TWI863551B - Liquid cooling server - Google Patents

Abstract

The liquid cooling server includes a chassis, a support member, a circuit board, a computing module, a voltage regulation module, a cold plate module, two liquid cooling pipes, a radiator, and a liquid leakage detection cable. The computing module and the voltage regulating module are disposed on the circuit board and connected to each other. The voltage regulation module is configured to provide voltage signal for the computing module. The cold plate module is configured to exchange heat with the computing module. The first liquid cooling pipe is connected to the cold plate module and fixed on and upper edge of the supporting member through the first fixing member. The second liquid cooling pipe is connected to the cold plate module, and is fixed together with the first liquid cooling pipe through the second fixing member. The liquid leakage detection cable is connected to the circuit board, disposed to correspond to the two liquid cooling pipes, and the minimum distance between the voltage regulation module and the liquid leakage detection cable is greater than the preset distance, wherein the power of the computing module is at least 400 watts, and the preset distance is at least 40mm.

Description

Liquid Cooling Server

The present invention relates to a liquid-cooled server, and in particular to a liquid-assisted air cooling (LAAC) server.

With the development of digital technology, the computing power of servers plays a vital role in promoting industrial transformation and the development of digital technology. The development of computing power is closely related to the continuous updating of the central processing unit (CPU). As the performance of the processor increases, the power consumption of the processor increases. If you want to give full play to the performance of the processor, you need to let the processor work at a suitable temperature. At present, the cooling capacity of traditional air-cooled radiators for high-performance processors has begun to be stretched, so the number of servers using water-cooled plates has begun to increase. With the large-scale application of water-cooled plates in servers, the problem of leakage has arisen, and the leakage detection rope has also been born. It is also a common practice in the industry to use the leakage detection rope to determine whether the cold plate has leaked.

During the development process, the invention team found that the server would generate a leakage false alarm message when there was no leakage in the water cooling plate. The voltage measurement using an oscilloscope found that the leakage detection rope would generate electromagnetic interference when it was close to the voltage regulation module of the processor, causing the voltage of the leakage detection rope to fluctuate, thereby generating a leakage false alarm message. In this case, according to the old way of routing the water cooling plate water pipe, electromagnetic interference would occur, causing the server to trigger a leakage false alarm message.

Traditionally, in order to prevent the leakage detection rope from being affected by electromagnetic interference, the leakage detection rope is usually wrapped with a material with a shielding effect. This method undoubtedly increases the complexity of use and makes the leakage detection rope thicker, reducing the convenience of use.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a liquid-cooled server.

A liquid-cooled server according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a chassis, a support member, a circuit board, a computing module, a voltage regulating module, a cold plate module, a first liquid cooling tube, a second liquid cooling tube, a heat sink and a liquid leakage detection rope. The support member is disposed in the chassis. The circuit board is disposed in the chassis. The computing module is disposed on the circuit board. The voltage regulating module is disposed on the circuit board, connected to the computing module, and used to provide the computing module with at least one voltage signal. The cold plate module is disposed on the computing module and used to perform heat exchange on the computing module. One end of the first liquid cooling tube is connected to the cold plate module and is fixed to the upper edge of the support member through a first fixing member. One end of the second liquid cooling tube is connected to the cold plate module, and is fixed together with the portion of the first liquid cooling tube fixed to the support member through a second fixing member. The heat sink is connected to the first liquid cooling tube and the second liquid cooling tube. The leakage detection rope is connected to the circuit board and is arranged to correspond to the first and second liquid cooling tubes. A minimum distance between the leakage detection rope and the voltage regulating module is greater than a preset distance, wherein a power of the computing module is at least 400 watts, and the preset distance is at least 40 mm.

Through the above structure, the liquid cooling server disclosed in this case can use the above fixing parts to lift and set the liquid cooling pipeline and the liquid leakage detection rope by fixing means, far away from the voltage regulating module that provides the voltage signal to the computing module, thereby preventing the liquid leakage detection rope from being affected by the electromagnetic interference of the voltage signal of the voltage regulating module. In particular, as the power of the computing elements of the server gradually increases, the liquid cooling module with the liquid leakage detection rope becomes an increasingly important heat dissipation solution. Therefore, this case uses fixing parts and supporting parts to set the liquid cooling pipeline and the liquid leakage detection rope in the server away from the power element, which is a simple, effective and widely used method to reduce electromagnetic interference.

