TW202414744A - Liquid cooling system - Google Patents

Abstract

A liquid cooling system is configured to dissipate heat generated by at least one heat source. The liquid cooling system includes a liquid cooling module and a leak detecting module. The liquid cooling module includes at least one liquid cooling assembly. The liquid cooling assembly includes at least one liquid cooling plate, an input pipe and an output pipe. The input pipe is in fluid communication with the liquid cooling plate. The output pipe is in fluid communication with the liquid cooling plate. The leak detecting module includes a leak detecting device, at least one monitoring device and at least one main path. The leak detecting device includes a hub and a plurality of leak detecting branches. The leak detecting branches are in parallel electrical connection with the hub, and the leak detecting branches are respectively disposed on the input pipe and the output pipe. The main path connects the hub with the monitoring device.

Description

Liquid cooling system

The present invention relates to a liquid cooling system, in particular to a liquid cooling system comprising a liquid leakage detection module.

In order to effectively remove the heat generated by the CPU and graphics card in the server, a common approach is to use a liquid cooling system, which uses pipes in series or parallel to connect multiple liquid cooling plates installed on the CPU and graphics card to remove the heat generated by the CPU and graphics card.

However, the connection between the two pipes or the connection between the pipe and the liquid cooling plate is prone to leakage of cooling liquid, causing damage to the server. In order to detect the occurrence of leakage, a common practice is to lay a leakage detection rope for monitoring. However, since the liquid cooling loop formed by the pipe and the liquid cooling plate is complex and long, the length of the leakage detection rope also needs to be very long, and the laying process is very difficult, which can easily damage the leakage detection rope, resulting in an increase in adverse conditions such as insensitive leakage detection rope alarms or false alarms.

The present invention provides a liquid cooling system that allows a liquid leakage detection rope to be laid in a simple manner and avoids damage to the liquid leakage detection rope to maintain the accuracy of liquid leakage detection.

A liquid cooling system disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention is used to dissipate heat from at least one heat source, and includes a liquid cooling module and a liquid leakage detection module. The liquid cooling module includes at least one liquid cooling assembly. The liquid cooling assembly includes at least one liquid cooling plate, a liquid supply pipeline and a liquid return pipeline. The liquid supply pipeline is connected to the liquid cooling plate. The liquid return pipeline is connected to the liquid cooling plate. The liquid leakage detection module includes a liquid leakage detection device, a monitoring device and a main circuit. The liquid leakage detection device includes a hub and multiple liquid leakage detection branches. These liquid leakage detection branches are electrically connected to the hub in parallel and are respectively arranged in the liquid supply pipeline and the liquid return pipeline. The main circuit electrically connects the hub to the monitoring device.

According to the liquid cooling system disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiments, these leakage detection branches are electrically connected to the hub in parallel and are respectively arranged in the liquid supply pipeline and the liquid return pipeline. Therefore, the total length required for leakage detection can be shared by these leakage detection branches to reduce the length of a single leakage detection branch, thereby reducing the total length of the entire leakage detection branch. Therefore, the installation cost and difficulty of these leakage detection branches can be reduced, and damage to these leakage detection branches during the installation process can be avoided, thereby maintaining the accuracy of leakage detection.

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

Please refer to Figure 1. Figure 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a liquid cooling system disclosed according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the liquid cooling system 1 is suitable for a server to dissipate heat from a plurality of heat sources (not shown). These heat sources include a plurality of central processing units and a plurality of display cards. The liquid cooling system includes a liquid cooling module 10 and a liquid leakage detection module 20.

Next, please refer to Figures 2 to 4. Figure 2 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the liquid cooling module of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the water distributor of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the first liquid cooling plate of Figure 2.

The liquid cooling module 10 includes two liquid cooling components 11. In addition, the liquid cooling module 10 may further include a flow divider 12, a liquid supply main pipeline 13 and a liquid return main pipeline 14.

