed in the lower part of the housing.

  The electronic device cooling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ventilation openings provided in the front cover and the rear cover of the housing have ventilation opening / closing means, and cooling the cooling module. In the case of abnormal performance, the air vent in the shielded state is opened so that it can be cooled by air in the air-conditioned room (invention of claim 4). Further, in the electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 4, the ventilation opening / closing means includes a shielding plate movable along a main surface of a front cover or a back cover of the housing, and is provided on the shielding plate. The ventilation port can be opened and closed by a change in relative position between the communication hole and the ventilation port of the front cover or the back cover.

  Further, in the electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 5, the cooling capability of the cooling module is such that the temperature rise value is a predetermined threshold value based on a measurement value of a temperature sensor provided at a cooling air outlet portion of the cooling module. When it reaches, it determines with it being abnormal, and when it determines with it being abnormal, it shall have the structure which drives the said shielding board and makes a ventilation port open automatically (invention of Claim 6). Further, in the electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 6, the shielding plate includes an electromagnetic driving means having a shielding plate driving shaft and a solenoid coil (invention of claim 7).

  Further, in the electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 1, at least two cooling fans in the cooling module are provided, and one of the cooling heat exchangers is arranged in an air pushing method and the other is arranged in an air sucking method. (Invention of claim 8). Details of the embodiments of the inventions of claims 4 to 8 will be described later.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic device cooling apparatus that can cope with an increase in the amount of heat generated by an electronic device at a low cost without increasing the capacity of the air conditioning equipment and without increasing the installation floor area.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIGS. 1 to 3 related to a basic embodiment of the present invention will be described. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electronic device cooling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a heat exchanger for cooling in the electronic device cooling apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an electronic device cooling apparatus of FIG. The conceptual block diagram of the ventilation opening-and-closing means in is shown. In FIG. 1, members having the same functions as those shown in FIGS. 8 to 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the electronic device cooling apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a cooling module 20 having a cooling heat exchanger 22 and a cooling fan 21 is installed in the lower part of the casing 1 and provided on the rear cover 4 and the front cover 3 of the casing. The cooling air of the electronic device is circulated between the cooling module 20 and the electronic device 5 through the air ducts on the front and back surfaces of the housing in a state where the vent hole is shielded, thereby cooling the heat generation of the electronic device. The structure which radiates heat outside the air-conditioned room is provided through the heat exchanger 22 for use.

  In FIG. 1, the cooling heat exchanger 22 is a water-cooled heat exchanger shown in FIG. 2, which will be described later, and is preferably a compact heat exchanger. Reference numeral 23 denotes a cooling water pipe, through which cold water is introduced and radiates heat to the outside. Reference numeral 19 denotes an upper surface cover, and T denotes a temperature sensor for monitoring a cooling capacity abnormality of the cooling module 20.

  A normal large electronic device is installed on a floor surface of an air-conditioned room with a pedestal 8, and an invalid space of about 100 to 150 mm exists in the lower part of the casing. As shown in FIG. 1, the cooling module 20 is mounted in this invalid space. At this time, the front cover 3 and the back cover 4 of the electronic device are spatially connected to the cooling module 20 to form a cooling air flow path, and form a cooling air circulation path as shown by an arrow in FIG. That is, the air flow is as follows: heating element 6 → fan 7 → front cover 3 (ventilation port closed) → cooling heat exchanger 22 → cooling fan 21 → back cover 4 (ventilation port closure) → heating element 6. In this way, by circulating air, the heat generated by the electronic equipment in the housing 1 is dissipated to the cooling water without dissipating it to the indoor installation environment. Can be used.

  Next, the compact heat exchanger shown in FIG. 2 will be described. In FIG. 2, 22A is a water-cooled heat exchanger body, 22B and 22C are cooling water headers, 22D is an air-side cooling fin, 22E is a water-side cooling fin, and 22F is a spacer. Cooling water cools the air whose temperature has risen at the heating element of the electronic device, but as is well known, the compact heat exchanger has a large heat transfer area per unit volume, so it can be downsized. By combining them, the cooling module 20 can be thinned. As the cooling water, for example, cold water such as an external chiller is used, thereby removing the heat generated by the electronic device to the outside.

