U.S. patent application number 15/356873 was filed with the patent office on 2017-03-09 for ultrasound assisted immersion cooling.
The applicant listed for this patent is Intel Corporation. Invention is credited to Brian S. Jarrett, Shankar Krishnan, Richard C. Stamey, Geoffrey G. Von Allmen.
Application Number | 20170071079 15/356873 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56974538 |
Filed Date | 2017-03-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170071079 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Krishnan; Shankar ; et
al. |
March 9, 2017 |
ULTRASOUND ASSISTED IMMERSION COOLING
Abstract
Apparatuses, methods and storage media associated with cooling
one or more heat-generating components of an electronic device are
disclosed herein. In embodiments, an electronic device may include
a tank that may include a dielectric fluid and one or more
heat-generating components. The electronic device may further
include one or more transducers coupled with the tank. The
transducers may be configured to generate an ultrasonic wave that
controls movement of the dielectric fluid at a location within the
tank. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
Inventors: |
Krishnan; Shankar;
(Portland, OR) ; Stamey; Richard C.; (Beaverton,
OR) ; Jarrett; Brian S.; (Hillsboro, OR) ; Von
Allmen; Geoffrey G.; (Brooklyn, NY) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Intel Corporation |
Santa Clara |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
56974538 |
Appl. No.: |
15/356873 |
Filed: |
November 21, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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14668331 |
Mar 25, 2015 |
9516792 |
|
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15356873 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05K 7/20236 20130101;
H05K 7/20836 20130101; H05K 7/203 20130101; H01L 23/44 20130101;
H05K 7/20281 20130101; H05K 7/2079 20130101; H05K 7/20272 20130101;
H05K 7/20772 20130101; H05K 7/20781 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H05K 7/20 20060101
H05K007/20 |
Claims
1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising
instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the
instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device,
to: identify a heat condition associated with a heat-generating
component immersed in a dielectric fluid in a tank; and facilitate
generation, by one or more transducers, of an ultrasound wave to
cause controlled movement of the dielectric fluid at a location in
a vicinity of the heat-generating component.
2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim
1, wherein the apparatus is a blade server, a chassis that includes
a plurality of blade servers, or a rack that includes a plurality
of chassis with respective pluralities of blade servers.
3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim
1, wherein to facilitate generation comprises to facilitate
generation of an ultrasound wave with a frequency between 20
kilohertz and 30 Megahertz.
4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim
1, wherein to identify a heat condition comprises to identify a
heat condition, a power condition, or a workload condition.
5. A method comprising: identifying, by logic of an apparatus, a
heat condition associated with a heat-generating component immersed
in a dielectric fluid in a tank; and facilitating, by the logic,
generation by one or more transducers an ultrasound wave to cause
controlled movement of the dielectric fluid at a location in a
vicinity of the heat-generating component.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is a blade
server.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is a chassis that
includes a plurality of blade servers.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is a rack that
includes a plurality of chassis with respective pluralities of
blade servers.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein facilitating generation comprises
facilitating generation of an ultrasound wave with a frequency
between 20 kilohertz and 30 Megahertz.
10. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying a heat condition
comprises identifying a heat condition, a power condition, or a
workload condition.
Description
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 14/668,331, entitled "ULTRASOUND ASSISTED IMMERSION COOLING,"
filed Mar. 25, 2015, the entire disclosure of which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of thermal
cooling for electronic devices, and specifically to immersion
cooling.
BACKGROUND
[0003] The background description provided herein is for the
purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this
section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are
not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
[0004] Legacy air cooled data centers may suffer from one or more
limitations, for example, limited energy efficiency, low component
density, lack of waste heat recovery capability, high operating
costs, and/or a high data center footprint. On the other hand,
liquid cooling may offer the benefits of increased energy
efficiency, higher component density, enablement of waste heat
recovery, and relatively low operating cost. However, the benefits
of liquid cooling may be offset by the large initial capital
expenditure needed to retrofit existing air cooled installations,
as well as reliability concerns over bringing a fluid such as water
close to electronic components.
[0005] Therefore, immersion cooling methods that may use different
types of dielectric fluids such as mineral oil may offer increased
energy efficiency benefits. However, the immersion cooling methods
may still have challenges around high fluid cost or serviceability.
Also, single phase immersion cooling technologies may have poor
heat transfer characteristics owing to a relatively high Prandtl
number associated with dielectric fluids. For example the Prandtl
number associated with the dielectric fluids may be higher than the
Prandtl number of air, which may be approximately 0.7.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] Embodiments will be readily understood by the following
detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate
like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of
example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the
accompanying drawings.
