JP7459545B2 - Server cooling equipment, electronic equipment, and server cooling methods - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a server cooling device, an electronic device, and a server cooling method.

Electronic devices that are equipped with many heat-generating components such as CPUs (Central Processing Units), especially so-called high-density servers in which various electronic components are housed in a high-density housing, are There is a need for a technology to efficiently cool heat-generating components, especially those placed in locations where cooling air is difficult to circulate. Related to this type of cooling device are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3. Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which cooling medium piping is provided inside a container in which a heat generating component is housed to cool the air inside the container. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which a substrate is provided on a plate through which cooling water flows, electronic components and the like are arranged on this substrate, and cooling air flowing over the substrate is cooled. Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration in which cooling with a refrigerant and cooling with cooling air are used in combination for electronic components in a server. Further, Patent Document 4 discloses a configuration in which cooling air flowing inside a housing is cooled with a refrigerant. Further, Patent Document 5 discloses a configuration in which a heat exchange pipe through which a refrigerant flows and a heat generating component are brought into direct contact to be cooled.

Specification of Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2-106896 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-128710 JP 2013-8888 A Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-191974 JP 2016-42350 A

DLC (Direct Liquid Cooling), which is described in Patent Document 5, in which a heat exchange pipe through which a refrigerant flows is brought into direct contact with heat-generating components for cooling, is a more efficient cooling method than cooling with cooling air, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 4. However, when cooling only the CPU, which is a major component constituting a server, the heat that can be removed is only about 60% of the heat generated by the entire server. Therefore, in order to use DLC to cool the remaining 40% of the heat generated by the memory and PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) cards mounted on the server other than the CPU, it would be necessary to develop a new dedicated heat sink separate from the CPU, which would increase costs, making it difficult to cool the heat generated by all of the CPU, memory, PCI cards, etc.

In addition, water-cooled doors, which are equipped with water-cooling equipment on the rear doors of racks where servers are mounted to cool exhaust air and remove heat, are becoming popular, but they are extremely heavy and difficult to maintain by a small number of people. Furthermore, if it is simply combined with a DLC, it is necessary to prepare incidental equipment (CDU (Coolant distribution unit) and manifold) separately from the DLC, resulting in an increase in cost.
For this reason, we would like to prepare a cooler for each server that can use the same ancillary equipment as the DLC to cool the server's exhaust air, but since communication cables and power cables are usually connected to the rear of the server, cooling is not easy. equipment cannot be installed, and redesigning a dedicated server is costly.
There's a problem.

The object of this invention is to provide a cooling device capable of cooling the entirety of electronic equipment such as a server, an electronic device equipped with the same, and a cooling method.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes the following means.
A server cooling device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an interface unit that receives cooling air taken in from one side and is electrically connected to an external device, and a first interface unit that exchanges data between the interface unit and the interface unit. a second electronic device that exchanges data with the first electronic device; and a second electronic device that exchanges data with the first electronic device; A server cooling device provided in a server, comprising: a fan for discharging air to the other side opposite to the first electronic device; It has a supply pipe that supplies a cooling medium to the cooling part, and a discharge pipe that discharges the cooling medium that has absorbed heat in the cooling part, and at least a part of the supply pipe and the discharge pipe is connected to the second pipe. It is characterized by being placed between the electronic device and the fan.

A server cooling method according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a first electronic device that exchanges data with an interface section that receives air taken in from the side of an interface section that is electrically connected to an external device. and a second electronic device that exchanges data with the first electronic device, and a step of discharging the air to the opposite side of the interface section; a step of supplying a medium to exchange heat with the first electronic device and discharging the heat-exchanged cooling medium; and air discharged from the second electronic device in the middle of the path through which the cooling medium flows. and a step of exchanging heat with.

The present invention makes it possible to cool the entire electronic device.

