JP2018010500A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor capable of satisfactorily cooling electronic apparatus with small noises.SOLUTION: An information processor 10 includes: an electronic apparatus 20; a housing 11 which stores the electronic apparatus 20; an air blower which is disposed in the housing 11 to form air flow circulating within the housing 11; a heat sink 13; a heat radiation part disposed outside of the housing 11; and a piping for flowing coolant between the heat sink 13 and the heat radiation part. The heat sink 13 absorbs heat discharged from the electronic apparatus 20. The heat absorbed by the heat sink 13 is sent to the heat radiation part via the coolant and discharged to the circumstance from the heat radiation part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus.

  With the advent of an advanced information society, a large amount of data is handled by computers, and many computers (servers) are installed in the same room and collectively managed in facilities such as data centers. For example, in a data center, a large number of racks (server racks) are installed in a computer room, and a plurality of servers are stored in each rack.

  Electronic devices such as servers generate heat as they operate. In general, an allowable upper limit temperature is set for an electronic device, and if the temperature of the electronic device exceeds the allowable upper limit temperature, it may cause performance degradation, malfunction, or failure. Therefore, in the data center, a fan (blower) is used to take in cool air into the rack, and heat generated in the rack is discharged out of the rack.

  By the way, in recent years, a system called a mini cloud has been proposed in which a small rack containing a plurality of (for example, about 6 to 10) servers is installed and operated in an office. However, in the rack, a plurality of fans rotate at high speed to cool the server, and a large noise is generated. In the data center, there are few people entering and exiting the place where the rack is installed, so there is little noise, but in the office, noise is a big problem because there are relatively many people coming and going.

  A technique has been proposed in which a heat-generating component is housed in a sealed space, and heat generated by the heat-generating component is transported out of the sealed space by a refrigerant and discharged (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-210088 JP 2002-181437 A

  In order to suppress noise generated in the server from leaking into the room, it is conceivable to store an electronic device such as a server in a sealed housing. However, when electronic devices are stored in a sealed casing, it becomes difficult to sufficiently cool those electronic devices.

  It is an object of the disclosed technique to provide an information processing apparatus that can sufficiently cool an electronic device and has low noise or no sound.

  According to one aspect of the disclosed technology, an electronic device, a housing that houses the electronic device, a blower that is disposed in the housing and forms a flow of air that circulates in the housing, and the housing An endothermic part that absorbs heat that is disposed and is discharged from the electronic device, a heat dissipating part that is disposed outside the housing, and a pipe that allows a refrigerant to flow between the endothermic part and the heat dissipating part. An information processing apparatus is provided.

  According to the information processing apparatus according to the above aspect, noise is reduced or silenced, and the electronic device can be sufficiently cooled.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the inside of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line II in FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining the connection of the heat absorption part, the tank, the pump, the branch part, and the flow path and the flow of the cooling water. FIG. 6 is a top view showing the inside of the server. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the air flow direction in each part in the housing of the information processing apparatus. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the temperature in each part of the information processing apparatus. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the inside of the information processing apparatus. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line II in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the shape of the housing 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped. In addition, a plurality of fins (heat dissipating plates) 32 are disposed on the walls on both sides in the width direction of the housing 11.

  There are no openings on the top and side surfaces of the housing 11, and the interior of the housing 11 is a substantially sealed space. However, as shown in FIG. 2, a hole (opening) 19 for drawing a cable (power cable, communication cable, etc.) into the housing 11 is provided on the floor surface of the housing 11. A sound absorbing material 33 is attached to each inner surface of the housing 11. Further, a caster 34 for facilitating movement is attached to the bottom surface of the housing 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, four support columns 12 are vertically arranged in the housing 11. A plurality of (for example, about 6 to 10) 1U (unit) servers (hereinafter simply referred to as “servers”) 20 are supported on the support columns 12 side by side in the height direction. However, the server 20 is not disposed at the lower portion of the support column 12, and is a flow path through which air passes.