[0007] FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level schematic view of an
electronic system with transducer assisted immersion cooling, in
accordance with various embodiments.
[0008] FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative high-level schematic view
of an electronic system with transducer assisted immersion cooling,
in accordance with various embodiments.
[0009] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of heat transfer augmentation
using ultrasound, in accordance with various embodiments.
[0010] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a change in the heat
transfer boundary layer based on ultrasound assisted cooling, in
accordance with various embodiments.
[0011] FIG. 5 illustrates an example process of ultrasound assisted
immersion cooling, in accordance with various embodiments.
[0012] FIG. 6 illustrates an example computer system suitable for
use to practice various aspects of the present disclosure,
according to the disclosed embodiments.
[0013] FIG. 7 illustrates a storage medium having instructions for
practicing processes described with reference to FIG. 5, according
to disclosed embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] Apparatuses, methods and storage media associated with
cooling one or more heat-generating components of an electronic
device are disclosed herein. In embodiments, an electronic device
may include a tank that may include a dielectric fluid and one or
more heat-generating components. The electronic device may further
include one or more transducers coupled with the tank. The
transducers may be configured to generate an ultrasonic wave that
may result in a pressure wave to control movement of the dielectric
fluid at a location within the tank. Other embodiments may be
described and/or claimed.
[0015] The disclosed immersion cooling approach may be a viable
alternative to relatively expensive all-liquid cold plate-based
solutions. Particularly, memory stacked on common central
processing unit (CPU) architectures may require localized cooling
approaches that dissipate heat at local CPU and/or memory stack
level while simplifying system level integration. The disclosed
system, by contrast, may operate at a rack-scale level, chassis
level, blade level, or some other level, and eliminate a
significant portion of the cost of traditional cold plate-based
liquid cooled systems such as quick disconnects,
heatsinks/spreaders, cold plates, etc. In some embodiments, the
disclosed immersion cooling approach may be used in combination
with one or more other approaches such as an all-liquid cold
plate-based solution, an air-cooled solution, or some other
approach.
[0016] As discussed herein, electrical and/or optical components
may include components such as processors, central processing units
(CPUs), memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), flash
memory, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs), logic, a peripheral
component interconnect express (PCIe) card, an audio chip, a
graphics chip, read-only memory (ROM), a wired or wireless
communication chipset, a hard disk drive (HDD), or other
components. It will be understood that the above description of
electrical and/or optical components is intended as a
non-exhaustive list of descriptive examples, and additional or
alternative components to those listed above may be used in other
embodiments. The electrical and/or optical components may be
generically referred to herein as heat-generating components.
[0017] In the following detailed description, reference is made to
the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof wherein like
numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which is shown by
way of illustration embodiments that may be practiced. It is to be
understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or
logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the
present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description
is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of
embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their
equivalents.
[0018] Aspects of the disclosure are disclosed in the accompanying
description. Alternate embodiments of the present disclosure and
their equivalents may be devised without parting from the spirit or
scope of the present disclosure. It should be noted that like
elements disclosed below are indicated by like reference numbers in
the drawings.
[0019] Various operations may be described as multiple discrete
actions or operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in
understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of
description should not be construed as to imply that these
operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these
operations may not be performed in the order of presentation.
Operations described may be performed in a different order than the
described embodiment. Various additional operations may be
performed and/or described operations may be omitted in additional
embodiments.
[0020] For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase "A
and/or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the
present disclosure, the phrase "A, B, and/or C" means (A), (B),
(C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).
[0021] The description may use the phrases "in an embodiment," or
"in embodiments," which may each refer to one or more of the same
or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms "comprising,"
"including," "having," and the like, as used with respect to
embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.
[0022] As used herein, the term "module" may refer to, be part of,
or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an
electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group)
and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or
more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit,
and/or other suitable components that provide the described
functionality.
[0023] FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level schematic view of an
electronic system 100 with transducer assisted immersion cooling,
in accordance with various embodiments. Specifically, for ease of
understanding, the depiction of system 100 in FIG. 1 is intended as
a simplified view of the system 100, and in some embodiments the
system 100 may have additional electrical or communicative
connecting elements. In embodiments, the system 100 may include an
outer wall 105 and an inner wall 110 defining a tank 115. The tank
115 may be configured to hold a dielectric fluid such as mineral
oil, Novec.TM. such as that manufactured by 3M.TM., Solvay.TM.
manufactured fluids, or some other fluid and/or incompressible
liquid, and various heat generating components. Although shown only
having walls on three sides, the system 100 may be enclosed or
otherwise sealed in some embodiments, while in other embodiments
the system 100 may be open as shown in FIG. 1. Additionally, the
outer wall 105 and the inner wall 110 may have a different
configuration from that shown in FIG. 1.
