JP2016192508A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic apparatus excellent in cooling performance.SOLUTION: The electronic apparatus includes a plurality of electronic communication devices (devices) 30 and a heat exchanger 50. The plurality of electronic communication devices 30 are disposed in such a manner as to be arranged in at least one direction. The heat exchanger 50, which is at least partially disposed between adjacent two electronic communication devices 30 of the plurality of electronic communication devices 30, makes heat exchange cool air flowing in from one of the two electronic communication devices 30, and discharges the cooled air to the other electronic communication device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device.

  Electronic communication devices installed in server rooms, data centers, and the like are becoming more highly integrated and denser as the technology advances. Along with this, the temperature inside the equipment is also rising, and there is no room for the allowable temperature of the internal electronic components. Moreover, since the allowable temperature may be exceeded depending on the load status of the device, it is difficult to guarantee the operation of the device. Therefore, improvement of the cooling performance of such an electronic communication device is an important issue.

  In order to improve the cooling performance of electronic communication equipment, it is well known to use a guide plate. For example, in Patent Document 1, a guide plate that is bent into a specific shape is provided between racks for an electronic device that houses a rack that houses a plurality of electronic communication devices in a vertically long rack. It is described that by interposing a heat radiating unit, air is exhausted from a plurality of surfaces of the heat radiating unit, and cooling performance can be improved.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-110279

  However, if a guide plate is provided between the racks, it itself becomes a ventilation resistance. For this reason, there exists a possibility that an electronic communication apparatus may not fully be cooled.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an electronic device having excellent cooling performance.

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic device according to the present invention provides:
A plurality of devices that are heat sources and arranged in at least one direction;
At least a part is arranged between two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices, and air flowing in from one device side of the two devices is cooled by heat exchange and discharged to the other device side A heat exchanger to
It is characterized by comprising.

  According to the present invention, an electronic device having excellent cooling performance can be provided.

It is a figure which shows the state which removed the side wall of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating that the electronic communication apparatus is accommodated in the subrack. It is a perspective view for demonstrating the structure of a heat absorber. It is a perspective view for demonstrating the structure of a heat radiator. It is a figure which shows the cross section orthogonal to the cylinder axis direction of a heat pipe. It is a figure for demonstrating the mechanism of the heat transport of a heat exchanger. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a perspective view for demonstrating the guidance | induction part of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance of the electronic device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view for demonstrating the guidance | induction part of the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the heat absorber of the electronic device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
The electronic device according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device according to the present embodiment includes subracks 21, 22, and 23 that store electronic communication devices 30, and a cabinet rack 10 in which the subracks 21, 22, and 23 are disposed. The heat exchanger 50 is provided. In addition, the arrow line of FIG. 1 shows the movement path | route of the air in the cabinet rack 10. FIG. In the following description, the + X direction in FIG. 1 is the front side, the −X direction is the rear side, the + Z direction is the upper side, and the −Z direction is the lower side.

  The electronic communication device 30 is a heat generation source that generates heat during operation, and includes a circuit board and a plurality of electronic components mounted on the circuit board. As shown in FIG. 2, the sub-rack 21, 22, 23 is a so-called bookshelf type, and can store a plurality of electronic communication devices 30 in the thickness direction. The plurality of electronic communication devices 30 can be inserted / removed from the front side of the sub-rack 21, 22, 23, respectively. The subracks 21, 22, and 23 are arranged in a row in the vertical direction. As a result, the electronic communication devices 30 housed in the sub-racks 21, 22, and 23 are also arranged in the vertical direction.