  Next, how to deal with a case where an abnormality occurs in the cooling module 20 and cooling becomes difficult due to, for example, a failure of the cooling fan 21 or water leakage of the water-cooled heat exchanger will be described. In this case, as described above, the ventilation openings provided in the front cover 3 and the rear cover 4 of the housing 1 have ventilation opening / closing means (not shown in FIG. 1). In addition, a configuration is provided in which the air vent in the shielded state is opened to allow cooling with air in the air-conditioned room. Conventionally, since a plurality of sets (for example, 10 units) of electronic device housings are usually installed in an air-conditioned room, even if one of the cooling modules becomes abnormal in cooling capacity, other cooling units If the module is functioning normally, the electronic device housing in which the cooling capacity abnormality has occurred can be sufficiently cooled by the air in the air-conditioned room.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual block diagram of the vent opening / closing means in the electronic device cooling apparatus of FIG. Although FIG. 3 shows the vent opening / closing means in the back cover 4, the vent opening / closing means in the front cover 3 has the same configuration. FIG. 3A shows the case where the ventilation opening 4a is in the open mode, and FIG. 3B shows the case where the ventilation opening 4a is in the closed mode. In FIG. 3, 4l is a shielding plate of the ventilation port, 41a is a communication port with the ventilation port, 42 is a metal fitting for closing, 20 is a cooling module, and shows only the cooling air outlet part.

  3 includes a shielding plate 41 that is movable along the main surface of the back cover 4, and the positions of the communication holes 41 a provided in the shielding plate 41 and the ventilation ports 4 a of the back cover 4 coincide with each other. In the case of FIG. 3A, the cooling air can pass through the ventilation opening, that is, the ventilation opening mode. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the relative position between the communication hole 41a and the ventilation hole 4a is shifted and the ventilation hole 4a is blocked by the surface without the communication hole of the shielding plate 41, the ventilation hole is closed. It becomes a mode.

  The cooling capacity of the cooling module is determined to be abnormal when the temperature rise value reaches a predetermined threshold based on the measured value of the temperature sensor (T in FIG. 1) provided at the cooling air outlet of the cooling module 20. When it is determined that there is an abnormality, the shielding plate 41 is manually or, for example, driven by electromagnetic driving means to automatically open the vent hole. In the case of manual operation, maintenance personnel take appropriate measures for the vent opening state based on the alarm. In addition, in the ventilation port closed mode of FIG.3 (b), although the metal fitting 42 for closure shown in Fig.3 (a) is in the removed state, it is changed from the ventilation port closed mode of FIG.3 (b) to Fig.3 (a). When the vent opening mode is set, there is no problem in the cooling capacity even if it is removed.

  Next, various embodiments different from the embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which two cooling fans (21 and 21a) are provided in the cooling module 20. These two cooling fans are arranged in an air push-in method (so-called push method), and the other 21 is in an air suck-in method (so-called pull method), that is, push-to-cooling heat exchanger 22. & Pull method. When two cooling fans are used, it can cope with a high static pressure and is excellent from the viewpoint of fail-safe.

  Next, FIG. 5 will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electronic device cooling apparatus according to a different embodiment of the present invention in which a cooling module is installed on the top. A normal large electronic device has a height of 1500 to 2000 mm, and its upper part is not used. Therefore, in the case of FIG. 5, the cooling module 20 is installed in the upper empty space. Thereby, effective utilization of the empty space of an upper part can be aimed at. In the case of the lower installation shown in FIG. 1 and the case of the upper installation shown in FIG.

  The advantage of the lower installation is that the cooling water pipe 23 is short and the heat insulation treatment is simple. In addition, even if water leaks in the event of an abnormality, there is no risk of water entering the body. The disadvantage of the lower installation is that the effective height of the lower part is limited, so that the cooling capacity is limited. In addition, the structure is not simple because the structure avoids the legs of the main body.

  On the other hand, the advantage of the upper installation is that the upper part has no height restriction and can be freely configured to some extent. Moreover, since the degree of freedom is structurally high, the cooling capacity can be increased. Furthermore, since there are no obstacles, installation work is simplified. The disadvantage of the upper installation is that the cooling water piping is long, the heat insulation treatment is complicated, and in some cases, it is necessary to pass through the inside of the main body. In addition, when water leaks, water may enter the main body if the drain treatment is not performed reliably.

  FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in the case of an upper installation and two cooling fans are used, and FIG. 7 shows a conceptual configuration diagram of the vent opening / closing means in the electronic device cooling apparatus of FIG. . The configurations and effects of FIGS. 6 and 7 are the same as those described above, and will be omitted. In the vent opening mode of FIG. 7A, the cooling module 20 is omitted, unlike the vent opening mode of FIG. This is because if the cooling module 20 is abnormal in the case of the upper installation, the cooling module 20 is normally removed from the housing 1 for inspection and maintenance.