[0024] In some embodiments, the system 100 may include one or more
heat-generating components 120a and 120b (collectively referred to
as heat-generating components 120) disposed within the tank 115 and
immersed in the dielectric fluid. In some embodiments, the
heat-generating components 120 may be or include the electrical
and/or optical components as described above. In some embodiments,
the heat-generating components 120 may be one or more circuit
boards that include one or more of the electrical and/or optical
components described above. The one or more heat-generating
components 120 may be coupled with or otherwise attached to, for
example, a backplane that is physically coupled with or otherwise
attached to the outer wall 105 and/or the inner wall 110. The
heat-generating components 120 may be fully or partially submerged
in the dielectric fluid.
[0025] The system 100 may further include a heat exchanger 125
configured to cool dielectric fluid in the tank 115, i.e. remove
heat from the dielectric fluid in the tank 115. For example, in
some cases the heat exchanger 125 may remove heat from existing
dielectric fluid in the tank 115, while in other embodiments the
heat exchanger 125 may remove heated dielectric fluid from the tank
115 and introduce new cooler dielectric fluid, or remove heat from
the removed dielectric fluid and reintroduce the now-cooled
dielectric fluid back into the tank 115. Additionally, the system
100 may include a fluid pump 130 which may generate some motion of
the fluid. In some embodiments, the fluid pump 130 may be part of
or otherwise coupled to the heat exchanger 125.
[0026] The system may further include one or more transducers 135a,
135b, and 135c (collectively referred to as transducers 135)
generally positioned between the outer wall 105 and the inner wall
110. The transducers 135 may be configured to provide an ultrasonic
wave with a frequency of between approximately 25 and 50 kilohertz
(kHz). In some embodiments, the ultrasonic wave may have a
frequency between approximately 20 kHz and a few 10 s of megahertz
(MHz) such as 30 MHz. In other embodiments, the transducers 135 may
be configured to provide a higher or lower frequency. As shown in
FIG. 1, the transducers 135 may be included on two sides of the
system 100. However, in other embodiments the transducers may be on
additional or alternative sides of the system 100. For example, the
transducers may be on the top, bottom, sides, front, and/or back of
the system 100.
[0027] The transducers 135 may generate an ultrasonic wave that may
cause the dielectric fluids within the tank 115 to move. For
example, FIG. 1 depicts the ultrasonic wave as dashed lines
emanating from each of the transducers 135. The solid black arrows
depicted in FIG. 1 are intended to show an example of the fluid
motion within the tank 115. Generally, this embodiment may be based
on an Eckart acoustic streaming approach wherein the sound is
attenuated in the bulk of the dielectric fluid by Reynolds-stress
like mechanisms, for example, turbulent energy dissipation. Eckart
streaming may refer to the dissipation of acoustic energy in a
fluid. Generally, the acoustic waves created due to Eckart
streaming are considered to be progressive and attenuated waves. As
used herein, progressive may refer to a characteristic wherein the
acoustic waves generate a ripple in the dielectric fluids that
grows over time. Attenuation may refer to a characteristic wherein
the energy of the acoustic waves is absorbed by the fluid over
time. Generally, the motion of the dielectric fluid based on the
ultrasonic waves may be proportional to the sound intensity and/or
attenuation coefficient of sound in the dielectric fluid.
Therefore, for a given dielectric fluid, fluid velocity may be
increased by increasing the intensity of the ultrasonic wave.
Generally, the sound intensity of the wave may have a square
dependence on ultrasound power. In other words, the velocity of the
wave may be proportional to the square root of the power of the
ultrasound wave.
[0028] As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic waves produced by the
transducers 135 may be configured to cause fluid motion at a
specific position or area within the tank 115, such that the
dielectric fluid flows to or from the specific position or area.