1A and 1B show a server cooling device according to a minimum configuration of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a layout diagram in plan view, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a side view of a 1st embodiment. FIG. 4 is a side view of the server in FIG. 3 in a separated state of the cooling section. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the arrangement of the second embodiment as viewed from the front side. FIG. 11 is a plan view of the second embodiment. It is a side view of a 2nd embodiment. It is a table showing the relationship between temperature T, temperature difference t, and fan load.

The configuration of an electronic device equipped with a cooling device according to the minimum configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a server, which includes an interface unit 2 that receives cooling air taken in from one side and is electrically connected to an external device, and a first electronic device 3 that exchanges data between the interface unit 2 and the interface unit 2. and a second electronic device 4 that exchanges data with the first electronic device 3; and a second electronic device 4 that receives and receives data from the first electronic device 3; It is provided with a fan 5 that discharges the air to the other side opposite to the one side. The first electronic device 3 includes a cooling unit 6 that cools by heat exchange with a cooling medium, a supply pipe 7 that supplies the cooling medium to the cooling unit 6, and a cooling medium that absorbs heat in the cooling unit 6. a discharge pipe 8 for discharging the air, at least a part of the circulation loop of the cooling medium flowing through the supply pipe 7 and the discharge pipe 8 passing through a region between the second electronic device 4 and the fan 5. It is plumbed.

In the electronic device with the above configuration, the fan 5 generates a flow of cooling air from one side (upper side in FIG. 1(a), left side in FIG. 1(b) -- generally the front side of the server) to the other side (lower side in FIG. 1(a), right side in FIG. 1(b) -- generally the rear side of the server), thereby cooling each device inside the server. The first electronic device 3 can also be cooled by the cooling medium flowing through the cooling unit 6. A low-temperature cooling medium is supplied to the cooling unit 6 from the supply pipe 7, and the cooling medium that has absorbed the heat of the first electronic device 3 in the cooling unit 6 can be discharged through the discharge pipe 8 and returned to a cold source (e.g., a refrigerator, compressor) not shown.

In addition, by routing a portion of the cooling medium circulation loop including the supply pipe 7 and/or exhaust pipe 8 through the intake side of the fan 5 (between the second electronic device 4 and the fan 5 in the illustrated example), the air drawn into the fan 5, more specifically the cooling air that has absorbed the heat from each electronic device in the server, is cooled by the cooling medium used in the cooling section 6, thereby reducing the heat released from the fan 5 to the outside of the server 1 (generally the server room).

A server cooling method performed in conjunction with the operation of the server cooling device will be described with reference to FIG.
In the server cooling device, a server cooling method is executed which includes the steps of: discharging air taken in from the side of an interface unit 2 electrically connected to an external device, passing through a first electronic device 3 which exchanges data with the interface unit, and a second electronic device 4 which exchanges data with the first electronic device 3, to the opposite side of the interface unit 2; supplying a cooling medium different from the air to the first electronic device 3 to cause heat exchange with the first electronic device 3 and discharging the heat-exchanged cooling medium; and causing heat exchange with the second electronic device 4 midway along the path through which the cooling medium flows.

The server cooling method can cool each device inside the server by generating a flow of cooling air from one side to the other side using the fan 5. The first electronic device 3 can also be cooled by the cooling medium flowing through the cooling unit 6. A low-temperature cooling medium is supplied to the cooling unit 6 from the supply pipe 7, and the cooling medium that has absorbed the heat of the first electronic device 3 in the cooling unit 6 can be discharged through the discharge pipe 8 and returned to a cold source (e.g., a refrigerator, a compressor) not shown. By making at least one of the paths through which the cooling medium flows pass through the intake side of the fan 5, the air sucked into the fan 5, more specifically, the cooling air that has absorbed the heat of each electronic device in the server, is cooled by the cooling medium used in the cooling unit 6, thereby reducing the heat released from the fan 5 to the outside of the server 1 (generally the server room).