The above description of the disclosed content and the following description of the implementation method are used to demonstrate and explain the spirit and principle of the present invention, and provide a further explanation of the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

100,100’: Liquid-cooled servers

1: Chassis

2: Support parts

3: Circuit board

4: Computation module

41,42: Computing elements

5: Voltage regulation module

51,52: Voltage regulation unit

6: Cold plate module

61: First cold plate

62: Second cold plate

70: Radiator

71: First liquid cooling tube

72: Second liquid cooling tube

73: The third liquid cooling tube

M1: First fixing part

M2: Second fixing part

d: distance

h: height

P: docking point

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a liquid-cooled server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing the distance between the leakage detection rope and the voltage regulation module of a liquid-cooled server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a liquid-cooled server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The detailed features and advantages of the present invention are described in detail in the following implementation method. The content is sufficient for anyone familiar with the relevant technology to understand the technical content of the present invention and implement it accordingly. According to the content disclosed in this specification, the scope of the patent application and the drawings, anyone familiar with the relevant technology can easily understand the relevant purposes and advantages of the present invention. The following embodiments are to further illustrate the viewpoints of the present invention, but do not limit the scope of the present invention by any viewpoint.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a liquid cooling server according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid cooling server 100 includes a housing 1, a support member 2, a circuit board 3, a computing module 4, a voltage regulating module 5, a cold plate module 6, a heat sink 70, a first liquid cooling tube 71, a second liquid cooling tube 72 and a liquid leakage detection rope 8. The support member 2 is disposed in the housing 1. The circuit board 3 is disposed in the housing 1. The computing module 4 is disposed on the circuit board 3. The voltage regulating module 5 is disposed on the circuit board 3, connected to the computing module 4, and used to provide the computing module 4 with at least one voltage signal. The cold plate module 6 is arranged on the computing module 4 and is used to perform heat exchange on the computing module 4. One end of the first liquid cooling tube 71 is connected to the cold plate module 6 and is fixed to the upper edge of the support member 2 through a first fixing member M1. One end of the second liquid cooling tube 72 is connected to the cold plate module 6 and is fixed to the portion of the first liquid cooling tube 71 fixed to the support member 2 through a second fixing member M2. The heat sink 70 is connected to the first liquid cooling tube 71 and the second liquid cooling tube 72. The leakage detection rope 8 is connected to the circuit board 3 and is arranged to correspond to the first and second liquid cooling tubes 71 and 72. The minimum distance between the leakage detection rope 8 and the voltage regulating module 5 is greater than a preset distance, wherein a power of the computing module 4 is at least 400 watts, and the preset distance is at least 40 mm.

In this example, the support member 2 may be a fixed mechanism disposed in the housing 1 of the liquid-cooled server 100. For example, the support member 2 may be an outer shell (i.e., an air duct) of a power supply disposed in the housing 1. The computing module 4 may include a plurality of computing elements 41 and 42, such as a plurality of central processing units (CPUs), wherein a plurality of parts of the cold plate module 6 may correspond to each computing element 41 and 42 for heat dissipation. The voltage regulating module 5 may include a plurality of voltage regulating units 51 and 52, wherein each voltage regulating unit 51 and 52 corresponds to a plurality of computing elements 41 and 42 to provide voltage signals required by each of the plurality of computing elements 41 and 42. Each of the multiple voltage regulating units 51 and 52 may include an inductor element, wherein the signal value of the voltage signal provided by the inductor elements of the voltage regulating units 51 and 52 to the computing elements 41 and 42 may be positively correlated with the power of the computing elements 41 and 42. Therefore, when the power of the computing module 4 is relatively large, the voltage regulating module 5 will produce a certain degree of electromagnetic interference on the surrounding electronic components.