For example, it may be specifically desirable to cool
heat-generating component 120a. As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic
waves of transducers 135a and 135b may intersect in the general
vicinity of heat-generating component 120a. By varying the power
intensity of the ultrasonic wave of transducers 135a and 135b, the
motion of the fluid near heat-generating component 120a may be
directed. In some embodiments, the ultrasonic waves generated by
transducers 135a and 135b may cause cavitation of the dielectric
fluid in the vicinity of heat-generating component 120a, which may
result in movement of the dielectric fluid within the vicinity of
heat-generating component 120a. Specifically, the fluid within the
tank 115 may be caused by the ultrasonic waves to move in an
intended fashion at a specific point within the tank, rather than
just generally move within the tank in a fashion that could be
caused, for example, by a fluid pump such as fluid pump 130.
[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative high-level schematic view
of an electronic system 200 with transducer assisted immersion
cooling, in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments,
the system 200 may include elements similar to those of system 100,
and said similar elements may be numbered similarly to those
depicted in FIG. 1. For example, the system 200 may include outer
wall 205, inner wall 210, heat-generating components 220, fluid
pump 230, and heat exchanger 225, which may be respectively similar
to outer wall 105, inner wall 110, heat-generating components 120,
fluid pump 130, and heat exchanger 125. In the embodiment depicted
in FIG. 2, however, transducers 235 may be located within the fluid
tank 215, rather than disposed between the inner wall and the outer
wall of the system as depicted in FIG. 1.
[0030] In embodiments, the transducers 235 may enable Schlichting
streaming of the dielectric fluid. Schlichting streaming may refer
to the motion of the dielectric fluid close to one or more of the
heat-generating components 220. In the system 200 depicted in FIG.
2, the ultrasonic waves generated by transducers 235 may be used to
create standing waves within the dielectric fluid by interacting
with the heat-generating components 220, and/or the walls 205/210
of the system 200. This approach may result in thinning the
boundary layer and the boundary layer thickness. Specifically, the
dielectric fluid may have a boundary layer near the wall of the
heat-generating components 220 and/or the walls 205/210 of the
system 200, wherein dielectric fluid within the boundary layer is
generally motionless. Because the dielectric fluid is generally
motionless, it may not carry heat away from, for example, one or
more of the heat-generating components 220. However, by reducing
the thickness of the boundary layer, a larger amount of the
dielectric fluid may move in an area closer to the heat-generating
components 220 and/or the walls 205/210, thereby carrying a larger
amount of thermal energy from the heat-generating components 220
and/or walls 205/210. Generally, the boundary layer thickness may
be defined as (2.nu./.omega.) 0.5 where .nu. may refer to the
kinematic viscosity of the dielectric fluid and .omega. may refer
to the pulsation of the ultrasonic wave. It can be seen that as
.omega. increases, the boundary layer thickness may decrease as a
result.
[0031] FIG. 3 depicts a graphical example of boundary layer
thickness. The dielectric fluid may have a boundary layer 300 that
is some distance x away from a physical object 305. The physical
object 305 may be, for example, a heat-generating component such as
heat-generating components 120 and/or 220, or a wall of a system
such as walls 105, 110, 205, and/or 210. By generating an
ultrasonic wave that reduces the boundary layer as described above,
the boundary layer 300 may be shifted closer to the physical object
305, for example, as illustrated by boundary layer 310. As can be
seen in FIG. 3, boundary layer 310 may generally be viewed as being
a distance y away from the physical object 305, where y<x.
Therefore, dielectric fluid may move in the area designated x-y,
thereby removing a greater amount of thermal energy from object
305.
[0032] It will be understood that the two examples provided above
with respect to systems 100 and 200 are intended as non-limiting
examples. For example, in some embodiments a greater or lesser
number of transducers 135 or 235 and/or heat-generating components
120 and 220 may be used in systems 100 and 200, as indicated by the
ellipses in FIGS. 1 and 2. In some embodiments, the transducers 235
within the tank 215 may be used in conjunction with transducers
such as transducers 135 outside of a tank such as tank 115, thereby
acquiring the benefits of both Eckart and Schlichting
streaming.
[0033] In some embodiments, the systems 100 or 200 may be a rack
scale component such as a blade server. Specifically, the system
100 or 200 may be a blade server, and the heat-generating
components 120 or 220 may be specific components of the blade
server such as one or more of the electrical and/or optical
components described above. For example, the heat-generating
components 120 or 220 may include memory stacked on a CPU
architecture that may require localized cooling approaches to
dissipate heat at local CPU and/or memory stack level while
simplifying system level integration. In other embodiments, the
systems 100 or 200 may be chassis scale components such as a server
chassis. In these embodiments, the heat-generating components 120
or 220 may be a blade server. In other embodiments, the systems 100
or 200 may be rack scale components such as a server rack. The
server rack may include a one or more chassis, each with one or
more blade servers. In these embodiments, the heat-generating
components 120 or 220 may be a blade server, a chassis, or some
other type of heat-generating component. A feature of the present
disclosure is that the disclosure may be scalable in different
embodiments to different system or component sizes or levels. As
noted above, in some embodiments, the disclosed immersion cooling
approach may be used in combination with one or more other
approaches such as an all-liquid cold plate-based solution, an
air-cooled solution, or some other approach.