(First embodiment)
A configuration according to a first embodiment in which FIG. 1 is embodied and the present invention is applied to a two-unit, one-node server will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. Note that in FIGS. 2 to 4, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals to simplify the explanation.
Reference numeral 11 denotes a housing of the server 1 that functions as one node by two units (electronic components equipped with a CPU, memory, etc.). Inside this housing 11, on one side of the server 1 (generally, this one side is the front side of the server), there is a PCI card 21 equipped with connectors etc. to be connected to other electronic devices, and a main A power supply unit 22 that is connected to a power source and supplies power to the server 1 is provided.

On the downstream side of these units, two units 31, which are electronic components mounted with a CPU, memory, heat radiation fins attached thereto, etc., are arranged side by side. These units 31 are provided with a cooling section 32 that brings heat-generating components such as a CPU into direct or indirect contact with a cooling medium to exchange heat, for example. The cooling unit 32 includes, for example, a jacket through which a cooling medium circulates, and heat generated by the CPU and memory is absorbed by the cooling medium through heat conduction between the cooling medium in the jacket and the CPU and memory. In addition, the CPU and memory are equipped with parts designed to increase the surface area, such as heat radiation fins, and are configured to exchange heat with the air flowing inside the housing 11. has been done.

An opening 13 is formed in the top plate 12 of the housing 11, and a supply pipe 7 that supplies cooling medium to the cooling unit 32 and a discharge pipe 8 that discharges the cooling medium that has absorbed heat from the CPU, memory, etc. in the cooling unit 32 are drawn out above the top plate 12 through this opening 13, and are further drawn out to the other side of the server 1 (this other side is generally the rear side of the server) and connected to a cold source such as a compressor (not shown). In other words, the supply pipe 7 and discharge pipe 8, which form part of a circulation loop that circulates the cooling medium to the cooling unit 32, are laid out using the space above the top plate 12 of the housing 11.

A hard disk drive 41 is provided on the other side of the unit 31, and in the illustrated example, a backplane 42, which is a board equipped with various connectors etc. connected to the hard disk drive 41, is arranged facing the one side.
A fan 5 is provided near the other side of the hard disk drive 41 with a gap between it and the hard disk drive 41. This fan 5 is configured to generate a current of cooling air that flows from one side to the other. That is, the fan 5 sucks in outside air in the direction of the arrow a in Figures 2 and 3, cools the PCI card 21, power supply unit 22, unit 31, backplane 42, and hard disk drive 41 as it passes through the server 1, and then expels the air to the outside of the server 1 in the direction of the arrow b.

A predetermined interval is provided between the hard disk drive 41 and the fan 5 in the direction of flow of cooling air (from top to bottom in FIG. 2 to left to right in FIG. A branch pipe 91 branching from the pipe 7 and reaching the discharge pipe 8 is provided. That is, through this branch pipe 91, a part of the circulation loop of the cooling medium to the cooling unit 32 is routed to a part of the cooling air flow path in the case 11 of the server 1, and the area corresponding to this route is routed through the branch pipe 91. is the exhaust cooling section 92.
A rail 14 is provided at the top of the housing 11 along the flow direction of cooling air, and the rail 14 allows the fan 5 to move between one side and the other side of the server 1. Possibly supported. That is, the fan 5 is supported so as to be movable between a state accommodated in the casing 11 as shown in FIG. 3 and a state pulled out from the casing 11 as shown in FIG. In other words, by separating it from the server 1 and pulling out the exhaust cooling unit 92 and fan 5, consideration has been given to making it easier to access the front-side unit that includes the CPU, memory, etc. required for a general-purpose server. .

Also, reference numeral 93 denotes a temperature sensor, which detects the temperature of the cooling air drawn in from the one side, and temperature sensor 94 detects the temperature of the cooling air at a position downstream of the hard disk drive 41. In other words, these temperature sensors 93 and 94 are capable of measuring the temperature of the cooling air before and after heat exchange with the heat generating element in the housing 11. Furthermore, the fan control unit 51 controls the rotation speed of the fan 5 based on the temperature information of the air supplied from the temperature sensors 93 and 94.