  Further, in the housing 11, a heat absorbing portion 13 that absorbs heat discharged from the server 20, a tank 14 that stores cooling water, a pump 15 that transfers cooling water, and a cooling water flow path are branched. A branch part 16 is provided. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, in FIGS. 2 and 3, the left side is the front and the right side is the rear.

  The heat absorption part 13 is arrange | positioned at the back of the server 20, and has the piping (flow path) 13a along which cooling water passes, and the several fin (heat absorption board) 13b arrange | positioned along the piping 13a. The piping 13a and the fins 13b are made of a material having high thermal conductivity such as copper (including a copper alloy) or aluminum (including an aluminum alloy).

  The tank 14 is attached to the rear wall of the housing 11. The branching portion 16 is disposed above the tank 14. The branch part 16 has one cooling water inlet and two cooling water outlets.

  As described above, the plurality of fins 32 are arranged on the outer surfaces of the walls 11 a on both sides in the width direction of the housing 11 (hereinafter referred to as “side walls”). Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a flow path 31 through which the cooling water passes is provided in the side walls 11a. The side walls 11a and the fins 32 are made of a material having high thermal conductivity such as copper (including a copper alloy) or aluminum (including an aluminum alloy). In the present embodiment, the side wall 11 a having the flow path 31 and the fins 32 is an example of a heat radiating unit.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 5, the connection between the heat absorption part 13, the tank 14, the pump 15, the branch part 16, and the flow path 31 and the flow of the cooling water will be described.

  The lower side of the tank 14 and the water suction port (suction) of the pump 15 are connected by a pipe 17a. Further, the discharge port (delivery) of the pump 15 and the cooling water inlet of the heat absorbing part 13 (pipe 13a) are connected by a pipe 17b, and the cooling water outlet of the heat absorbing part 13 and the cooling water inlet of the branch part 16 are connected. Are connected by a pipe 17c.

  The two cooling water outlets of the branch part 16 and the inlets of the flow paths 31 of the side walls 11a are connected by pipes 18a. The outlet of the flow path 31 of each side wall 11a and the tank 14 are connected by a pipe 18b.

  The cooling water stored in the tank 14 is sent to the heat absorption unit 13 by the pump 15. And the cooling water discharged | emitted from the heat absorption part 13 is sent to the branch part 16 via the piping 17c. After that, it is sent from the branch part 16 to each side wall part 11a through the pipe 18a, and further returns to the tank 14 through the pipe 18b.

  In this embodiment, water (cooling water) is used as the refrigerant, but a liquid other than water may be used as the refrigerant.

  FIG. 6 is a top view showing the inside of the server 20.

  In this embodiment, the server 20 is a so-called 1U server, and has a height of 1.75 inches (44.45 mm) and a width (a distance between mounting holes for mounting to the column 11) of 19 inches (482.6 mm). Is set. The server 20 is an example of an electronic device.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the server 20 includes a substrate 24 on which a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a memory 22, and a power supply unit (Power Supply Unit) 23 are mounted, a plurality of recording devices (storage) 25, and a plurality of recording devices (storage) 25. And a fan (blower) 26. As the server 20 is operated, the fan 26 rotates to send air from the front side to the rear side. In the present embodiment, a heat sink is attached to a heat generating component such as the CPU 21.

  Hereinafter, the cooling operation of the server 20 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the arrow in FIG. 7 has shown the flow direction of the air in each part in the housing | casing 11. FIG.

  When the server 20 is operated, heat-generating components such as the CPU 21 in the server 20 generate heat. Further, the fan 26 rotates with the operation of the server 20, air is sent from the front to the rear of the server 20, and the heat generating components such as the CPU 21 are cooled by the air.

  The temperature of air rises by cooling heat-generating components such as the CPU 21. Then, the air whose temperature has risen passes between the fins 13b of the heat absorption unit 13 disposed behind the server 20 next.