[0034] System design of electronic systems such as systems 100 or
200 may include determination of the appropriate power density of
heat-generating components such as components 120 or 220, the
number of transducers such as transducers 135 or 235 to be used,
and the placement of the transducers 135 or 235 in relation to the
tank 115 or 215 for maximum heat transfer augmentation.
Additionally, system firmware may need to be updated to comprehend
the implementation of transducer assisted cooling. For example,
system firmware related to traditional air cooling approaches may
not be able to be directly employed for an immersion cooled
environment.
[0035] A number of implementation strategies may be employed to
improve the energy efficiency of a system such as systems 100 or
200 that take advantage of ultrasound assisted immersion cooling.
For example, in some embodiments the transducers 135 or 235 may be
positioned such that they are aligned to generate constructive
interference, thereby enabling turbo cooling. Additionally, in some
embodiments the transducers may be aligned or configured such that
they may be used during degraded system performance, for example,
if one of the heat-generating components 120 or 220 is experiencing
a particularly heavy workload and generating an increased amount of
thermal energy. Degraded performance may also be experienced if one
or more alternative cooling elements, for example, fluid pumps 130
or 230, mechanically fail. Additionally, the ultrasound assisted
immersion cooling may be used during near-thermal design point
(TDP) workloads. In some embodiments, the ultrasound assisted
immersion cooling approach may be used in the case of workloads
that generate power above a pre-defined or dynamic threshold.
[0036] Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be used in
addition to or in place of other cooling solutions such as
heatsinks that may be relatively expensive. For example, for
immersion cooled environments that include a thermal interface
material and a heatsink material, the material choices may be
limited due to potential interaction with the dielectric fluid.
Therefore, use of the heatsinks with the potentially reactive
materials may add cost to the system. By augmenting or replacing
the relatively expensive heatsinks with embodiments of the present
disclosure, the cost of the system may be reduced.
[0037] Alternatively, in some systems such as systems 100 or 200,
the transducers 135 or 235 may be relatively low power such that
they may be used continuously with an immersion cooled system that
employs heatsink solutions. Such heatsinks solutions may include
polymer-based heatsinks, extruded aluminum-based heatsinks, or
other heatsinks. For example, if the heat-generating components 120
or 220 are blade servers, then thermal management of the blades
during degraded performance of the system 100 or 200 may be
achieved by creating a profile for known power consumption and
temperature of components of the blades. For example, the profile
may include known power consumption or temperature of a CPU,
memory, or some other type of electrical and/or optical component
coupled with the blade servers. During normal operation, the
heatsinks may be sufficient to cool the electrical and/or optical
components. However, any deviation from the power or temperature
profiles may cause one or more of the transducers 135 or 235 to
operate and assist with cooling the system 100 or 200.
[0038] In addition to cooling applications, the transducers 135 or
235 may additionally be used for cleaning the system 100 or 200.
For example, dielectric fluids may cause damage to plasticizers
such that the plasticizers end up depositing in holes or small
pores. The plasticizers may clog up, for example, boiling
enhancement coating used in two phase immersion cooled systems. The
transducers 135 or 235 may be integrated with firmware or data
center managers to provide system maintenance for cleaning one or
more of printed circuit boards (PCBs) during operation of the
systems, servicing fluid filters and the immersion baths, and/or
cleaning heatsinks during operation when the heatsinks become
clogged. For example, strategically placed ultrasound transducers
may induce cavitation bubbles that may clear deposited sediments in
pores or holes. Further, enabling reverse flow in the loop using
engineered transducers may clear deposits in filtration or other
flow paths.
[0039] FIG. 4 depicts an example showing the benefits of use of the
transducers 135 of system 100. Line 400 may depict the thermal
resistance of the fluid in the tank 115 when the transducers 135
are not operational. By contrast, line 405 may depict the thermal
resistance of the fluid as the transducers generate ultrasonic
waves. It can be seen that as the amplitude of the ultrasonic waves
increases, the thermal resistance of the fluid decreases. As the
magnitude of the amplitude increases, velocity of the fluid may
increase, which may result in an increase in the heat carrying
capacity of the fluid. Additionally, the thermal resistance
decrease depicted by line 405 may correlate to junction temperature
of the one or more heat generating components 120. Reduction in
junction temperature may reduce the leakage power consumption of
the one or more heat-generating components 120.