In the server 1 having the above configuration, the cooling air taken in from the direction of the arrow a in FIGS. 2 and 3 is discharged in the direction of the arrow b by the fan 5. A unit 31 including a CPU, memory, etc., a hard disk 41, and a backplane 42 can be cooled.
In addition, by circulating the cooling medium to the cooling unit 32 via a cooling medium circulation loop having the supply pipe 7 and the discharge pipe 8, heat generated by the CPU, memory, etc. in the unit 31 attached to the cooling unit 32 is generated. Parts can be cooled more powerfully. Also, by routing a part of the piping constituting the circulation loop between the fan 5 and the hard disk drive 41 as a branch piping, the heat of each device inside the housing 11 is absorbed and the air sucked into the fan 5 is cooled. can do. That is, by cooling the intake air of the fan 5, the temperature of the air discharged from the fan 5 to the server room can be lowered, and the load on the air conditioning of the server room can be reduced.

The control of the cooling capacity (rotation control) of the fan 5 by the fan control unit 51 is performed as follows.
When the fan control unit 51 is started, it first operates the fan 5 at an intermediate rotation rate of 50%. Next, it reads out the intake and exhaust temperatures measured by the temperature sensor 93 and the temperature sensor 94 at regular intervals (for example, every 10 seconds).
The fan control unit 51 determines the rotation rate of the fan 5 based on the table of FIG. 8 showing the relationship between temperature and rotation rate, regardless of the power supply status of the server 1, and operates the fan 5.

Here, the "ambient temperature T°C" in the table is defined as the read value of the temperature sensor 93 on the intake side of the server. Further, "exhaust temperature difference Δt°C" in the table is defined as the difference between the read value of the sensor 94 at the intake position of the exhaust cooling unit and the read value of the sensor 93 at the intake position of the server.
In other words, to give an overview of the control of the fan 5 based on these definitions, the vertical axis of the table ranges from when the ambient temperature T is very high, such as 35°C or higher, to when the ambient temperature is between 20°C and 25°C, so-called normal temperature, and further. indicates the outside air temperature (or the room temperature of an air-conditioned server room) from slightly lower than room temperature to even lower than 15°C, and the horizontal axis is the temperature sensor 93 on the intake side and the temperature sensor 93 on the exhaust side. The cases in which the temperature difference t with respect to the The fan control unit 51 controls the load of the fan 5 (ratio of output with the maximum output as 100%) based on a combination of the outside air temperature T and the temperature difference t as shown in the table.

For example, even if the outside temperature is very high (T>35℃), if the temperature on the exhaust side is slightly higher or lower than the intake side (t≦1℃), the fan should be operated at about 70%. If a temperature increase of approximately 5°C≦t≦7°C or more is detected, the fan is operated at 100% load. Note that a phenomenon where the temperature on the exhaust side is lower than that on the intake side, such as t≦0° C., may occur due to sufficient or excessive cooling by the cooling medium supplied to the cooling unit 32.

In addition, when the outside temperature is around room temperature, 20°C<T≦25°C, the fan control unit 51 controls the load on the fan 5 even when t>7 and the temperature on the exhaust side becomes extremely high. It is controlled to be about 90%. This is to provide a margin for further increasing the load on the fan 5 when the outside temperature is higher.
Furthermore, when the outside temperature is sufficiently low T≦15, the fan control unit 51 controls the fan so that the load is about 20% of t≦1. The reason for operating at a load of about 20% is to maintain the fan 5 in so-called idling operation at a load of about 20% to prevent a time lag when trying to start the fan 5 from a stopped state and an overload reduction. It's for a reason.

When the temperature conditions exceed the combination of outside air temperature T and temperature difference t shown in the table, it is desirable to suppress the temperature rise of the electronic devices in server 1 by adjusting the temperature and flow rate of the cooling medium flowing through the circulation loop, or by temporarily limiting the computational load of server 1.