  The cabinet rack 10 has a rectangular box shape with the front side open, and includes a cabinet rack mount 11 that supports the sub-racks 21, 22, and 23, as shown in FIG. In addition, the cabinet rack 10 may install a door in the front side, for example. Alternatively, it may be a frame-shaped rack. The sub-rack 21, 22, 23 supports each electronic communication device 30 in such a posture that both surfaces in the thickness direction are parallel to the vertical direction.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the heat exchanger 50 is disposed at a position away from a heat absorber 60 disposed between two adjacent electronic communication devices 30 and a region between the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30. And a heat pipe 80 that transports heat from the heat absorber 60 to the heat radiator 70. In other words, the heat absorber 60 is disposed between the sub-rack 21 and the sub-rack 22 and between the sub-rack 22 and the sub-rack 23 in the cabinet rack 10, and the radiator 70 includes the cabinet rack. 10 is arranged at the rear of the apparatus. The heat absorber 60 absorbs heat from the air by heat exchange with the air flowing in from one of the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30. The radiator 70 releases the heat transported from the heat absorber 60 to the outside air by heat exchange with the outside air at a position away from the region between the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30. In this way, the heat exchanger 50 cools the air flowing in from one electronic communication device 30 side of the two electronic communication devices 30 by heat exchange and discharges the air to the other electronic communication device 30 side.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the heat absorber 60 is a flat box shape having a rectangular shape in plan view, a housing 61 in which both surfaces orthogonal to the Z axis are open on both sides, and a longitudinal direction (X axis) of the housing 61. And a plurality of rectangular plate-like heat absorption fins 62 arranged at equal intervals along the direction). The heat exchanger 50 is disposed in the cabinet rack 10 so that both surfaces of the heat absorption fins 62 are parallel to the Z-axis direction.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the radiator 70 includes a rectangular plate-like main piece 71 and a plurality of (in FIG. 4), standing along the longitudinal direction of the main piece 71 on one surface side in the thickness direction of the main piece 71. 7) radiating fins 72.

  The heat pipe 80 is connected to the two side walls 65 a and 65 b of the housing 61 of the heat absorber 60 and the plurality of heat absorption fins 62, and is connected to the main piece 71 of the radiator 70. The heat pipe 80 penetrates each of the plurality of heat absorbing fins 62 and the side wall 65a of the housing 61, one end in the longitudinal direction thereof is connected to the side wall 65b, and the other end is opposite to the heat radiation fin 72 side of the main piece 71. Connected to the side. The inside of the heat pipe 80 is sealed, and a small amount of refrigerant (not shown) (water, alcohol, etc.) is enclosed. Further, a wick 81 such as a porous body is formed on the entire inner surface of the heat pipe 80 as shown in FIG.

  Next, the cooling mechanism of the electronic device according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 6 indicate the heat flow, and solid arrows c to e indicate the refrigerant flow in the heat pipe 80.

  When the electronic communication device 30 in the subrack 21 operates and generates heat, the air in the vicinity of the telecommunication device 30 is heated to generate an updraft, and the heated air moves above the subrack 21. The air that has moved above the subrack 21 comes into contact with the heat absorbing fins 62 of the heat absorber 60 disposed between the subrack 21 and the subrack 22, and the heat is transmitted to the heat absorbing fins 62 (see FIG. 6 (see broken line arrow a) 6) The cooled air moves into the sub-rack 22. Further, the heat transferred to the heat absorbing fins 62 is transferred to a liquid refrigerant existing in the vicinity of the heat absorbing fins 62 in the heat pipe 80. Then, the liquid refrigerant evaporates and becomes gaseous. At this time, a temperature gradient is generated inside the heat pipe 80, and accordingly, the gaseous refrigerant moves from the vicinity of the radiation fins 62 toward the radiator 70 (see the solid arrow c in FIG. 6). At this time, heat is transported from the heat absorbing fin 62 side in the heat pipe 80 to the radiator 70 side. The heat of the gaseous refrigerant that has moved to the vicinity of the radiator 70 is transmitted to the outside air through the radiator 70 joined to the heat pipe 80 (see the broken line arrow b in FIG. 6). Thereby, the refrigerant | coolant of the radiator 70 vicinity is cooled and becomes a liquid state. The liquid refrigerant is absorbed by the wick 81 (see the solid arrow d in FIG. 6), and is supplied again to the heat absorbing fin 62 side of the heat pipe 80 by the capillary force of the wick 81 (solid arrow e in FIG. 6). reference).

  As described above, the heat transmitted from the air moved above the sub-rack 21 to the heat-absorbing fins 62 is transported to the radiator 70 via the heat pipe 80 and is transmitted from the radiator 70 to the outside air.

  The cooling performance of the electronic device according to the first embodiment will be described using FIG.

  Comparative Example 1 has a structure in which the heat exchanger 50 is not provided between the subracks 21, 22, and 23. In the comparative example 1, when the electronic communication device 30 housed in the subrack 21, 22, 23 operates and generates heat, first, the temperature on the upper surface side of the subrack 21 rises to T2 ° C. At this time, since the heat exchanger 50 is not provided in the structure of the comparative example 1, the air at T2 ° C. moves to the subrack 22 without being substantially cooled. Thus, as the temperature increases toward the + Z direction, the temperature of the air passing through the subrack 21, 22, 23 continues to rise without being substantially cooled, so the temperature near the upper surface of the uppermost subrack 23 is T4. It reaches ℃.

