Cabinet cooling
First Claim
1. A method of cooling a cabinet containing heat dissipating electronic components (PBA), comprising the steps of:
- circulating cooling medium in a closed fluid system to absorb heat in an evaporator in the cabinet and to transfer the absorbed heat from the cabinet and to emit said heat outside the cabinet in a condenser/heat exchanger, detecting the evaporator temperature (T1) inside the cabinet to determine the heat load on the system;
detecting the ambient temperature (T3) and the temperature (T2) in the condenser to determine the conditions of the heat transfer from the cooling medium;
controlling a forced circulation of the cooling medium based on the detected heat load and conditions of heat transfer;
controlling the flow of the cooling medium back to the evaporator in the cabinet based on the detected heat load and conditions of heat transfer; and
controlling the activation/deactivation of a vapor compression cycle based on the detected heat load and conditions of heat transfer;
thereby allowing a controlled shifting between cooling of the cabinet in different cooling modes optimized for different heat load and heat transfer conditions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A novel electronics cooling method and system is disclosed. A very flexible and efficient operation of an electronics cooling system (10) is achieved by controlling circulation of a cooling medium in a closed system (40) containing an evaporator (13), a condenser (14), an ejector (11) and control valves (15-18). Specifically, the system is continuously allowed to operate in the most appropriate mode by controlling the valves (15-18) of the system (10) based on detected heat load and/or detected heat transfer conditions. By automatically adapting the mode of operation of the system based on the actual prevailing conditions, a unique flexibility is obtained with regard to the cooling mode in which the system will be operated. This means that the cooling capacity will be constantly optimized and that the investment cost as well as the cost for operating the system will be reduced compared to known systems having equal maximum cooling capacity.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of cooling a cabinet containing heat dissipating electronic components (PBA), comprising the steps of:
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circulating cooling medium in a closed fluid system to absorb heat in an evaporator in the cabinet and to transfer the absorbed heat from the cabinet and to emit said heat outside the cabinet in a condenser/heat exchanger, detecting the evaporator temperature (T1) inside the cabinet to determine the heat load on the system;
detecting the ambient temperature (T3) and the temperature (T2) in the condenser to determine the conditions of the heat transfer from the cooling medium;
controlling a forced circulation of the cooling medium based on the detected heat load and conditions of heat transfer;
controlling the flow of the cooling medium back to the evaporator in the cabinet based on the detected heat load and conditions of heat transfer; and
controlling the activation/deactivation of a vapor compression cycle based on the detected heat load and conditions of heat transfer;
thereby allowing a controlled shifting between cooling of the cabinet in different cooling modes optimized for different heat load and heat transfer conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A cooling system for cooling a cabinet containing heat dissipating electronic components (PBA), comprising:
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means for circulating a cooling medium in a closed fluid system from a condenser/heat exchanger to an evaporator inside the cabinet and back to the condenser/heat exchanger;
at least one valve for controlling the flow of cooling medium between the condenser and the evaporator;
an ejector having a primary and a secondary side;
a fluid line system connecting the condenser to the evaporator and to a fluid pump, respectively, through first and second controlled valves and connecting the evaporator to the fluid pump and the ejector secondary side, respectively, through third and fourth controlled valves;
temperature sensors for detecting the evaporator temperature (T1), for detecting the condenser temperature (T2) and for detecting the ambient temperature (T3), respectively; and
a control unit for controlling the positions of the valves in dependence on the detected temperatures. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification