JP2012248720A - Cooling structure of electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling structure which reduces the size of an opening of an electronic apparatus housing by using compressed air and directly leads the compressed air to each heating component thereby avoiding being subject to influences of wind temperature rise.SOLUTION: A cooling structure cooling heating bodies in an electronic apparatus includes a ventilation pipe 106 receiving the supply of compressed air from a high pressure air supply source 110 installed at the exterior of a housing 10 of an electronic apparatus and leading the compressed air to heating bodies 102, 104. The heating bodies 102, 104 are cooled by jet flow caused by a pressure difference between the compressed air led to the heating bodies 102, 104 by the ventilation pipe 106 and the pressure in the housing of the electronic apparatus.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling structure for an electronic device, and more particularly to a structure for cooling heat generated from each component by heat transfer using compressed gas supplied from the outside of the casing of the electronic device.

  Electronic devices are evolving day by day, and the speed is impressive. In particular, in recent years, electronic devices have been increased in density and integration, and devices have become smaller.

  On the other hand, power consumption of main components of electronic devices such as CPU and DIMM tends to increase due to improvement in calculation speed and increase in storage capacity. Furthermore, due to the demand for higher performance, it is often seen that a plurality of these components are mounted in one casing.

  Along with this, the power output is also increasing. There is a close relationship between the power supply size and the output, and the power supply size tends to increase as the output increases. However, due to the demand for miniaturization of the apparatus, it is difficult to secure a sufficient space for the power source.

  In order to cool these components, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-162180 (Patent Document 1) and the like, blowers for cooling an apparatus have responded by increasing the number of rotations and the number of mounted devices.

JP 7-162180 A

  However, an increase in the number of rotations causes an increase in the power consumption of the blower alone, and an increase in the number of mounted devices causes an increase in the power consumption of the entire apparatus.

  On the other hand, with the growing interest in the environment, there is an increasing demand for low power consumption for electronic devices. In addition, an increase in the number of fans mounted requires a large space. For this reason, it is contrary to the trend of downsizing the apparatus, which is a problem in realizing high integration.

  In addition, a large number of external connection ports such as USB, LAN, and VGA and drives such as HDD, DVD, and CD are arranged on the front and back of the casing of the electronic device.

  However, in cooling an electronic device using a blower, it is necessary to provide two types of openings, an intake port and an exhaust port, in the housing. In addition, it is most efficient when each opening is located at a symmetrical position with respect to the heat generating component. .

  Furthermore, when a plurality of electronic devices are arranged in parallel like a blade server and these are simultaneously cooled by a blower, the blower may be mounted on the front or back of the electronic device in consideration of maintainability during operation. There are many. Since components cannot be mounted on the blower mounting portion or the opening, there is a problem that it is necessary to limit the mounted components in order to obtain sufficient cooling capacity.

  Further, in the cooling by the blower, the flow of the air inside the electronic device flows in a certain direction. In this case, the heat generating component is cooled upstream by cooling air equivalent to the ambient temperature of the apparatus, but the temperature of the cooling air rises due to the heat generated by the components arranged upstream in the components arranged downstream. Therefore, there is a problem in that the components arranged downstream of the high heat generating components are affected by the rise in the air temperature by the upstream heat generating components even when the heat generation amount of the components is small.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to reduce the opening of the casing of the electronic device by using compressed air, and further guide the compressed air directly to each heat generating component. The object is to provide a cooling structure that is not affected by the rise.

  The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  That is, a typical outline is a cooling structure for cooling a heating element inside an electronic device, which is supplied with compressed air from a high-pressure air supply source installed outside the casing of the electronic device, A ventilation pipe that leads to the heating element is provided, and the heating element is cooled by a jet generated by a pressure difference inside the casing of the electronic device and the compressed air guided to the heating element by the ventilation pipe.

  The effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

  In the present invention, compressed air is guided by a ventilation tube or an air pool connected to the ventilation tube, and cooled by a jet, so that air having the same mass flow rate is sucked as compared with cooling using a blower. Necessary housing openings can be reduced.

  There is no relative relationship between the positions of the intake and exhaust ports, and the intake and exhaust ports can be arranged in the same direction with respect to the heat generating components.

  Moreover, since it is not necessary to mount a blower, a new space is created. An electronic device can be added by reducing the housing opening and securing the space. As a result, higher-density mounting becomes possible, and there is an improvement in performance due to an increase in the number of mounted CPUs and DIMMs and an improvement in availability due to an increase in the number of mounted IO components.