  On the other hand, in the case of Embodiment 1, when the air heated to T2 ° C. moves from the subrack 21 to the subrack 22, it is cooled by the heat exchanger 50, and the air cooled to T1 ° C. flows into the subrack 22. Will be. As described above, in the first embodiment, the air is heated every time it passes through the subrack 21, 22, 23, but is cooled each time by the heat exchanger 50, so that it is near the upper surface of the uppermost subrack 23. The temperature can be suppressed to T3 ° C.

  As described above, the electronic device according to the present embodiment includes the heat exchanger 50. Thereby, since the air heated with the heat | fever emitted at the time of operation | movement of the electronic communication apparatus 30 passes through the heat exchanger 50, and is cooled by heat exchange, the temperature rise of the electronic communication apparatus 30 can be reduced. .

  Moreover, in the electronic device according to the present embodiment, the heat absorber 60 absorbs heat from the air flowing in from one electronic communication device 30 side of the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30, and the radiator 70 is The heat transported from the heat absorber 60 is released to the outside air by heat exchange with the outside air at a position away from the region between the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30. Thereby, since the heat of the air which flowed in from the one electronic communication apparatus 30 side of the two adjacent electronic communication apparatuses 30 can be discharge | released to the position spaced apart from the electronic communication apparatus 30, the other electronic communication apparatus Heat transfer to 30 can be suppressed.

  Furthermore, the present embodiment includes a heat absorber 60 having heat absorption fins 62 and a heat radiator 70 having heat radiation fins 72. As a result, the area of the heat absorber 60 in contact with the air passing through the heat absorber 60 and the area of the radiator 70 in contact with the outside air are increased, so that the heat of the air passing through the heat absorber 60 and the outside air is increased. Exchange efficiency is improved.

  In the electronic device according to the present embodiment, the heat exchanger 50 includes a heat pipe 80 that transports heat from the heat absorber 60 to the heat radiator 70. Thereby, compared with the structure which joins the heat absorber 60 and the heat radiator 70 directly, heat transport efficiency can be raised, for example.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, an electronic device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. The difference from the first embodiment is that an induction unit 90 is provided at the upper part in the + Z direction of the heat exchanger 50 as shown in FIG. In addition, arrow lines A1, A2, and A3 in FIG. 8 indicate air movement paths in the cabinet rack 10. Further, in FIG. 8, the same reference numerals as those in FIG.

  The guiding portion 90 includes two side plates 91 arranged in parallel and a guiding plate 92 that is disposed between the two side plates 91 and guides air flowing in from the heat absorber 60 side. The two side plates 91 are continuous with two side walls 65c and 65d that face each other in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the heat absorbing fins 62 in the housing 61 of the heat absorber 60 are arranged. The guide plate 92 is inclined so as to move away from the heat absorber 60 as it approaches the other end side (the −X direction side in FIG. 9) from one end side (the + X direction side in FIG. 9) in the longitudinal direction of the two side plates 91. . The guide portion 90 is disposed such that the one end side of the two side plates 91 is located on the front side of the cabinet rack 10 and the other end side of the side wall is located on the rear side of the cabinet rack 10.

  In the electronic device according to the second embodiment, the air heated by the heat generated from the electronic communication device 30 in the subrack 21 passes through the heat absorber 60 and then flows into the induction unit 90. The air that has flowed into the guide section 90 moves to the rear side of the cabinet rack 10 by the guide plate 92 and is discharged to the outside of the cabinet rack 10 (see solid line arrow A1 in FIG. 8). Moreover, the air which flowed into the induction | guidance | derivation part 90 from the front side of the cabinet rack 10 is induced | guided | derived into the subracks 22 and 23 by the induction | guidance | derivation board 92 (refer solid line arrow A2, A3 in FIG. 8).

  The cooling performance of the electronic device according to the second embodiment will be described using FIG.

  Comparative Example 2 has a structure in which the heat exchanger 50 is not provided. In Comparative Example 2, when the electronic communication device 30 housed in the sub-rack 21, 22, 23 is operated, first, the temperature on the upper surface side of the sub-rack 21 rises to T6 ° C. Since the heat exchanger 50 is not provided in the structure of the comparative example 2, the air at T6 ° C. moves to the rear side of the induction unit 90 as it is without being cooled.