(Second embodiment)
A second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a 2-unit, 4-node server will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. Note that in FIGS. 5 to 7, components common to those in FIGS. 1 to 4 are given the same reference numerals to simplify the explanation.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the server of the second embodiment, a bird disk drive 41, a backplane 42, and a fan 5 are arranged from the front side, and nodes N1 to N4 are arranged in upper and lower stages (see FIG. 5). Each has a unit 31 having a CPU, memory, etc., and a PCI card 21. Further, each of the nodes N1 to N4 is supplied with power distributed from a power supply unit 22 by a PDB (Power Distribution Board) 23 that distributes and supplies power. In this embodiment, since the PDB 23 is essential as it is composed of a plurality of nodes N1 to N4, the density is particularly high, and the space for circulating cooling air is small. There is.

In this second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the cooling air taken in from the direction of arrow a in Figures 6 and 7 is exhausted in the direction of arrow b by the fan 5, thereby cooling the PCI card, power supply unit 22, CPU, unit 31 equipped with memory etc., hard disk 41 and backplane 42 inside the housing 11.
Moreover, by circulating the cooling medium to the cooling unit 32 via a cooling medium circulation loop having the supply pipe 7 and the exhaust pipe 8, it is possible to more powerfully cool heat-generating components such as the CPU and memory in the unit 31 attached to the cooling unit 32. Furthermore, by running a part of the pipe constituting the circulation loop between the fan 5 and the hard disk drive 41 as a branch pipe, it is possible to absorb heat from each device in the housing 11 and cool the air sucked into the fan 5. In other words, by cooling the intake air of the fan 5, it is possible to lower the temperature of the air exhausted from the fan 5 to the server room, thereby reducing the load on the air conditioning of the server room.

In this second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, four PCI cards 21 are arranged above and below, and a large number of cables etc. are connected to these, so the gap on the rear side is very small. However, even if the flow of cooling air taken in from the direction of arrow a and discharged in the direction of arrow b is obstructed by the presence of the backplane 42, the temperature of the cooling air can be lowered by the exhaust cooling section 92. Can be done.

The cooling devices of the first and second embodiments and electronic devices such as servers equipped with the cooling devices do not require dedicated designs and can be realized using general-purpose servers, thereby reducing the development costs of water cooling.
In addition, by combining a DLC cooling mechanism with an exhaust cooling mechanism, heat from add-on components such as PCI cards can also be removed at low cost.
In addition, because the ancillary equipment required for laying the piping to circulate the cooling medium, such as the CDU and manifolds, can be shared with the DLC, it can be realized at low cost in cooling systems that already have DLC, without the need for large-scale additions or modifications to equipment.

The electronic devices to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be applied to electronic devices having a cooling device that combines the circulation of cooling air by a fan with cooling using a cooling medium, thereby contributing to suppressing the rise in exhaust temperature from the fan and, in turn, suppressing the rise in temperature in the server room. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to cases where, for example, there are changes to the circuit elements such as the CPU and memory mounted on the unit to be cooled, changes to the heat dissipation fins and heat sinks attached to heat-generating components, changes to the degree of utilization of latent heat and sensible heat in the cooling method using a refrigerant, etc.

The above describes an embodiment of the present invention in detail with reference to the drawings, but the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and design changes and the like that do not deviate from the gist of the present invention are also included.

The present invention can be used in a cooling device for electronic devices such as servers, electronic devices equipped with the same, and a cooling method.