In this example, the cold plate module 6 may include a first cold plate 61 and a second cold plate 62, wherein the first cold plate 61 is disposed on the first computing element 41, and the second cold plate 62 is disposed on the second computing element 42, and the liquid-cooled server 100 further includes a third liquid cooling pipe 73, the two ends of which are respectively connected to the first cold plate 61 and the second cold plate 62, and are used to form a cooling liquid loop together with the first cold plate 61, a second cold plate 62, the first liquid cooling pipe 71, the second liquid cooling pipe 72 and the heat sink 70. As shown in FIG1 , the leakage detection rope 8 is disposed to correspond to the first liquid cooling pipe 71, the second liquid cooling pipe 72 and the third liquid cooling pipe 73, and is used to detect whether each liquid cooling pipe has a leakage. The two ends of the leakage detection rope 8 are connected to the leakage detection element of the circuit board 3. When leakage occurs in any pipeline, the leakage causes the two signal lines in the leakage detection rope 8 to short-circuit, thereby allowing the leakage detection element to sense an abnormal signal. Specifically, the leakage detection rope 8 may include a fabric wrapping layer and two signal lines, wherein the two signal lines are wrapped in the fabric wrapping layer and are disconnected from each other in a dry state, and when the fabric wrapping layer is contaminated with leakage, the two signal lines may be short-circuited. The leakage detection rope 8 is arranged along three pipelines, specifically, from a connection point on the circuit board 3 along the outer edge of the third liquid cooling tube 73, the inner edge of the third liquid cooling tube 73, the inner edge of the second liquid cooling tube 72, and the inner edge of the first liquid cooling tube 71 to another connection point on the circuit board 3. In addition, for the line segment near the connection point where the leakage detection rope 8 is connected to the circuit board 3, a material with a shielding effect can be used for regional coating to reduce the electromagnetic interference effect of the adjacent voltage regulating units 51 and 52.

In this example, the first liquid cooling tube 71 is fixed to the upper edge of the support member 2 by the first fixing member M1. For example, the first liquid cooling tube 71 is tied to the support member 2 by two bundles of wire ties, wherein the two bundles of wire ties are attached to the upper edge of the support member 2. Then, the second liquid cooling tube 72 is fixed together with the portion of the first liquid cooling tube 71 fixed to the support member 2 by the second fixing member M2. For example, the second liquid cooling tube 72 is fixed together with the first liquid cooling tube 71 by another bundle of wire ties. Furthermore, the third liquid cooling tube 73 is placed on the second liquid cooling tube 72, wherein a portion of the leakage detection rope 8 corresponding to the third liquid cooling tube 73 is fixed to the upper edge of the third liquid cooling tube 73 by a third fixing member (not shown). Specifically, the support member 2 and the first fixing member M1 provide mechanical support to the first liquid cooling tube 71, and the first liquid cooling tube 71 and the second fixing member M2 provide mechanical support to the second liquid cooling tube 72, whereby the second liquid cooling tube 72 provides mechanical support to the third liquid cooling tube 73 through at least one bridging point (such as two bridging points). A portion of the leakage detection rope 8 corresponding to the third liquid cooling tube 73 is fixed to the outer upper edge of the third liquid cooling tube 73 through a plurality of cable ties or adhesive tapes.

Through the configuration of this embodiment, even though at least a portion of the first liquid cooling tube 71, the second liquid cooling tube 72, and the third liquid cooling tube 73 pass directly above the voltage regulating module 5, the leakage detection rope 8 can be as far away from the electromagnetic interference of the voltage regulating module 5 as possible, so as to avoid the liquid cooling server 100 from generating noise due to electromagnetic interference of the leakage detection rope 8, thereby preventing the occurrence of a false alarm of leakage.