[0040] FIG. 5 illustrates an example process 500 of ultrasound
assisted immersion cooling, in accordance with various embodiments.
The process 500 may be performed by logic or circuitry coupled with
one or more of the transducers 135 or 235 of systems 100 or 200. In
embodiments, the process 500 may include identifying the presence
of a heat condition at 505. The heat condition may be, for example,
an increased workload of one or more of the heat-generating
components, a desire to activate turbo cooling, degraded
performance of one or more components of the system, or variation
from a known power or temperature profile as described above. Based
on the identification of 505, the process 500 may then include
facilitating the generation of an ultrasound wave at 510. The
ultrasound wave may be generated, for example, by one or more of
transducers 135 or 235. Specifically, the transducers may be
directed to generate the ultrasound waves such that motion of the
dielectric fluid at an intended location within a tank such is
caused.
[0041] FIG. 6 illustrates an example electronic device 600 (e.g., a
computer, a server, or some other electronic device) that may be
suitable to practice selected aspects of the present disclosure. As
shown, electronic device 600 may include one or more processors or
processor cores 602 and system memory 604. For the purpose of this
application, including the claims, the terms "processor" and
"processor cores" may be considered synonymous, unless the context
clearly requires otherwise. Additionally, electronic device 600 may
include mass storage devices 606 (such as diskette, hard drive,
compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and so forth), input/output
(I/O) devices 608 (such as display, keyboard, cursor control and so
forth) and communication interfaces 610 (such as network interface
cards, modems and so forth). The elements may be coupled to each
other via system bus 612, which may represent one or more buses. In
the case of multiple buses, they may be bridged by one or more bus
bridges (not shown). Additionally, or alternatively, electronic
device 600 may also include one or more transducers 630, a tank
635, and/or a fluid pump 640 which may be similar to transducers
135/235, tank 115/215, and/or fluid pump 130/230, respectively. In
embodiments, the processor(s) 602 may be or include one or more of
the controllers 624 configured to perform the operations described
above with respect to FIG. 5.
[0042] Each of these elements may perform its conventional
functions known in the art. In particular, in some embodiments,
system memory 604 and mass storage devices 606 may be employed to
store a working copy and a permanent copy of the programming
instructions configured to cooperate with controllers 624 to
perform the operations associated with the immersion cooling
process of FIG. 5, earlier described, collectively referred to as
controller logic 622. The various elements may be implemented by
assembler instructions supported by processor(s) 602 or high-level
languages, such as, for example, C, that can be compiled into such
instructions.
[0043] The number, capability and/or capacity of these elements
610-612 may vary, depending on whether electronic device 600 is
used as a blade in a rack server, as a stand-alone server, or as
some other type of electronic device such as a client device. When
used as a client device, the capability and/or capacity of these
elements 610-612 may vary, depending on whether the client device
is a stationary or mobile device, like a smartphone, computing
tablet, ultrabook or laptop. Otherwise, the constitutions of
elements 610-612 may be known, and accordingly will not be further
described. When used as a server device, the capability and/or
capacity of these elements 610-612 may also vary, depending on
whether the server is a single stand-alone server or a configured
rack of servers or a configured rack of server elements.
[0044] As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the
present disclosure may be embodied as methods or computer program
products. Accordingly, the present disclosure, in addition to being
embodied in hardware or logic as earlier described, may take the
form of an entire software embodiment (including firmware, resident
software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and
hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to as a
"circuit," "module" or "system." Furthermore, the present
disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied
in any tangible or non-transitory medium of expression having
computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. FIG. 7
illustrates an example computer-readable non-transitory storage
medium that may be suitable for use to store instructions that
cause an apparatus, in response to execution of the instructions by
the apparatus, to practice selected aspects of the present
disclosure. As shown, non-transitory computer-readable storage
medium 702 may include a number of programming instructions 704.
Programming instructions 704 may be configured to enable a device,
e.g., electronic device 600, in response to execution of the
programming instructions, to perform, e.g., various operations
associated with the immersion cooling process of FIG. 5. In
alternate embodiments, programming instructions 704 may be disposed
on multiple computer-readable non-transitory storage media 702
instead. In alternate embodiments, programming instructions 704 may
be disposed on computer-readable transitory storage media 702, such
as signals.