1 Server 2 Interface section 3 First electronic device 4 Second electronic device 5 Fan 6 Cooling section 7 Supply piping 8 Discharge piping 11 Housing 12 Top plate 13 Opening 14 Rail 21 PCI card 22 Power supply unit 23 PDB
31 Unit 32 Cooling section 41 Hard disk drive 42 Backplane 51 Fan control section 91 Branch piping 92 Exhaust cooling section 93, 94 Temperature sensor

Claims (10)

A server cooling device provided in a server including an interface unit electrically connected to an external device, a first electronic device for transmitting and receiving data between the interface unit, a second electronic device for transmitting and receiving data between the first electronic device, and a fan for taking in air from one side and discharging the air that has passed through the interface unit, the first electronic device, and the second electronic device to another side opposite the one side,
a cooling unit that cools the first electronic device by heat exchange with a cooling medium;
a supply pipe that supplies a cooling medium to the cooling section;
a discharge pipe that discharges the cooling medium that has absorbed heat in the cooling section;
a branch pipe into which the supply pipe is branched and which is connected to the discharge pipe;
having
A part of the branch pipe is installed between the second electronic device and the fan.
Server cooling equipment. A server cooling device provided in a server including an interface unit electrically connected to an external device , a first electronic device for transmitting and receiving data between the interface unit, a second electronic device for transmitting and receiving data between the first electronic device, and a fan for taking in air from one side and discharging the air that has passed through the interface unit, the first electronic device, and the second electronic device to another side opposite the one side,
a cooling unit that cools the first electronic device by heat exchange with a cooling medium;
A supply pipe for supplying a cooling medium to the cooling unit;
A discharge pipe for discharging the cooling medium that has absorbed heat in the cooling unit;
having
At least a part of a circulation path of the cooling medium flowing through the supply pipe and the discharge pipe is disposed between the second electronic device and a fan;
a housing that houses the interface unit, the first electronic device, and the second electronic device, the housing being arranged along the airflow generated by the fan, the housing having a top plate on an upper portion thereof;
a part of the circulation path branched from the supply pipe and the exhaust pipe laid above the top plate is disposed between the electronic device and the fan below the top plate;
Server cooling equipment. The server cooling device according to claim 1 , wherein the first electronic device has a higher temperature than the second electronic device. The server cooling device according to claim 3, wherein a part of the path of the discharge pipe through which the cooling medium that has absorbed heat from the first electronic device flows is arranged in a space between the second electronic device and the fan. . 5. The server cooling device according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit that controls the rotation speed of the fan based on the temperature of air at the inlet of the interface unit and the temperature of air exhausted from the fan. The control unit controls the rotation speed of the fan based on a combination of the temperature of the air at the inlet of the interface unit and the temperature difference between the temperature of the air at the inlet of the interface unit and the temperature of the air discharged from the fan. The server cooling device according to claim 5 , which controls the server cooling device. 7. A server cooling device according to claim 1, wherein a support rail is provided above the second electronic device and the fan from the one side to the other side, and the fan is supported by the support rail. The server cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
the interface section, the first electronic device, the second electronic device, the fan,
Electronic equipment with a step of discharging air taken in from a side of an interface unit electrically connected to an external device to an opposite side of the interface unit via a first electronic device which transmits and receives data between the interface unit and an external device, and a second electronic device which transmits and receives data between the first electronic device and the air taken in from a side of the interface unit which is electrically connected to an external device, to an opposite side of the interface unit;
supplying a cooling medium different from the air to the first electronic device to exchange heat with the first electronic device, and discharging the cooling medium after heat exchange;
a step of exchanging heat with air discharged from the second electronic device midway along a path through which the cooling medium flows;
having
a housing that houses the interface unit, the first electronic device, and the second electronic device, the housing being arranged along an airflow generated by a fan, the housing having a top plate on an upper portion thereof;
A supply path and an exhaust path for the cooling medium are arranged above the top plate, and some paths branching from the supply path and the exhaust path are arranged between the electronic device and the fan below the top plate.
Server cooling methods. The flow rate of the air is controlled by a combination of the temperature of the air at the inlet of the interface section and the temperature difference between the temperature of the air at the inlet of the interface section and the temperature of the air at the outlet of the second electronic device. The server cooling method according to item 9 .

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