Please refer to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a structure from another perspective according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, in a liquid-cooled server, a first cold plate 61, a second cold plate 62, a first voltage regulating unit 51, and a second voltage regulating unit 52 are disposed on a circuit board 3. A first liquid cooling tube 71 and a third liquid cooling tube 73 are connected to the first cold plate 61, and a second liquid cooling tube 72 and a third liquid cooling tube 73 are connected to the second cold plate 62. The first liquid cooling tube 71 is fixed to the upper edge of the support member 2 by a first fixing member M1, the second liquid cooling tube 72 is fixed to the first liquid cooling tube 71 by a second fixing member M2, and the third liquid cooling tube 73 rests on two resting points P of the second liquid cooling tube 72. Through the configuration of this embodiment, the first, second and third liquid cooling tubes 71, 72 and 73 together with the corresponding leakage detection rope can be set to have a minimum distance d greater than a preset distance from the voltage regulating module, wherein a power of the computing module is at least 400 watts and the preset distance is at least 40 mm. In this example, the minimum distance d occurs between the second liquid cooling tube 72 and the voltage regulating units 51 and 52, because the third liquid cooling tube 73 is placed on the second liquid cooling tube 72, and the second liquid cooling tube 72 is fixed under the first liquid cooling tube 71. Specifically, a vertical distance (height h) between the first fixing member M1 and the circuit board 3 is greater than 50 mm. It should be noted that as the power and clock frequency of the computing module increase, the preset distance can be increased accordingly, and the vertical distance between the first fixing member M1 and the circuit board 3 can also be increased. In addition, the position where the first fixing member M1 is arranged on the support member 2 can be close to the two voltage regulating units 51 and 52 in the horizontal direction, so as to make the minimum distance d between the leakage detection rope and the voltage regulating module as close to the height h as possible.

Please refer to FIG3, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a liquid-cooled server according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG3, the liquid-cooled server 100' comprises a housing 1, a support member 2, a circuit board 3, a computing module 4, a voltage regulating module 5, a cold plate module 6, a heat sink 70, a first liquid cooling tube 71, a second liquid cooling tube 72 and a liquid leakage detection rope 8. The support member 2 is disposed in the housing 1. The circuit board 3 is disposed in the housing 1. The computing module 4 is disposed on the circuit board 3. The voltage regulating module 5 is disposed on the circuit board 3, connected to the computing module 4, and used to provide the computing module 4 with at least one voltage signal. The cold plate module 6 is arranged on the computing module 4 and is used to perform heat exchange on the computing module 4. One end of the first liquid cooling tube 71 is connected to the cold plate module 6 and is fixed to the upper edge of the support member 2 through a first fixing member M1. One end of the second liquid cooling tube 72 is connected to the cold plate module 6 and is fixed to the portion of the first liquid cooling tube 71 fixed to the support member 2 through a second fixing member M2. The heat sink 70 is connected to the first liquid cooling tube 71 and the second liquid cooling tube 72. The leakage detection rope 8 is connected to the circuit board 3 and is arranged to correspond to the first and second liquid cooling tubes 71 and 72. A minimum distance between the leakage detection rope 8 and the voltage regulating module 5 is greater than a preset distance, wherein a power of the computing module 4 is at least 400 watts, and the preset distance is at least 40 mm.

Compared with the embodiment of FIG. 1 , the computing module 4 of this embodiment only corresponds to one voltage regulating module 5 and one cold plate module 6, and the cold plate module 6 is only connected to the first liquid cooling tube 71 and the second liquid cooling tube 72. That is, the multiple computing elements 41 and 42 shown in FIG. 1 are selectively configured, the multiple voltage regulating units 51 and 52 are selectively configured, the first and second cold plates 61 and 62 are selectively configured, and the third liquid cooling tube 73 is selectively configured. The arrangement and connection relationship of the common elements of FIG. 3 and FIG. 1 are the same as the description of the embodiment of FIG. 1 and are not repeated here. It should be noted that although FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the computing module 4 includes two computing elements 41 and 42, the cold plate module 6 includes the first and second cold plates 61 and 62, and the third liquid cooling tube 73 is additionally provided, the present case does not limit the number of components included in the module. In particular, if multiple cold plates are provided in the liquid-cooled server, an additional liquid cooling connection pipeline can be provided between adjacent cold plates, as shown in the third liquid cooling tube 73 in the previous example. For each liquid cooling tube and the corresponding leakage detection rope, various embodiments of fixing the fixing member to the support member and bridging the liquid cooling tubes according to the present case, as described in the previous example, should also be regarded as the scope disclosed by the present case.