  Further, by guiding the compressed air to each heat generating component, there is no influence of the air temperature rise by the upstream heat generating component, and heat can always be radiated by the cooling air equivalent to the ambient temperature. Therefore, there is no difference in the cooling performance depending on the component arrangement position, and there is no restriction on the component layout related to cooling.

  In addition, the cooling efficiency is increased by eliminating the influence of the increase in the air temperature, and cooling with a cooling air amount smaller than that in the prior art becomes possible.

It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the example which used the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention for the blade server. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the example which used the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention for the blade server. It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a control block diagram which shows the control method of the temperature of the heat generating body by the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the temperature of the heat generating body by the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

(Embodiment 1)
<Configuration of cooling structure>
With reference to FIG. 1, a cooling structure for an electronic apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a heating element 1 (102) and a heating element 2 (104) are mounted on a substrate 101 installed in a casing 10 of an electronic device. Heat sinks 103 and 105 are mounted on each of the heating element 1 (102) and the heating element 2 (104) in order to improve the cooling performance.

  In addition, as a cooling structure of the electronic device, a terminal 107 for connecting to the outside of the electronic device casing 10 by using the ventilation pipe 106 from the high-pressure air supply source 110 installed outside the electronic device casing 10 is provided. As described above, by supplying the compressed air to the heat sinks 103 and 105, a jet flow is generated due to a pressure difference between the compressed air and the housing of the electronic device, and the heating element 1 (102) and the heating element 2 (104) are cooled. Structure.

<Cross-sectional area and thickness of ventilating pipe>
Next, the cross-sectional area and thickness of the ventilation pipe will be described.

  The cross-sectional area of the ventilation pipe 106 necessary for cooling the electronic device can be obtained from the flow rate during cooling by the blower. From Boyle's law, when the temperature is constant, the volume of the gas is inversely proportional to the pressure, so that the relationship of the following equation 1 is established.

PV = P′V ′ (Formula 1)
Here, P is the gas pressure [Pa] before the state change, V is the gas volume [m ³ ] before the state change, P ′ is the gas pressure [Pa] after the state change, and V ′ is after the state change. Represents the volume [m ³ ] of the gas. Here, as an example of a general server, the heat generation amount of the entire electronic device is 50 [W], and the required flow rate during cooling by the blower is 0.1 [m ³ / min].

If compressed air of 0.5 [MPa] is used for cooling this electronic device, the atmospheric pressure is approximately 0.1 MPa, so from Equation 1, the volume V ′ of the gas after the state change by the high-pressure air supply source 110 is Compared to the volume V of the gas before the state change (that is, the gas at atmospheric pressure), 1/5 is sufficient, and the required flow rate of the compressed air is 0.02 [m ³ / min].

  If the air velocity passing through the opening at the time of cooling by the blower and the wind velocity of the ventilation pipe 106 are the same, the cross-sectional area of the ventilation pipe 106 required for cooling the electronic device is (the intake area opening area at the time of cooling by the blower) × 1 / 5

  The thickness of the ventilation pipe 106 can be obtained from t = Pd / (2σa) and σa = σ / S using the pressure of the compressed air and the material of the ventilation pipe 106.

Here, t is the thickness [mm] of the ventilation tube 106, d is the inner diameter [mm] of the ventilation tube 106, σ is the tensile strength [N / mm ² ] of the ventilation tube 106, and S is the safety factor. Here, when the inner diameter of the ventilation pipe 106 is 20 [mm] and a polyvinyl chloride pipe is used as the material of the ventilation pipe 106, the tensile strength σ of the ventilation pipe 106 is 40.67 [N / mm ² ], The safety factor S is set to 8 in consideration of the instantaneous pressure increase and the influence of vibration. From these conditions, it is determined that the thickness t of the ventilation pipe 106 is required to be 0.99 [mm] or more.

<High pressure air supply source>
Further, when there is an in-factory air pipe or the like as a high-pressure air supply source, the cooling structure of the present embodiment can be constructed by connecting the in-factory air pipe or the like to an electronic device. However, in reality, electronic devices are rarely installed in factories, and many are provided with a room in one corner such as an office. In such a case, since there is no air pipe, a compressor is newly required as a supply source of compressed air.