  As described above, cooling water is supplied into the pipe 13 a of the heat absorbing unit 13 through the pump 15. Therefore, heat exchange is performed between the cooling water passing through the pipe 13a and the air passing between the fins 13b. As a result, the temperature of the air passing between the fins 13b decreases, and the temperature of the cooling water passing through the pipe 13a increases.

  The air whose temperature has been lowered by passing between the fins 13b moves from the top to the bottom on the rear side of the heat absorbing portion 13. Further, it passes between the fins 13 b of the heat absorbing portion 13 toward the front, passes through the lower side of the server 20, and moves to the front side of the housing 11. At this time, heat exchange is performed between the air passing between the fins 13b and the cooling water passing through the pipe 13a, and the temperature of the cooling water further decreases.

  Thereafter, the air that has moved to the front side in the housing 11 through the lower side of the server 20 moves from the bottom to the top along the wall surface. Then, the fan 26 moves through the server 20 again from the front to the back, and the heat-generating components such as the CPU 21 are cooled during that time.

  On the other hand, the cooling water (cooling water whose temperature has risen) discharged from the heat absorbing part 13 moves to the branch part 16 through the pipe 17c, and further passes through the pipe 18a to the flow path 31 in the side wall (heat radiating part) 11a. to go into. And while passing through the inside of the flow path 31, heat is dissipated in the environment in which the information processing apparatus 10 is installed via the fins 32, and the temperature of the cooling water decreases. The cooling water whose temperature has been lowered by passing through the flow path 31 of the side wall 11a moves to the tank 14 through the pipe 18b and is sent again to the heat absorbing unit 13 by the pump 15.

  As described above, in the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the fan 26 forms an air flow that circulates in the housing 11. Moreover, the cooling water (refrigerant) circulates between the heat absorption part 13 and the side wall 11a (heat radiation part) by the pump 15.

  In the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the server 20 is housed in the substantially sealed casing 11 in which the sound absorbing material 33 is disposed, so that noise hardly leaks to the outside. Therefore, noise does not become a problem even if it is placed in an environment where there are people such as offices.

  In addition, the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment absorbs the heat generated in the server 20 by the heat absorbing unit 13, transports it to the side wall (heat radiating unit) 11a by cooling water, and provides a large number of fins 32 provided on the side wall 11a. To dissipate heat into the environment. Thereby, it can avoid that the temperature of the server 20 exceeds allowable upper limit temperature, and the fall of the performance resulting from a heat | fever, malfunction, or a failure can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, the simulation result of the cooling capacity of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a schematic diagram shown in FIG.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 8, the temperature T1 of the environment where the information processing apparatus 10 is installed is 24 ° C., the temperature T2 of the air discharged from the server 20 is 60 ° C., and the intake temperature T3 of the server 20 is 45 ° C. It was. Moreover, the temperature T4 of the cooling water supplied from the heat absorption part 13 to the side wall 11a was 45 ° C., and the temperature T5 of the cooling water returning from the side wall 11a to the tank 14 was 38 ° C.

  In this case, as a result of the simulation, it has been found that 3000 W electronic devices (10 servers 20 with 300 W power consumption) housed in the casing 11 can be cooled.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cable is drawn into the housing 11 through the hole 19 (see FIG. 2) provided on the floor surface of the housing 11. However, in order to obtain a further sound insulation, the casing 11 has a sealed structure (a structure without an opening), and an electronic device in the casing 11 and an external electronic device (including a power supply device) are connected via a connector. You may make it connect electrically.

  In the above-described embodiment, the fan 26 is stored in the server 20. However, the fan 26 may be disposed outside the server 20.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a vibration isolator that absorbs vibration generated in the server 20 is provided, and other structures are basically the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, the description of the same part as the first embodiment is omitted here.