The two liquid cooling assemblies 11 are of the same structure, so only one of the liquid cooling assemblies 11 is described in detail below. The liquid cooling assembly 11 includes a first liquid cooling plate 111, a second liquid cooling plate 112, a third liquid cooling plate 113, two connecting pipes 114, 115, a liquid supply pipe 116 and a liquid return pipe 117. The first liquid cooling plate 111 is a liquid cooling plate for the central processing unit, and the second liquid cooling plate 112 and the third liquid cooling plate 113 are liquid cooling plates for the graphics card. The first liquid cooling plate 111, the second liquid cooling plate 112 and the third liquid cooling plate 113 are connected in series through the two connecting pipes 114, 115 in sequence. Specifically, the first liquid cooling plate 111 has two joints 1111 and 1112, the second liquid cooling plate 112 has two joints 1121 and 1122, and the third liquid cooling plate 113 has two joints 1131 and 1132. The joint 1111 of the first liquid cooling plate 111 is connected to the joint 1121 of the second liquid cooling plate 112 through its connecting line 114, and the joint 1122 of the second liquid cooling plate 112 is connected to the joint 1131 of the third liquid cooling plate 113 through the connecting line 115. One end of the liquid supply line 116 and one end of the liquid return line 117 are connected to the joint 1112 of the first liquid cooling plate 111 and the joint 1132 of the third liquid cooling plate 113, respectively.

In this embodiment, the first liquid cooling plate 111 may further have two liquid storage tanks 1113, which correspond to the two joints 1111 and 1112 respectively, to receive the cooling liquid leaking from the joints 1111 and 1112, and delay the time for the cooling liquid to drip onto the motherboard (not shown) or other electronic components. It should be noted that the liquid storage tank 1113 is an optional structural configuration. In other embodiments, the first liquid cooling plate 111 may not have the liquid storage tank 1113.

The flow divider 12 has a flow divider chamber 121 and a flow converging chamber 122 separated from each other. The two liquid supply pipes 116 and the liquid supply main pipe 13 of the two liquid cooling components 11 are connected to the flow divider chamber 121 of the flow divider 12, and the two liquid return pipes 117 and the liquid return main pipe 14 of the two liquid cooling components 11 are connected to the flow converging chamber 122 of the flow divider 12. The liquid supply main pipe 13 is connected to a pump (not shown), and the liquid return main pipe 14 is connected to a heat exchanger (not shown), and the pump is connected to the heat exchanger, so that the two liquid cooling components 11, the flow divider 12, the liquid supply main pipe 13, the liquid return main pipe 14, the pump and the heat exchanger together constitute a liquid cooling cycle, wherein the pump provides power for the cooling liquid to flow in the liquid cooling cycle.

The following will describe the circulation process of the cooling liquid of the liquid cooling system 1. The cooling liquid flows through the main liquid supply pipeline 13 to the diversion chamber 121 of the diverter 12 for diversion. Then, the cooling liquid flows through the two liquid supply pipelines 116 to the two first liquid cooling plates 111 in a way of being divided into two paths to absorb the heat generated by the central processing unit. Then, the cooling liquid flows to the second liquid cooling plate 112 and the third liquid cooling plate 113 in sequence through the connecting pipelines 114 and 115 to absorb the heat generated by these graphics cards. Then, the cooling liquid flows through the two return liquid pipelines 117 to the confluence chamber 122 of the diverter 12 for confluence, and then flows to the radiator through the return liquid main pipeline 14 for cooling. In this way, the coolant completes a liquid cooling cycle and then repeats the next liquid cooling cycle.

Next, please refer to Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the liquid leakage detection module of Figure 1. Figure 6 is a conceptual schematic diagram of the liquid leakage detection module of Figure 5.

The liquid leakage detection module 20 includes a liquid leakage detection device 21 , two monitoring devices 22 and two main paths 23 .

The liquid leakage detection device 21 includes a hub 211 and a plurality of liquid leakage detection branches 212. These liquid leakage detection branches 212 are electrically connected to the hub 211 in parallel. Two of the liquid leakage detection branches 212 are about 800 mm long and are respectively arranged in the liquid supply main pipeline 13 and the liquid return main pipeline 14. Another two liquid leakage detection branches 212 are about 800 mm long and are respectively arranged along the liquid supply pipeline 116, the first liquid cooling plate 111 and the connecting pipeline 114. Another two liquid leakage detection branches 212 are about 1000 mm long and are respectively arranged along the connecting pipeline 115 and the liquid return pipeline 117.