Regarding the performance of this compressor, in the example of the electronic device described above, the pressure of compressed air was 0.5 [MPa], and the required flow rate was 0.02 [m ³ / min]. Assuming that three units are cooled simultaneously, the pressure of compressed air is 0.5 [MPa] or more and the required flow rate is 0.06 [m ³ / min]. Here, considering the leakage of piping and the pressure loss of various valves as the performance required for the compressor, the performance is about 0.2 [MPa] higher than the compressed air pressure and about 1.3 times the required flow rate.

<Cooling structure in blade server>
Next, an example in which the electronic device cooling structure according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is used in a blade server will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory views for explaining an example in which the electronic device cooling structure according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is used in a blade server. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the entire blade server. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the inside of a blade server.

  In the example shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the two-blade blade server is cooled using the compressed air generated by the compressor 201.

  2 and 3, the blade server has a server blade 202 mounted on the front surface and a power supply module 204, a blower module 205, and a switch module 206 mounted on the back surface. The front and back devices are electrically connected by a midplane 203.

  The compressed air generated by the compressor 201 is sent to each server blade 202 by the ventilation pipe 106. Then, the heat sinks 103 and 105 are cooled through the terminal 107 for connecting the ventilation pipe 106 and the ventilation pipe 106. At the time of insertion / extraction of maintenance during operation of the server blade 202, electrical connection is made by the connector 301, and compressed air is supplied by the terminal 107.

  Thus, if the structure of the terminal 107 is such that compressed air passes when the ventilation pipe 106 and the ventilation pipe 106 are normally connected, the compressed air does not leak even when the server blade 202 is inserted and removed. .

  Further, by cooling the server blade 202 using this cooling structure, if the server blade 202 can be cooled only by compressed air, the blower module 205 can be deleted. Instead of the blower module 205, a switch module is used. It is also possible to add 206.

  Furthermore, by cooling the power supply module 204 with compressed air, the power supply can be reduced in size, and the switch module 206 can be further expanded.

(Embodiment 2)
In the second embodiment, the compressed air from the high-pressure air supply source 110 is supplied as cooling air to the heating element through the air duct 106 in the first embodiment. In addition, the amount of cooling air by the compressed air is adjusted according to the temperature of the heating element.

<Configuration of cooling structure>
With reference to FIG. 4, a cooling structure for an electronic apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

  4 differs from the electronic device cooling structure of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that a temperature measuring unit 112 that measures the temperatures of the heating element 1 (102) and the heating element 2 (104), and temperature monitoring. And a control circuit 403 that controls the adjustment of the flow rate of the cooling air, and a regulator 404 that is a compressed air adjustment unit that adjusts the flow rate of the cooling air, and a heating element temperature reading signal between the temperature measurement unit 112 and the control circuit 403. The control circuit 403 and the regulator 404 are connected by a regulator control signal line 402. Other configurations are the same as those of the electronic apparatus cooling structure according to the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  The control circuit 403 reads the temperatures of the heating element 1 (102) and the heating element 2 (104) measured by the temperature measurement unit 112 via the heating element temperature reading signal line 401, and based on the read temperature, the regulator 404 is read. To control the air flow.

<Temperature control method>
Next, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a method of controlling the temperature of the heating element by the electronic device cooling structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a control block diagram showing a method of controlling the temperature of the heating element by the electronic device cooling structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 shows the heat generation by the electronic device cooling structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the temperature of a body.

  In FIG. 5, temperature information and target temperature information from the heating element 1 (102) and the heating element 2 (104) are input to the control circuit 403. Based on the input information, the control circuit 403 A voltage for controlling the regulator 404 is output, and based on the voltage, the opening degree of the regulator 404 is controlled, and the air volume for cooling the heating element 1 (102) and the heating element 2 (104) changes.

  In FIG. 6, first, when the power supply of the control circuit 403 is turned on, the temperature of the heating element 1 (102) is read (S100), and the temperature of the heating element 2 (104) is read (S101). Next, the temperature of the heating element 1 (102) and the temperature of the heating element 2 (104) are compared to determine whether or not the temperature of the heating element 1 (102) is equal to or higher than the temperature of the heating element 2 (104) (S102). ).

  If it is determined in S102 that the temperature of the heating element 1 (102) is equal to or higher than the temperature of the heating element 2 (104), the heating element temperature is set to the temperature of the heating element 1 (102) (S103), and the heating element 1 is determined in S102. If it is determined that the temperature of (102) is not higher than the temperature of the heating element 2 (104), the heating element temperature is set as the temperature of the heating element 2 (104) (S104).

