ADAPTIVE COOLING ASSEMBLY

• US 20170359923A1
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Published: 12/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: FRANZ, John P, CADER, Tahir
• Granted Patent: US 10,356,957 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/04 on conductive chassis
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1457 Power distribution arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1488 Cabinets therefor, e.g. chassis or racks or mechanical interfaces between blades and support structures
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20009 using a gaseous coolant in electronic enclosures in cabinets of standardized dimensions H05K7/20536; in server cabinets H05K7/20709; in vehicle electronic casings H05K7/20845; in power control electronics H05K7/2089; in displays H05K7/20954
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20254 Cold plates transferring heat from heat source to coolant
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20509 Multiple-component heat spreaders; Multi-component heat-conducting support plates; Multi-component non-closed heat-conducting structures
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20736 within cabinets for removing heat from server blades
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20781 within cabinets for removing heat from server blades

Abstract

Example implementations relate to an adaptive cooling assembly. For example, an adaptive cooling assembly includes a removable shelf installed in the adaptive cooling assembly, an adaptive cooling bay located in a slot formed by the removable shelf, and a removable thermal bus bar installed in the adaptive cooling bay and connected to a pair of connectors. The adaptive cooling bay includes the pair of connectors and the removable thermal bus bar provides liquid cooling to an electronic device.

Claims

1. An adaptive cooling assembly, comprising:

a removable shelf installed in the adaptive cooling assembly;

an adaptive cooling bay located in a slot formed by the removable shelf, wherein the adaptive cooling bay includes a pair of connectors; and

a removable thermal bus bar (TBB) installed in the adaptive cooling bay and connected to the pair of connectors, wherein the removable TBB provides liquid cooling to an electronic device.

2. The adaptive cooling assembly of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a first electronic device and the removable shelf is removed to support a second electronic device of a greater height than the first electronic device.

3. The adaptive cooling assembly of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a first electronic device and the removable TBB is removed to support a second electronic device of a greater width than the first electronic device.

4. The adaptive cooling assembly of claim 3, wherein the second electronic device is cooled using at least one of air cooling and integrated liquid cooling.

5. The adaptive cooling assembly of claim 1, wherein the pair of connectors include a pair of blind mate connectors located at a back of the adaptive cooling assembly or a front of the adaptive cooling assembly.

6. The adaptive cooling assembly of claim 1, wherein the removable TBB is replaced with an upgraded TBB.

7. The adaptive cooling assembly of claim 1, wherein the pair of connectors include a pair of manual quick connectors.

8. A system comprising:

an adaptive cooling assembly including;

a wall structure; and

a plurality of removable shelves installed on the wall structure forming a plurality of slots; and

a removable thermal bus bar (TBB) installed in an adaptive cooling bay of one of the plurality of slots to provide liquid cooling to an electronic device, wherein the adaptive cooling bay includes a pair of connectors connected to the removable TBB.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of shelves is removed to support a different electronic device of a greater height than the electronic device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the adaptive cooling bay includes a first adaptive cooling bay of a first slot and the system further includes:

a second adaptive cooling bay of a second slot that does not include a second removable TBB, wherein the second slot supports a different electronic device of a greater width than the electronic device.

11. The system of 10, wherein the different electronic device is cooled using integrated liquid-cooled cold plate cooling.

12. The system of 11, wherein the pair of connectors include a pair of blind mate connectors at a back or a front of the wall structure and the pair of blind mate connectors support both removable TBBs and electronic devices with integrated cooling.

13. A system comprising:

a rack including a plurality of slots to support a plurality of electronic devices;

an adaptive cooling assembly including;

a wall structure;

a plurality of removable shelves forming a plurality of adaptive cooling hays; and

the plurality of adaptive cooling bays, each of the plurality of adaptive cooling bays located in one of the plurality of slots and each of the plurality of adaptive cooling bays including a pair of blind mate connectors;

the plurality of electronic devices. each installed in one of the plurality of slots and supported by at least one of the plurality of removable shelves; and

a plurality of removable thermal bus bars (TBB) installed in at least a subset of the plurality of adaptive cooling bays to provide liquid cooling to at least a subset of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein each of the plurality of removable TBBs are connected to one of the pairs of blind mate connectors.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of adaptive cooling bays does not include a removable TBB installed therein, wherein an electronic device installed in one of the plurality of slots associated with the one adaptive cooling bay is cooled using air cooling.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the rack includes a height of 10 rack units and each of the plurality of slots include a height of 1 rack unit, wherein one of the plurality of removable shelves is removed to support a different electronic device of a greater height than 1 rack unit.