TWI724541B - Cantainer and adapter module thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a container for immersion cooling system and an adapter module thereof. The container includes a plural of container sidewalls, a circuit board, an inner connector, and an outer connector. The plural of container sidewalls form an accommodating space. One of the plural of container sidewalls has an opening. The circuit board is fixed to the one of the plural of container sidewalls and seals the opening. The circuit board has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The first surface is exposed to the accommodating space. The inner connector is fixed on the first surface and is located in the accommodating space. The outer connector is fixed on the second surface and is electrically connected to the inner connector through the circuit board. The outer connector is exposed to the outside of the container. Therein, the circuit board, the inner connector, and the outer connector form the adapter module.

Description

Tank body and its transfer module

The present invention relates to an immersed cooling system, in particular to a tank used in the immersed cooling system and an adapter module installed on the tank.

In equipment using a two-phase immersion cooling system, electronic components or devices are immersed in a dielectric fluid, and the heat generated by the electronic components or devices is dissipated by the phase change of the surrounding dielectric fluid from liquid to gas. . However, electronic components or devices still need to communicate with other electronic devices through the network. Therefore, there will be holes in the tank of the two-phase immersion cooling system. Electricity and signals can be connected to external devices, but the vapor of the dielectric fluid can easily escape from the openings, gaps, etc. of the tank, causing the loss of the dielectric fluid. Although reducing the opening of the tank and increasing the opening above the condenser are helpful to reduce the escape of dielectric liquid vapor, for the tank with a servo inside, there must be an opening on the wall of the tank to make the servo The power and signal of the device can be connected to external devices. It is difficult to effectively prevent the escape of dielectric liquid vapor due to the simple cable passing through the opening and it is not easy to seal, and the general signal and power adapter does not have an air-tight effect. In addition, a tank that is too high will cause difficulties in maintenance. Therefore, how to suppress the leakage of the dielectric fluid or its vapor in the equipment from the opening or the equipment output/input adapter is very important for the design of the two-phase immersion cooling system.

In view of the problems in the prior art, one object of the present invention is to provide a tank for use in an immersion cooling system. The tank body provides internal and external power and signal connection interfaces, and has a sealing effect, thereby eliminating or inhibiting the dielectric fluid and its vapor contained in the tank body from escaping from the interface.

The tank according to the present invention is used in an immersion cooling system. The tank contains multiple The side wall of the groove, a circuit board, an inner connector and an outer connector. The groove sidewalls form an accommodating space, and one of the groove sidewalls has an opening. The circuit board is fixed to the side wall of the groove and seals the opening. The circuit board has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the first surface is exposed in the accommodating space. The inner connector is fixed on the first surface and located in the accommodating space. The outer connector is fixed on the second surface and is electrically connected to the inner connector through the circuit board. The external connector is exposed outside the groove body.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an adapter module, which is arranged on a tank side wall of a tank used in an immersion cooling system. The transfer module provides a power and signal connection interface inside and outside the tank, and has a sealing effect, thereby eliminating or inhibiting the dielectric fluid and its vapor contained in the tank from escaping from the interface.

The adapter module according to the present invention is arranged on a tank side wall of a tank body used in an immersion cooling system, and the tank side wall has an opening. The transfer module includes a circuit board, an inner connector and an outer connector. The circuit board has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The inner connector is fixed on the first surface. The outer connector is fixed on the second surface and is electrically connected to the inner connector through the circuit board. Wherein, the adapter module is fixed to the side wall of the groove via the circuit board and seals the opening, so that the inner connector is located in the accommodating space of the groove body and the outer connector is exposed outside the groove body.

Compared with the prior art, in the tank body and the transfer module according to the present invention, the circuit board can seal the opening, and the electrical connection between the inner connector and the outer connector does not cause the circuit board to produce structure The upper perforation destroys or reduces the sealing effect, so the air-tight effect can be achieved on the opening of the side wall of the groove, thereby effectively eliminating or inhibiting the dielectric fluid and its vapor contained in the groove from escaping from the interface.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further understood from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

1, 2, 3: tank

1a: accommodating space

12: body

122: groove sidewall

122a: opening

122b: outer wall

122c: inner wall surface

14: Upper cover

16, 26, 36: adapter module

162: circuit board

1622: first surface

1624: second surface

164: Internal connector

166: External connector

168: Sealing ring

170: fixed parts

171a: Nut

171b: Spacer ring

171c: O-ring

172: Annular protrusion

174: Ring groove

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a tank according to an embodiment.

Figure 2 is an exploded view of the adapter module in Figure 1;

Fig. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the tank along the line X-X in Fig. 1.

Figure 4 is an exploded view of a tank according to another embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the tank along the line Y-Y in Fig. 4;

Figure 6 is an exploded view of a tank according to another embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of the tank along the line Z-Z in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the tank body in Fig. 3 configured according to another embodiment.

Please refer to Figure 1 to Figure 3. According to an embodiment, a tank 1 includes a main body 12, an upper cover 14 and an adapter module 16. The upper cover 14 is combined with the main body 12 to form an accommodating space 1a, which can be used for accommodating electronic systems (such as system motherboards), coolant, condensers, and the like. The body 12 includes a plurality of groove side walls, one of the groove side walls 122 has an opening 122 a, and the adapter module 16 is mounted to the groove side wall 122 and seals the opening 122 a. The electronic system accommodated in the accommodating space 1a can be electrically connected to external devices (such as input/output devices, display devices, power supplies, etc.) via the adapter module 16. In practice, the adapter module 16 can also be installed on other groove sidewalls of the groove body 1 (for example, the groove sidewall of the upper cover 14), and it will not be repeated. In addition, in practice, an O-ring can be used between the upper cover 14 and the body 12 to increase the sealing effect, and the connecting pipe between the condenser and the external device (such as the heat sink) and the side wall of the tank 1 also adopt a sealing structure (such as Fill the gap between the pipeline and the side wall of the tank 1 with sealing materials, use sealing adapters, etc.). Thereby, the tank body 1 can provide an effectively sealed accommodating space 1a, so it is suitable for use in an immersion cooling system, which can prevent or effectively inhibit the cooling liquid contained in the accommodating space 1a from escaping to the outside of the tank body 1, and Provides an interface for connecting the electronic system contained in the accommodating space 1a with external devices.

In this embodiment, the electronic system is, for example, the motherboard of a server, and the motherboard includes Central processing unit, baseboard management controller, memory, hard disk, power supply, peripheral component interconnection transmission (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, abbreviated as PCle), basic input/output system (Basic Input/Output System, abbreviated as BIOS) .

In this embodiment, the transfer module 16 includes a circuit board 162, a plurality of inner connectors 164, and a plurality of outer connectors 166. The circuit board 162 has a first surface 1622 and a second surface 1624 opposite to the first surface 1622. The inner connectors 164 are fixed on the first surface 1622. The external connectors 166 are fixed on the second surface 1624. The circuit board 162 is fixed to the groove side wall 122 and seals the opening 122a. The first surface 1622 is exposed in the accommodating space 1a. The inner connectors 164 are located in the accommodating space 1a. The external connectors 166 can be exposed outside the tank 1. In addition, the inner connector 164 and the outer connector 166 are not directly connected but are electrically connected by the circuit board 162. In practice, the structure of the inner connector 164 and the outer connector 166 is not limited to one-to-one. For example, a plurality of inner connectors 164 or outer connectors 166 are integrated into a single connector.

In addition, in this embodiment, the first surface 1622 is directly opposite to the outer wall 122 b of the groove side wall 122. The adapter module 16 also includes a sealing ring 168 to increase the sealing performance between the circuit board 162 and the groove side wall 122 (the opening 122a). Wherein, the sealing ring 168 surrounds the opening 122a of the groove side wall 122, and also surrounds the inner connectors 164, and is sandwiched between the first surface 1622 and the outer wall surface 122b. In addition, the transfer module 16 further includes a plurality of fixing members 170 for fixing the circuit board 162 to the side wall 122 of the groove. In this embodiment, the fixing member 170 is located outside the sealing ring 168 and is a screw, with a nut 171a and a spacer ring 171b to lock the circuit board 162 on the groove side wall 122, and with an O-ring 171c. Increase the tightness here. In addition, in practice, other components can be added to increase the sealing performance, for example, sealing gaskets are provided between the screw head and the circuit board 162, and between the nut 171a and the inner wall surface 122c of the groove side wall 122. However, it is not limited to this in practice. For example, if a stud is fixed to the side wall 122 of the groove (for example, by riveting), the fixing member 170 is implemented by a nut 171a, and the circuit board 162 is fixed to the side wall of the groove by screwing the nut 171a to the stud. 122. The aforementioned fixing structure of the stud can logically be regarded as that the groove side wall 122 has no holes, so there is no sealing problem. For another example, a screw hole post can be directly fixed on the outer wall surface 122b of the groove side wall 122, and the fixing member 170 can be directly locked into the screw hole The post can also fix the circuit board 162 to the side wall 122 of the groove, and therefore, there is no hole in the side wall 122 of the groove, so there is no sealing problem.