  In the present embodiment, a server storage unit 40 that stores a plurality of servers 20 is disposed in the housing 11 of the information processing apparatus 10. The server storage unit 40 is supported by a frame 41 disposed on the top of the housing 11 via a vibration isolator 42.

  The fan 26 (see FIG. 6) provided in the server 20 generates not only noise but also vibrations during operation. When vibration is transmitted to the outside, not only does the vibration cause discomfort, but the vibration may cause new noise.

  In the present embodiment, the vibration generated in the server 20 is absorbed by the vibration isolator 42, so that the vibration is prevented from being transmitted to the outside, and not only the discomfort due to noise but also the discomfort due to vibration is prevented.

  In this embodiment, a coil spring is used as the vibration isolator 42, but a vibration isolating rubber or a vibration isolating damper may be used instead of the coil spring. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 9, the vibration isolator 42 is disposed between the server storage unit 40 and the frame 41 disposed at the top of the housing 11. The vibration isolator 42 may be arranged between the arranged frames.

  The following additional notes are disclosed with respect to the above embodiments.

(Appendix 1) Electronic equipment,
A housing for housing the electronic device;
A blower that is arranged in the housing and forms a flow of air circulating in the housing;
An endothermic portion that is disposed within the housing and absorbs heat discharged from the electronic device;
A heat dissipating part disposed outside the housing;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a pipe through which a refrigerant flows between the heat absorption part and the heat radiation part.

  (Supplementary note 2) The information processing apparatus according to supplementary note 1, wherein an opening is not provided on an upper surface and a side surface of the casing.

  (Supplementary note 3) The information processing apparatus according to supplementary note 1 or 2, wherein a sound absorbing material is disposed on an inner surface of the casing.

  (Supplementary note 4) The information processing apparatus according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 3, wherein the electronic device is supported in the casing via a vibration isolator.

(Appendix 5) A tank for storing the refrigerant;
A pump for transferring the refrigerant through the pipe;
The information processing apparatus according to any one of appendices 1 to 4, wherein the refrigerant flows from the tank in the order of the heat absorption unit and the heat dissipation unit and returns to the tank.

  (Additional remark 6) The said heat absorption part has a flow path through which the said refrigerant | coolant passes, and several fins arrange | positioned along the said flow path, Information of any one of Additional remark 1 thru | or 5 characterized by the above-mentioned. Processing equipment.

  (Additional remark 7) The said thermal radiation part has the flow path through which the said refrigerant | coolant is provided in the wall of the said housing | casing, and several fins arrange | positioned on the outer surface of the wall of the said housing | casing, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. The information processing apparatus according to any one of appendices 1 to 6.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Information processing apparatus, 11 ... Housing | casing, 11a ... Side wall (radiation part), 12 ... Support | pillar, 13 ... Heat absorption part, 13a ... Piping (flow path), 13b ... Fin, 14 ... Tank, 15 ... Pump, 16 ... Branch part, 20 ... server, 21 ... CPU, 22 ... memory, 23 ... power supply unit, 24 ... substrate, 25 ... recording device, 26 ... fan (blower), 31 ... flow path, 32 ... fin, 33 ... sound absorbing material, 40 ... Server storage unit, 41 ... Frame, 42 ... Vibration isolator.

Claims (5)

Electronic equipment,
A housing for housing the electronic device;
A blower that is arranged in the housing and forms a flow of air circulating in the housing;
An endothermic portion that is disposed within the housing and absorbs heat discharged from the electronic device;
A heat dissipating part disposed outside the housing;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a pipe through which a refrigerant flows between the heat absorption part and the heat radiation part.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein no opening is provided on an upper surface and a side surface of the housing.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sound absorbing material is disposed on an inner surface of the casing.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is supported in the casing via a vibration isolator. A tank for storing the refrigerant;
A pump for transferring the refrigerant through the pipe;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerant flows from the tank in the order of the heat absorption unit and the heat dissipation unit and returns to the tank.

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