[0045] Any combination of one or more computer-usable or
computer-readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or
computer-readable medium may be, for example, but is not limited
to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or
semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium.
More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the
computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical
connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette,
a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory
(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash
memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory
(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as
those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage
device. Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium
could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the
program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured,
via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium,
then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable
manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the
context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable
medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,
propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection
with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The
computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with
the computer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in
baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The computer-usable program
code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but
not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, radio
frequency (RF), etc.
[0046] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the
present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more
programming languages, including an object oriented programming
language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional
procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming
language or similar programming languages. The program code may
execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's
computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's
computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote
computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may
be connected to the user's computer through any type of network,
including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN),
or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example,
through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
[0047] The present disclosure is described with reference to
flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus
(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of
the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the
flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of
blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be
implemented by computer program instructions. These computer
program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general
purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable
data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the
instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or
other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for
implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or
block diagram block or blocks.
[0048] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a
computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other
programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular
manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable
medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction
means that implement the function/act specified in the flowchart
and/or block diagram block or blocks.
[0049] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a
computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a
series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or
other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented
process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or
other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the
functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram
block or blocks.
[0050] The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate
the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible
implementations of systems, methods and computer program products
according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this
regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent
a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more
executable instructions for implementing the specified logical
function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative
implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of
the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in
succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or
the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order,
depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted
that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart
illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams
and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special
purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions
or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer
instructions.
[0051] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing
particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of
the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and
"the" are intended to include plural forms as well, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood
that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this
specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude
the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
[0052] Embodiments may be implemented as a computer process, a
computing system or an article of manufacture such as a computer
program product of computer-readable media. The computer program
product may be a computer storage medium readable by a computer
system and encoding computer program instructions for executing a
computer process.
[0053] The corresponding structures, material, acts, and
equivalents of all means or steps plus function elements in the
claims below are intended to include any structure, material or act
for performing the function in combination with other claimed
elements that are specifically claimed. The description of the
present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration
and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to
the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications and
variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill without
departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The
embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the
principles of the disclosure and the practical application, and to
enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the
disclosure for embodiments with various modifications as are suited
to the particular use contemplated.
[0054] Referring back to FIG. 6, for one embodiment, at least one
of processors 602, and specifically the controller 624, may be
packaged together with memory having controller logic 622 (in lieu
of storing on memory 604 and storage 606). For one embodiment, at
least one of processors 602 may be packaged together with memory
having controller logic 622 to form a System in Package (SiP). For
one embodiment, at least one of processors 602 may be integrated on
the same die with memory having controller logic 622. For one
embodiment, at least one of processors 602 may be packaged together
with memory having controller logic 622 to form a System on Chip
(SoC). For at least one embodiment, the SoC may be utilized in,
e.g., but not limited to, a smartphone or computing tablet.
[0055] Thus various example embodiments of the present disclosure
have been described including, but not limited to:
[0056] Example 1 may include an apparatus comprising: a tank to
hold a dielectric fluid and one or more heat-generating components;
and a transducer coupled with the tank, the transducer to generate
an ultrasound wave that controls movement of the dielectric fluid
at a location within a vicinity of at least one of the one or more
heat-generating components within the tank.
[0057] Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1, wherein
the transducer is located within the tank and the ultrasound wave
is to control the movement of the dielectric fluid via Schlichting
streaming.
[0058] Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 1, wherein
the transducer is located external to the tank and the ultrasound
wave is to control the movement of the dielectric fluid via Eckart
acoustic streaming such that energy of the ultrasound wave is
attenuated in the dielectric fluid via Reynolds-stress like
mechanisms.
[0059] Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 1, further
comprising a pump coupled with the tank, the pump to cause movement
of the dielectric fluid within the tank.
[0060] Example 5 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-4,
wherein the apparatus is a blade server.
[0061] Example 6 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-4,
wherein the apparatus is a chassis that includes a plurality of
blade servers.
[0062] Example 7 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-4,
wherein the apparatus is a rack that includes a plurality of
chassis with respective pluralities of blade servers.
[0063] Example 8 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-4,
wherein the transducer is to generate an ultrasound wave with a
frequency between 20 kilohertz and 30 Megahertz.
[0064] Example 9 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-4,
wherein the transducer is further to generate an ultrasound wave to
clean the one of the one or more heat-generating components within
the tank.