In addition, in this embodiment, the inner connector 164 is fixed on the first surface 1622 by surface-mount technology (SMT), and the outer connector 166 is fixed on the second surface 1624 by surface-mount technology. . In practice, the circuit board 162 can be a multi-layer board, and the circuits of each layer can be connected to each other through a plurality of blind holes, which can prevent the circuit board 162 from forming a through hole penetrating the circuit board 162 as a whole, which affects the sealing performance. In practice, even if the circuit board 162 is connected to the circuit through a through hole, the through hole can be filled with a suitable material (for example, the through hole is filled with solder), and the sealing effect of the circuit board 162 and the opening 122a can also be maintained. In the same way, even if the inner connector 164 and the outer connector 166 are respectively fixed to the circuit board 162 by means of plug-ins, the through-holes on the circuit board 162 for plug-ins will also be filled with solder, so the circuit can be maintained. The sealing effect of the plate 162 and the opening 122a. In addition, the circuit board 162 can also have a conformal coating (such as a conformal coating) formed on the first surface 1622, which can increase the weather resistance of the circuit board 162 and fill in small holes that may be generated during the manufacturing process, thereby further increasing the sealing performance.

In addition, in practice, the tank body 1 may include other structures to increase the sealing effect of the sealing ring 168. Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5, which show a tank 2 according to another embodiment. The structure of the tank body 2 is substantially the same as that of the tank body 1, so in principle, the tank body 2 follows the symbol of the tank body 1. For other descriptions of the tank body 2, please refer directly to the relevant descriptions of the tank body 1 and its variants above, and will not be repeated. Compared with the tank body 1, the adapter module 26 of the tank body 2 further includes an annular protrusion 172 corresponding to the sealing ring 168 disposed on the outer wall surface 122 b of the groove side wall 122. The annular protrusion 172 has the same profile as the sealing ring 168, and the annular protrusion 172 abuts against the sealing ring 168, thereby increasing the sealing performance between the circuit board 162 and the opening 122a. In this embodiment, the annular protrusion 172 and the groove side wall 122 are integrally formed (for example, the groove side wall 122 is made of a thermoplastic material); however, the implementation is not limited to this. For example, the annular protrusion 172 is formed by adhering a part to the outer wall surface 122b. The section of the annular protrusion 172 is triangular, so the annular protrusion 172 has an edge that can be pressed into the sealing ring 168, which can increase the contact area and the stability of the contact between the annular protrusion 172 and the sealing ring 168, and increase the circuit board 162 and the opening. The tightness of 122a. In addition, in the implementation Above, the annular protrusion 172 can also be modified on the first surface 1622 of the circuit board 162, which can also increase the sealing performance between the circuit board 162 and the opening 122a, and will not be described again.

Please refer to FIGS. 6 and 7, which show a tank 3 according to another embodiment. The structure of the tank body 3 is substantially the same as that of the tank body 1, so in principle, the tank body 3 follows the symbol of the tank body 1. For other descriptions of the tank 3, you can directly refer to the relevant descriptions of the tank 1 and its variants above, and will not be repeated. Compared with the tank body 1, the adapter module 36 of the tank body 3 further includes an annular groove 174, and the corresponding sealing ring 168 is disposed on the outer wall surface 122 b of the groove side wall 122. The annular groove 174 has the same contour as the sealing ring 168, and the sealing ring 168 is partially accommodated in the annular groove 174, thereby increasing the sealing performance between the circuit board 162 and the opening 122a. In this embodiment, the annular groove 174 and the groove side wall 122 are integrally formed (for example, the groove side wall 122 is made of a thermoplastic material or formed by secondary processing); however, the implementation is not limited to this. For example, the annular groove 174 is formed by adhering a part to the outer wall surface 122b. The cross-section of the annular groove 174 is a triangular groove, so its two sides can increase the contact area and the stability of the contact between the annular groove 174 and the sealing ring 168, and both can increase the sealing performance between the circuit board 162 and the opening 122a. In addition, in practice, the annular groove 174 can also be modified on the first surface 1622 of the circuit board 162, which can also increase the sealing performance between the circuit board 162 and the opening 122a, and will not be repeated.

In the foregoing embodiment, the circuit board 162 in the tanks 1, 2, and 3 is located outside the main body 12, and the first surface 1622 of the circuit board 162 is directly opposite to the outer wall 122b of the tank side wall 122; however, the implementation is not limited to this . Refer to Figure 8. The circuit board 162 is modified to be disposed inside the main body 12, and the circuit board 162 can also be fixed to the side wall 122 of the groove. Wherein, the second surface 1624 of the circuit board 162 is directly opposite to the inner wall surface 122 c of the side wall 122 of the groove. For other descriptions of the structural configuration shown in FIG. 8, you can directly refer to the relevant descriptions of the tank bodies 1, 2, 3 and their modification examples above, and will not be repeated.

The foregoing descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the patent application of the present invention should fall within the scope of the present invention.

1a: accommodating space

122: groove sidewall

122a: opening

122b: outer wall

122c: inner wall surface

16: transfer module

162: circuit board

1622: first surface

1624: second surface

164: Internal connector

166: External connector

168: Sealing ring

170: fixed parts

171a: Nut

171c: O-ring

Claims (12)

A tank used in an immersion cooling system. The tank includes: a plurality of tank side walls to form an accommodating space; one of the tank side walls has an opening; and a circuit board is fixed to the tank side wall And sealing the opening, the circuit board has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the first surface is exposed in the accommodating space; an inner connector is fixed on the first surface and Located in the accommodating space; and an outer connector fixed on the second surface and electrically connected to the inner connector through the circuit board, and the outer connector is exposed outside the tank. The groove body according to claim 1, further comprising a sealing ring, wherein the sealing ring surrounds the opening and is sandwiched between the first surface and an outer wall surface of the side wall of the groove. The groove body according to claim 2, wherein the first surface or the outer wall of the groove side wall has an annular protrusion which abuts against the sealing ring. The groove body according to claim 2, wherein the first surface or the outer wall of the groove side wall has an annular groove, and the sealing ring is partially accommodated in the annular groove. The tank body described in claim 2 further includes a plurality of fixing elements, wherein the circuit board is fixed to the side wall of the groove via the fixing elements, and the fixing elements are located outside the sealing ring. An adapter module is arranged on a groove side wall of a groove body used in an immersion cooling system. The groove side wall has an opening. The adapter module includes: a circuit board with a first surface and opposite On a second surface of the first surface; an inner connector fixed on the first surface; and an outer connector fixed on the second surface and electrically connected to the inner connector via the circuit board Wherein, the adapter module is fixed to the side wall of the groove via the circuit board and seals the opening, so that the inner connector is located in the accommodating space of the groove body and the outer connector is exposed outside the groove body. The adapter module according to claim 6, wherein the inner connector is fixed on the first surface by surface adhesion technology. The adapter module according to claim 7, wherein the external connector is fixed on the second surface by surface adhesion technology. The adapter module according to claim 6, further comprising a sealing ring disposed on the first surface and surrounding the inner connector, wherein when the adapter module is fixed to the side wall of the groove, the first The surface faces the outer wall surface of the side wall of the groove, and the sealing ring surrounds the opening and is sandwiched between the first surface and the outer wall surface of the side wall of the groove. The adapter module according to claim 9, further comprising an annular protrusion formed on the first surface or the outer wall surface of the side wall of the groove and tightly abutting the sealing ring. The adapter module according to claim 9 further includes an annular groove formed on the first surface or the outer wall surface of the side wall of the groove, and the sealing ring is partially accommodated in the annular groove. The adapter module according to claim 9 further includes a plurality of fixing elements located outside the sealing ring, wherein the circuit board is fixed to the side wall of the groove via the fixing elements.

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