  As T6 ° C. air is exhausted from the induction unit 90, the temperature around it rises. Further, since the exhausted air is in contact with the guide plate 92, the temperature of the guide plate 92 itself is slightly increased. Under these influences, the air that has risen to T8 ° C. flows into the subrack 22.

  As described above, the temperature of the device on the + Z direction side is affected by the device on the −Z direction side, so the temperature near the upper surface of the uppermost subrack 23 reaches T10 ° C.

  On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the air heated to T6 ° C. is cooled to T5 ° C. when passing through the heat exchanger 50, and the air cooled to T5 ° C. is exhausted from the induction unit 90. The influence on the periphery of the guide part 90 and the guide plate 92 can be reduced. For this reason, the temperature of the air flowing into the subrack 22 can be suppressed to T7 ° C. As described above, in the second embodiment, the heat generated in the electronic communication device 30 is cooled by the heat exchanger 50, so that the temperature near the upper surface of the uppermost subrack 23 can be suppressed to T9 ° C.

As described above, according to the electronic apparatus according to the present embodiment, the induction unit 90 can suppress the air heated by one of the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30 from flowing into the other side. Moreover, since the air discharged | emitted from the induction | guidance | derivation part 90 outside is cooled by heat exchange when passing the heat exchanger 50, the temperature rise by the heat exchange through the induction | guidance | derivation board 92 of the air which flows in into the other side is reduced. can do.
Therefore, the influence of the heat generation of one of the two adjacent electronic communication devices 30 on the other can be suppressed, and the temperature rise of the electronic communication device 30 can be reduced.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and application are possible. For example, the electronic circuit board 100 may be arranged in the cabinet rack 10 as it is without being stored in the subracks 21, 22, and 23. In this case, a configuration in which a plurality of electronic communication devices 30 are arranged at substantially the same position in the vertical direction in the cabinet rack 10 or a configuration in which only one electronic communication device 30 is arranged. May be.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, the electronic circuit board 100 can be mounted inside the cabinet rack 10. In addition, the arrow line in a figure shows the movement path | route of the air in the cabinet rack 10. FIG.

  The electronic circuit board 100 is mounted on the rear side of the sub-rack 21 and the sub-rack 22 via a support member (not shown), and a plurality of wirings 102 for performing electrical communication with the plurality of electronic communication devices 30 are provided. . The electronic circuit board 100 has a through hole 101, and the heat pipe 80 is disposed so as to be inserted through the through hole 101. The cooling performance may be improved by providing a plurality of through holes 101 and arranging a plurality of heat pipes 80 according to the number of through holes 101. Alternatively, the diameter of the through hole 101 itself may be increased to make the heat pipe 80 larger. By increasing the size of the heat pipe 80, the surface area of the wick 81 formed on the inner surface of the heat pipe 80 is increased, so that more refrigerant can be absorbed. Therefore, by enclosing more refrigerant, The heat transport efficiency of the heat pipe 80 is improved.

In addition, the electronic device illustrated in FIG. 11 may further include a guide unit. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 12, an induction unit 90 may be further provided on the + Z direction side of the heat exchanger 50. In addition, the arrow line in a figure shows the movement path | route of the air in the cabinet rack 10. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 13, the guide portion 90 shown in FIG. 12 is arranged so that the two side plates 91 are orthogonal to the X axis, and is in a direction parallel to the arrangement direction of the heat absorbing fins 62 in the housing 61 of the heat absorber 60. It is continuous with the two opposing side walls 65a and 65b. In addition, the guide plate 92 is inclined so as to move away from the heat absorber 60 as it approaches the other end side from one end side in the longitudinal direction of the two side plates 91.
With such a configuration, the exhaust from the guiding portion 90 does not interfere with the electronic circuit board 100.

  In the first or second embodiment, the heat pipe 80 may be omitted and the heat absorber 60 and the heat radiator 70 may be directly joined. Alternatively, in the present embodiment, the radiator 70 is disposed on the rear side of the cabinet rack 10, but may be disposed in the cabinet rack 10.