  While various embodiments have been described above, the following effects are generally obtained in any embodiment. Without significantly remodeling the existing electronic equipment cooling device, the additional installation of the cooling module 20 makes it possible to reduce the cost and floor space without increasing the capacity of the air-conditioning equipment to increase the capacity and heat generation of the electronic equipment. It can cope without increase In addition, it is possible to easily follow the increase or decrease in the heat generation amount of the electronic device by increasing or decreasing the cooling capacity of the cooling module 20. In particular, when a compact heat exchanger and a cross flow fan are employed in the cooling module, there is an advantage that the size and thickness can be reduced.

The typical block diagram of the electronic device cooling device in connection with embodiment of this invention. The perspective view of the heat exchanger for cooling in the electronic device cooling device of FIG. The conceptual block diagram of the ventilation opening / closing means in the electronic device cooling device of FIG. The typical block diagram of the electronic device cooling device in connection with different embodiment of this invention provided with the some blower. The typical block diagram of the electronic device cooling device in connection with different embodiment of this invention which installed the cooling module in the upper part. The typical block diagram of the electronic device cooling device in connection with different embodiment of this invention which installed the cooling module in the upper part and was equipped with the several blower. The conceptual block diagram of the ventilation opening / closing means in the electronic device cooling device of FIG. The typical top view of the electronic device cooling device which provided the conventional horizontal cooling device. The typical top view of the conventional electronic device cooling device. The typical perspective view of the conventional electronic device cooling device.

Explanation of symbols

1: Housing, 3: Front cover (with ventilation port), 4: Back cover (with ventilation port), 4a: Ventilation port, 5: Electronic device, 6: Heating element, 7: Fan, 8: Pedestal, 19 : Top cover, 20: Cooling module, 21, 21a: Cooling fan, 22: Cooling heat exchanger, 22A: Water cooling heat exchanger body, 22B, 22C: Cooling water header, 22D: Air side cooling fin, 22E: Water-side cooling fins, 22F: spacer, 23: cooling water piping, 4l: ventilation plate shielding plate, 41a: communication port, 42: metal fitting for closing, T: temperature sensor.

Claims (8)

The heat generated by a plurality of electronic devices installed in an air-conditioned room and housed in a housing is removed by cooling air introduced through a ventilation port provided in the back cover of the housing by a fan provided in the housing, In the electronic device cooling apparatus having a structure for radiating heat from the ventilation opening provided in the front cover of the housing to the air-conditioned room,
A cooling module having a cooling heat exchanger and at least one cooling fan is installed on the top or bottom of the casing, and is provided on the front and back of the casing in a state where the two ventilation openings are shielded. By circulating the cooling air of the electronic device through the air duct between the cooling module and the electronic device, the heat generated from the electronic device is radiated to the outside of the air-conditioned room through the cooling heat exchanger. An electronic device cooling apparatus comprising the configuration.   2. The electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling heat exchanger is a water-cooled heat exchanger, and is a plate fin type compact heat exchanger.   The electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling fan is a cross flow fan.   The ventilation openings provided in the front cover and the rear cover of the housing have ventilation opening opening / closing means, and when the cooling capacity of the cooling module is abnormal, by opening the shielded ventilation opening, The electronic device cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device cooling device is configured to be cooled by air in an air-conditioned room.   The ventilation opening / closing means includes a shielding plate movable along a main surface of the front cover or the back cover of the housing, and a relative relationship between the communication hole provided in the shielding plate and the ventilation opening of the front cover or the back cover. The electronic device cooling device according to claim 4, wherein the ventilation opening can be opened and closed by a change in position.   The cooling capacity of the cooling module is determined to be abnormal when the temperature rise value reaches a predetermined threshold based on the measured value of the temperature sensor provided at the cooling air outlet in the cooling module. The electronic device cooling device according to claim 5, further comprising: a configuration in which the shielding plate is driven to automatically open the ventilation port.   The electronic apparatus cooling apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the shielding plate includes electromagnetic driving means having a shielding plate driving shaft and a solenoid coil. 2. The electronic device cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least two cooling fans in the cooling module are provided, one of which is arranged in an air pushing method and the other in an air sucking method with respect to the cooling heat exchanger. .

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