  By the processing of S102 to S104, the information on the temperature of the heating element used for the control of the control circuit 403 is the higher one of the temperature of the heating element 1 (102) and the temperature of the heating element 2 (104). Temperature of the heating element 1 (102).

  Then, the heating element temperature is compared with the target temperature, and the opening degree of the regulator 404 is determined.

  First, it is determined whether or not the target temperature is equal to or higher than the heating element temperature +10 (S105). In S105, the target temperature is equal to or higher than the heating element temperature +10 (that is, when the heating element temperature is 10 ° C. or more lower than the target temperature). If it is determined, the opening degree of the regulator 404 is set to 50 [%] (S106).

  If it is determined in S105 that the target temperature is not equal to or higher than the heating element temperature +10, it is determined whether the target temperature is equal to or higher than the heating element temperature (S107), and the target temperature is equal to or higher than the heating element temperature in S107 (that is, the target temperature). On the other hand, if it is determined that the heating element temperature is lower than 10 ° C. and does not exceed the target temperature, the opening degree of the regulator 404 is set to 80 [%] (S108).

  If it is determined in S107 that the target temperature is not equal to or higher than the heating element temperature, the heating element temperature has exceeded the target temperature. Therefore, the degree of opening of the regulator 404 is set to 100 [%] and maximum cooling is performed. (S109).

  After controlling the opening degree of the regulator 404 in S106, S108, and S109, a certain amount of weight is taken (S110), and each process of S100 to S109 is performed as one cycle, and an apparatus such as an electronic device that performs cooling is in operation. During this time, this process is always repeated.

  In the present embodiment, since the air volume of the compressed air is adjusted based on the temperature of the heating element, the heating element can be appropriately cooled.

  In the present embodiment, the temperature of the heating element is measured by the temperature measuring unit 112. However, as a method of monitoring the temperature of the heating element, the CPU mounted on the electronic device measures its own temperature and externally There is an output function, and the heating element temperature may be measured using this function.

  In an electronic device using a cooling structure with a conventional blower, the rotational speed of the blower is controlled through a control device called BMC that monitors temperature information from a CPU mounted on the electronic device.

  Using this CPU function, CPU temperature information may be input to the control circuit 403, and the air volume may be adjusted by controlling the opening of the regulator 404 based on the temperature information.

(Embodiment 3)
In the third embodiment, the compressed air from the high-pressure air supply source 110 is supplied as cooling air to the heating element through the ventilation pipe 106 in the first embodiment, but the compressed air is diffused by the air pool. It has a cooling structure.

<Configuration of cooling structure>
A cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 are configuration diagrams showing a cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention, where FIG. 7 is a perspective view and FIG. 8 is a side view.

  In FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the air pipe 106 connected to the terminal 107 is connected to an air reservoir 509 that is a compressed air storage unit. The air reservoir 509 is provided with openings 510 for cooling the heat sinks 501 and 502 and the heating elements 503 to 508.

  In the cooling structure shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, compressed air is introduced by the ventilation pipe 106 and spreads by the air reservoir 509. Here, the air reservoir 509 is a portion that temporarily stores the compressed air flowing from the ventilation pipe 106.

  By securing a sufficient volume of the air reservoir 509, it is possible to mitigate the influence of the pressure distribution of the compressed air due to the opening position of the opening 510 and the increase / decrease in the inflow amount from the compressed air supply source.

  Then, the opening 510 of the air reservoir 509 comes on the heat sinks 501 and 502 and the heating elements 503 to 508, and each part can be cooled as a jet of compressed air from the opening 510.

  In this embodiment, by using the air reservoir 509 provided with the opening 510, compressed air can be supplied to a plurality of heating elements and the like, and the optimal opening based on the shape of the heating element By setting to 510, the entire cooling can be performed efficiently.

(Embodiment 4)
In the fourth embodiment, in the third embodiment, one place of the heating element is cooled by a jet of compressed air from one opening, and the opening of the air reservoir 509 is subdivided. And cooled by a jet of compressed air from the subdivided openings.

<Configuration of cooling structure>
A cooling structure for an electronic apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10 are configuration diagrams showing a cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention, in which FIG. 9 is a perspective view and FIG. 10 is a side view.

  7 and 8, an air reservoir 509 is connected to the ventilation pipe 106 connected to the terminal 107. The air reservoir 509 is provided with subdivided openings 511 for cooling the heat sinks 501 and 502 and the heating elements 503 to 508.