[0065] Example 10 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-4,
wherein one of the one or more heat-generating components includes
a processor, a central processing unit (CPU), or a memory stack,
and the tank includes the dielectric fluid and the processor, the
central processing unit (CPU), or the memory stack.
[0066] Example 11 may include a system comprising: a tank
comprising one or more heat-generating components immersed in a
dielectric fluid; one or more transducers coupled with the tank;
and logic coupled with the one or more transducers, the logic to
cause the transducers to generate an ultrasound wave to cause
movement of the dielectric fluid at a controlled location within a
vicinity of one of the one or more heat-generating components.
[0067] Example 12 may include the system of example 11, wherein the
transducer is coupled with the tank at a position within the
tank.
[0068] Example 13 may include the system of example 11, wherein the
transducer is coupled with the tank at a position external to the
tank.
[0069] Example 14 may include the system of any of examples 11-13,
wherein the apparatus is a blade server, a chassis that includes a
plurality of blade servers, or a rack that includes a plurality of
chassis with respective pluralities of blade servers.
[0070] Example 15 may include the system of any of examples 11-13,
wherein the logic is to cause generation of an ultrasound wave with
a frequency between 20 kilohertz and 30 Megahertz.
[0071] Example 16 may include one or more non-transitory
computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an
electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or
more processors of the electronic device, to: identify a heat
condition associated with a heat-generating component immersed in a
dielectric fluid in a tank; and facilitate generation, by one or
more transducers, of an ultrasound wave to cause controlled
movement of the dielectric fluid at a location in a vicinity of the
heat-generating component.
[0072] Example 17 may include the one or more non-transitory
computer-readable media of example 16, wherein the apparatus is a
blade server, a chassis that includes a plurality of blade servers,
or a rack that includes a plurality of chassis with respective
pluralities of blade servers.
[0073] Example 18 may include the one or more non-transitory
computer-readable media of examples 16 or 17, wherein to facilitate
generation comprises to facilitate generation of an ultrasound wave
with a frequency between 20 kilohertz and 30 Megahertz.
[0074] Example 19 may include the one or more non-transitory
computer-readable media of examples 16 or 17, wherein to identify a
heat condition comprises to identify a heat condition, a power
condition, or a workload condition.
[0075] Example 20 may include a method comprising: identifying, by
logic of an apparatus, a heat condition associated with a
heat-generating component immersed in a dielectric fluid in a tank;
and facilitating, by the logic, generation by one or more
transducers an ultrasound wave to cause controlled movement of the
dielectric fluid at a location in a vicinity of the heat-generating
component.
[0076] Example 21 may include the method of example 20, wherein the
apparatus is a blade server.
[0077] Example 22 may include the method of example 20, wherein the
apparatus is a chassis that includes a plurality of blade
servers.
[0078] Example 23 may include the method of example 20, wherein the
apparatus is a rack that includes a plurality of chassis with
respective pluralities of blade servers.
[0079] Example 24 may include the method of any of examples 20-23,
wherein facilitating generation comprises facilitating generation
of an ultrasound wave with a frequency between 20 kilohertz and 30
Megahertz.
[0080] Example 25 may include the method of any of example 20-23,
wherein identifying a heat condition comprises identifying a heat
condition, a power condition, or a workload condition.
[0081] Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising: means to
identify a heat condition associated with a heat-generating
component immersed in a dielectric fluid in a tank; and means to
facilitate generation by one or more transducers an ultrasound wave
to cause controlled movement of the dielectric fluid at a location
in a vicinity of the heat-generating component.
[0082] Example 27 may include the apparatus of example 26, wherein
the apparatus is a blade server.
[0083] Example 28 may include the apparatus of example 26, wherein
the apparatus is a chassis that includes a plurality of blade
servers.
[0084] Example 29 may include the apparatus of example 26, wherein
the apparatus is a rack that includes a plurality of chassis with
respective pluralities of blade servers.
[0085] Example 30 may include the apparatus of any of examples
26-29, wherein the means to facilitate generation comprise means to
facilitate generation of an ultrasound wave with a frequency
between 20 kilohertz and 30 Megahertz.
[0086] Example 31 may include the apparatus of any of examples
26-29, wherein the means to identify a heat condition comprise
means to identify a heat condition, a power condition, or a
workload condition.
[0087] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and variations can be made in the disclosed
embodiments of the disclosed device and associated methods without
departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is
intended that the present disclosure covers the modifications and
variations of the embodiments disclosed above provided that the
modifications and variations come within the scope of any claims
and their equivalents.
* * * * *