Minimizing leakage in liquid cooled electronic equipment

• US 10,098,258 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chainer, Timothy J., Parida, Pritish R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferguson, Dion R
• Assistant Examiner(s): JALALI, AMIR A.
• Application Number:
  US14/656,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20160270259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,307 Days
• Field of Search: 36167953, 361699, 361702
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/188 for radiators
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/3227 for radiators
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20272 Accessories for moving fluid, for expanding fluid, for connecting fluid conduits, for distributing fluid, for removing gas or for preventing leakage, e.g. pumps, tanks or manifolds
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20781 within cabinets for removing heat from server blades

Abstract

An apparatus for minimizing the volume of coolant leaked in liquid cooled electronic equipment, the apparatus including a server rack, a plurality of closed liquid cooling loops, a plurality of liquid to liquid heat exchangers, and a plurality of pumps. The closed liquid cooling loops are coupled to at least one of the servers in the server rack. Each of the closed liquid cooling loops restricts coolant flow entirely within the server rack. The closed liquid cooling loops may provide the entire volume of coolant provided to each server in the server rack.

Claims

1. An apparatus for minimizing a volume of coolant leaked in liquid cooled electronic equipment, comprising:

a server rack housing a plurality of servers configured to receive facility side coolant;

a plurality of closed liquid cooling loops in the server rack, each of the closed liquid cooling loops coupled to at least one of the servers in the server rack, each of the closed liquid cooling loops restricting coolant flow entirely within the server rack;

a plurality of catch basins in the server rack, each of the catch basins being positioned between the servers in the server rack, each of the catch basins configured to collect leaked coolant from a respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops;

a plurality of basin leak detectors, each basin leak detector from the plurality of basin leak detectors positioned at a respective one of the plurality of catch basins and configured to detect the leaked coolant from the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops;

a plurality of liquid to liquid heat exchangers in the server rack, each of the liquid to liquid heat exchangers coupled to one of the closed liquid cooling loops in the server rack and configured to transfer heat from the closed liquid cooling loops to the facility side coolant;

a plurality of pumps, each of the pumps positioned above the respective one of the plurality of catch basins and circulating a coolant inside the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops, each of the pumps configured to power off in response to a respective one of the basin leak detectors positioned at a respective one of the plurality of catch basins detecting the leaked coolant from the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops;

a controller to power off a respective pump connected to the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops with the leaked coolant from the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops in response to detecting the leaked coolant by the respective one of the basin leak detectors; and

a plurality of bypass valves configured to disengage a respective one of the plurality of liquid to liquid heat exchangers from the facility side coolant in response to detecting the leaked coolant from one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the closed liquid cooling loops contains an entire volume of coolant provided to the respective at least one server in the server rack.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of server leak detectors in the server rack, each of the server leak detectors configured to detect a condition indicative of the leaked coolant from at least one of the closed liquid cooling loops.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising wherein the controller is configured to power off a respective server when a respective server leak detectors detects the leaked coolant.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the closed liquid cooling loops isolates the coolant provided to each of the servers in the server rack such that a volume of the coolant provided to each of the servers is volume of the coolant contained in each of the closed liquid cooling loops coupled to the servers.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a disengaged liquid to liquid heat exchanger from the plurality of liquid to liquid heat exchangers coupled to one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops having the leaked coolant in the server rack such that the disengaged liquid to liquid heat exchanger does not receive the facility side coolant.

7. An apparatus for minimizing a volume of coolant leaked in liquid cooled electronic equipment, comprising:

a server rack housing a plurality of servers configured to receive facility side coolant;

at least one closed liquid cooling loop coupled to the servers in the server rack, each of the closed liquid cooling loops restricting coolant flow entirely within the server rack;

at least one catch basin in the server rack being positioned between the servers in the server rack, the catch basin configured to collect leaked coolant from the closed liquid cooling loop;

at least one basin leak detector positioned at the catch basin and configured to detect the leaked coolant from the closed liquid cooling loop;

a liquid to liquid heat exchanger coupled to each of the closed liquid cooling loops in the server rack and configured to transfer heat from the closed liquid cooling loops to the facility side coolant;

a pump coupled to each of the closed liquid cooling loops, each of the pumps circulating a coolant inside the closed liquid cooling loop and configured to power off in response to the basin leak detector detecting the leaked coolant at the catch basin;

a controller to power off a respective pump connected to the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops with the leaked coolant from the respective one of the plurality of closed liquid cooling loops in response to detecting the leaked coolant by the respective one of the basin leak detector; and

at least one bypass valve configured to disengage the liquid to liquid heat exchanger from the facility side coolant in response to the basin leak detector detecting the leaked coolant at the catch basin.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the closed liquid cooling loop contains an entire volume of the coolant provided to at least one of the servers in the server rack.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising wherein the controller is configured to power off the server when the basin leak detector detects the leaked coolant.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the closed liquid cooling loops isolates the coolant provided to each of the servers in the server rack such that volume of the coolant provided to each of the servers is volume of the coolant contained in each of the closed liquid cooling loops coupled to the servers.