Through the above structure, the liquid cooling server disclosed in this case can use the above fixing member to lift and set the liquid cooling pipeline and the liquid leakage detection rope by fixing means, and keep it away from the voltage regulating module that provides the voltage signal to the computing module, so as to prevent the liquid leakage detection rope from being affected by the electromagnetic interference of the voltage signal of the voltage regulating module. In particular, as the power of the computing elements of the server gradually increases, the liquid cooling module with the liquid leakage detection rope becomes an increasingly important heat dissipation solution. Therefore, this case sets the liquid cooling pipeline and the liquid leakage detection rope in the server away from the power element through the fixing member and the supporting member, which is a simple, effective and widely used method to reduce electromagnetic interference. In addition, when the cold plate module includes multiple cold plates, the liquid cooling tubes connected between the multiple cold plates can be placed on the fixed liquid cooling tubes, so that the liquid cooling tubes without supporting mechanisms around them can obtain mechanical support and be far away from the electromagnetic interference of the voltage signal of the voltage regulating module.

Although the present invention is disclosed as above by the aforementioned embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any changes and modifications made within the spirit and scope of the present invention are within the scope of patent protection of the present invention. Please refer to the attached patent application for the scope of protection defined by the present invention.

100:Liquid-cooled server

1: Chassis

2: Support parts

3: Circuit board

4: Computation module

41,42: Computing elements

5: Voltage regulation module

51,52: Voltage regulation unit

6: Cold plate module

61: First cold plate

62: Second cold plate

70: Radiator

71: First liquid cooling tube

72: Second liquid cooling tube

73: The third liquid cooling tube

M1: First fixing part

M2: Second fixing part

Claims (10)

A liquid cooling server comprises: a housing; a support member disposed in the housing; a circuit board disposed in the housing; a computing module disposed on the circuit board; a voltage regulating module disposed on the circuit board, connected to the computing module, and used to provide the computing module with at least one voltage signal; a cold plate module disposed on the computing module, and used to perform heat exchange on the computing module; a first liquid cooling tube, one end of which is connected to the cold plate module and fixed to the upper edge of the support member through a first fixing member; a second A liquid cooling tube, one end of which is connected to the cold plate module and fixed to the portion of the first liquid cooling tube fixed to the support member through a second fixing member; a heat sink, connected to the first liquid cooling tube and the second liquid cooling tube; and a liquid leakage detection rope, connected to the circuit board, arranged to correspond to the first liquid cooling tube and the second liquid cooling tube, a minimum distance between the liquid leakage detection rope and the voltage regulating module is greater than a preset distance, wherein a power of the computing module is at least 400 watts, and the preset distance is at least 40 mm. The liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1, wherein the computing module includes a first computing element and a second computing element, the cold plate module includes a first cold plate and a second cold plate, which are respectively arranged on the first computing element and the second computing element, and the liquid-cooled server further includes: a third liquid cooling tube, the two ends of which are respectively connected to the first cold plate and the second cold plate, and the leakage detection rope is arranged to correspond to the first liquid cooling tube, the second liquid cooling tube and the third liquid cooling tube. The liquid-cooled server as described in claim 2, wherein the third liquid-cooling tube is placed on the second liquid-cooling tube, and a portion of the leakage detection rope corresponding to the third liquid-cooling tube is fixed to the upper edge of the third liquid-cooling tube through a third fixing member. A liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first liquid-cooling tube and the second liquid-cooling tube passes directly above the voltage regulating module. The liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1 further comprises: a power supply disposed in the housing and having an outer shell, wherein the support member is the outer shell of the power supply. A liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1, wherein the first fixing member is arranged to have a vertical distance from the circuit board greater than 50 mm. A liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1, wherein the first fixing member includes two bundles of cable ties, and the two bundles of cable ties are attached to the supporting member. A liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1, wherein the second fixing member comprises a cable tie. A liquid-cooled server as described in claim 3, wherein the third fixing member includes a plurality of cable ties. A liquid-cooled server as described in claim 1, wherein the liquid-cooled server is based on a K880G6 server.

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