  In the cooling structure shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the compressed air is introduced by the ventilation pipe 106 and spreads by the air reservoir 509 as in the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

  Then, the subdivided openings 511 of the air reservoir 509 come on the heat sinks 501 and 502 and the heating elements 503 to 508, and the compressed air is jetted from the subdivided openings 511 to cool each part. be able to.

  In this embodiment, the opening 511 of the air reservoir 509 is subdivided, and the opening area of each of the subdivided openings is the same. By changing the number of the openings, the flow rate of the compressed air for each heating element is adjusted. Yes.

  In the case of this opening 511, compared with the opening 510 of Embodiment 3 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, it is possible to apply compressed air over a wider range. Therefore, even if the power consumption is the same, it is effective when the area is large and the heat generation density is small, or when the heat generating components are divided into a plurality of parts, not just one place like a memory.

(Embodiment 5)
The fifth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that one portion of the heating element is cooled by a jet of compressed air from one opening, but the heating element having a different size is used. The air volume is adjusted using a nozzle provided in the opening.

<Configuration of cooling structure>
With reference to FIG. 11, a cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a cooling structure for an electronic device according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 11, the heat sink 501, the heat generator 503, and the heat generator 505 having different sizes are cooled by applying compressed air with nozzles 601 to 603.

When the size is small like the heating element 503, cooling is performed by linearly applying compressed air. For example, in the on-board power supply, the power consumption is as small as about 3 [W], but the area is also as small as about 15 [mm ² ]. As a result, the heat generation density is larger than that of the CPU, and cooling without a heat sink may be difficult.

  In addition, when the cooling air is applied to a large heat sink such as the heat sink 501, the size of the heat sink cannot be used effectively if it is applied linearly. Therefore, a large heat sink can be effectively used by using a divergent nozzle like the nozzle 602.

  Similarly, in the heating element 505, the heating elements are divided into a plurality of parts, and it is difficult to cool all the heating elements uniformly by local cooling. Therefore, a nozzle 603 that supplies cooling air over a wider range than the nozzle 602 is effective.

  In the present embodiment, efficient cooling can be performed by changing the shape of the nozzle depending on the size and type of the heating element.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

  The present invention relates to a cooling structure for an electronic device, and can be widely applied to electronic devices and systems having a structure for cooling heat generated from each component.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Housing | casing 101 ... Board | substrate 102,104 ... Heat generating body 103, 105 ... Heat sink, 106 ... Ventilation pipe, 107 ... Terminal, 201 ... Compressor, 202 ... Server blade, 203 ... Mid plane, 204 ... Power supply module, 205 ... blower module, 206 ... switch module, 301 ... connector, 401 ... signal line for heating element temperature reading, 402 ... signal line for regulator control, 403 ... control circuit, 404 ... regulator, 501-502 ... heat sink, 503-508 ... heating element, 509 ... air reservoir, 510 to 511 ... opening, 601 to 603 ... nozzle.

Claims (5)

A cooling structure for cooling a heating element inside an electronic device,
Compressed air from a high-pressure air supply source installed outside the housing of the electronic device is supplied, and includes a ventilation pipe that guides the compressed air to the heating element,
A cooling structure for an electronic device, wherein the heating element is cooled by a jet generated by a pressure difference inside the casing of the electronic device and the compressed air guided to the heating member by the ventilation pipe. In the cooling structure of the electronic device according to claim 1,
A compressed air adjusting portion provided in the middle or at the end of the ventilation pipe;
A control circuit that acquires the temperature of the heating element, controls the compressed air adjusting unit based on the acquired temperature information, and adjusts the flow rate of the compressed air to a flow rate according to the temperature of the heating element; An electronic device cooling structure characterized by the above. In the cooling structure of the electronic device of Claim 1 or 2,
The compressed air storage unit connected to the ventilation pipe,
A cooling structure for an electronic device, wherein a jet is applied to the heating element from an opening provided in the storage unit. The electronic device cooling structure according to claim 3,
An electronic apparatus cooling structure comprising a nozzle for controlling a flow direction of the jet at the opening. In the cooling structure of the electronic device of any one of Claims 1-4,
The electronic device includes a connector for electrical connection with an external board installed outside the electronic device, and a terminal for connecting a pipe from the high-pressure air supply source and the ventilation pipe,
The electronic device cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein when the external board and the electronic device are electrically connected by the connector, the compressed air is supplied to the ventilation pipe via the terminal.

Images