  In these configurations, the heat exchanger 50 can be detachable. As a result, when the cooling capacity is not so required, the heat exchanger 50 can be omitted. Further, for example, the total heat generation from the electronic communication device 30 increases with the increase in the capacity of the server. Even if the capacity is required, the cooling capacity can be easily increased by inserting the heat exchanger 50.

  Moreover, the heat absorber 60 is not restricted to a structure as shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, a plurality of hollow heat-absorbing fins 63 having an opening on one side and a fan 64 on the other side may be used. In the heat absorber 60 shown in FIG. 14, the hollow heat absorbing fins 63 cool the air flowing in from the subrack 21, 22, 23, while the inside is cooled by the air blown from the fan 64. The rise can be suppressed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the radiator 70 is disposed on a part of the rear surface of the cabinet rack 10 as shown in FIG. 1, but the area may be further increased, for example, the cabinet rack. It is good also as an area of the grade which covers the whole surface of 10 rear side.

  Further, instead of the heat absorbing fins 62 and the heat radiating fins 72, a plurality of Peltier elements may be provided on the inner walls of the heat absorber 60 and the heat radiator 70 to promote cooling. Or you may combine both a fin and a Peltier device.

  In the embodiment, an example in which a plurality of electronic communication devices 30 are accommodated in each of the sub-rack 21, 22, and 23 has been described. Only the structure accommodated may be sufficient.

  In the above embodiment, the sub-rack 21, 22, 23 containing the electronic communication device 30 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a configuration in which a power supply unit is arranged instead of the sub-rack 21 may be used. .

  A part or all of the above-described embodiment can be described as in the following supplementary notes, but is not limited thereto.

(Appendix 1)
A plurality of devices that are heat sources and arranged in at least one direction;
At least a part is arranged between two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices, and air flowing in from one device side of the two devices is cooled by heat exchange and discharged to the other device side A heat exchanger to
An electronic device comprising:

(Appendix 2)
A guide plate for guiding the flow of air flowing from one of the two adjacent devices through the heat exchanger in a direction different from the direction toward the other device;
The electronic device according to appendix 1, wherein:

(Appendix 3)
The heat exchanger is
A heat absorber that is arranged between two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices and absorbs heat from the air by heat exchange with the air that has flowed in from the one device side;
Heat is transferred from the heat absorber to the outside air by heat exchange with the outside air at a position away from the region between the two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices. A radiator that emits
The electronic apparatus according to appendix 1 or 2, characterized by comprising:

(Appendix 4)
The heat absorber has heat absorption fins,
The radiator has a radiation fin,
The electronic device as set forth in Appendix 3, wherein

(Appendix 5)
The heat exchanger further includes:
A heat pipe for transporting heat from the heat sink to the radiator;
The electronic apparatus according to appendix 3 or 4, characterized by the above.

(Appendix 6)
A cabinet rack that detachably holds the plurality of devices and the heat exchanger;
The electronic device according to any one of appendices 1 to 5, characterized in that:

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Cabinet rack 11 Cabinet rack mount 21, 22, 23 Subrack 30 Electronic communication apparatus 50 Heat exchanger 60 Heat absorber 61 Housing 62 Heat absorption fin 63 Hollow heat absorption fin 64 Fan 65a-65d Side wall 70 Radiator 71 Main piece 72 Radiation fin 80 Heat pipe 81 Wick 90 Guide part 91 Side plate 92 Guide plate 100 Electronic circuit board 101 Through hole 102 Wiring

Claims (6)

A plurality of devices that are heat sources and arranged in at least one direction;
At least a part is arranged between two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices, and air flowing in from one device side of the two devices is cooled by heat exchange and discharged to the other device side A heat exchanger to
An electronic device comprising: A guide plate for guiding the flow of air flowing from one of the two adjacent devices through the heat exchanger in a direction different from the direction toward the other device;
The electronic device according to claim 1. The heat exchanger is
A heat absorber that is arranged between two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices and absorbs heat from the air by heat exchange with the air that has flowed in from the one device side;
Heat is transferred from the heat absorber to the outside air by heat exchange with the outside air at a position away from the region between the two adjacent devices of the plurality of devices. A radiator that emits
The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising: The heat absorber has heat absorption fins,
The radiator has a radiation fin,
The electronic device according to claim 3. The heat exchanger further includes:
A heat pipe for transporting heat from the heat sink to the radiator;
The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the electronic device is an electronic device. A cabinet rack that detachably holds the plurality of devices and the heat exchanger;
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an electronic device.

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