The structures of these liquid leakage detection branches 212 are similar, so only one of the liquid leakage detection branches 212 is described in detail below. The liquid leakage detection branch 212 is a liquid leakage detection rope. Each of the liquid leakage detection branches 212 includes a water absorption rope 2121, a first wire 2122, a second wire 2123 and a resistor 2124. The first wire 2122 and the second wire 2123 are arranged on the water absorption rope 2121, and one end of the first wire 2122 and one end of the second wire 2123 are respectively connected to the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the hub 211 by welding, for example, and the other end of the first wire 2122 and the other end of the second wire 2123 are connected through the resistor 2124. The first wire 2122, the second wire 2123, the resistor 2124 and the hub 211 together form a closed loop.

In addition, the leakage detection branch 212 further includes a plurality of insulating members 2125, which are respectively disposed at two opposite ends of the first wire 2122 and two opposite ends of the second wire 2123 to prevent the first wire 2122 and the second wire 2123 from contacting each other and causing a short circuit. It should be noted that the insulating member 2125 is an unselected component. In other embodiments, the leakage detection branch may be free of insulating members.

In this embodiment, two main circuits 23 connect two monitoring devices 22 to the hub 211 respectively. When the water absorption rope 2121 of one of the aforementioned leakage detection branches 212 absorbs the leaked coolant, the first wire 2122 and the second wire 2123 are electrically connected. At this time, the monitoring device 22 determines that there is leakage in the pipeline through the change of the resistance value of the overall circuit, and issues a leakage alarm to remind the maintenance personnel to perform maintenance. For example, assuming that the resistance value of each leakage detection branch 212 is R, when there is no leakage, the resistance value of the overall circuit is R/6. When the water absorption rope 2121 of one of the leakage detection branches 212 absorbs the leaked coolant, the resistance value R of the leakage detection branch 212 becomes close to 0, so that the resistance value of the entire circuit drops sharply to close to 0, so the monitoring device 22 can judge that a leakage has occurred based on this.

In the present embodiment, these leakage detection branches 212 are electrically connected to the hub 211 in parallel and are respectively arranged in the liquid supply pipeline 116 and the liquid return pipeline 117. Therefore, the total length required for leakage detection can be shared by these leakage detection branches 212 to reduce the length of a single leakage detection branch 212, thereby reducing the total length of the entire leakage detection branch 212. Therefore, the installation cost and difficulty of these leakage detection branches 212 can be reduced, and the leakage detection branches 212 can be prevented from being damaged during the installation process, thereby maintaining the accuracy of leakage detection.

In addition, these liquid leakage detection branches 212 are disposed on the liquid cooling plate and/or pipelines, do not occupy additional space, and will not affect the spatial layout of other components of the server.

In this embodiment, the liquid leakage detection module 20 includes two monitoring devices 22, so that the two monitoring devices 22 can together determine whether a liquid leakage occurs. It should be noted that the number of monitoring devices 22 is not limited to two, and the liquid leakage detection module can have only one monitoring device.

In this embodiment, the cooling liquid is circulated in two first liquid cooling plates, two second liquid cooling plates and two third liquid cooling plates through series and parallel pipes. Under the condition of equal power consumption, the required liquid supply and energy supply are minimized, thereby reducing the operating energy consumption and cost of the system.

It should be noted that the number of liquid cooling components 11 is not limited to two. In other embodiments, there may be only one liquid cooling component. In such a configuration, the flow divider, the liquid supply main pipeline and the liquid return main pipeline of the liquid cooling module 10 can be omitted, and the liquid supply pipeline and the liquid return pipeline of the liquid cooling component 1 can be directly connected to the pump and the heat exchanger respectively.

In addition, the number of liquid cooling plates of each liquid cooling assembly 11 is not limited to three, and can be increased or decreased according to actual needs.

In this embodiment, by connecting the other end of the first wire 2122 and the other end of the second wire 2123 through the resistor 2124, the first wire 2122, the second wire 2123, the resistor 2124 and the hub 211 together form a closed loop, and it can be known whether the leakage detection branch 212 is damaged. For example, according to Ohm's law, assuming that the resistance value of each leakage detection branch 212 is R, the total resistance value of the entire circuit is about R/6 (wherein the resistance values of the first wire 2122 and the second wire 2123 are very small and can be ignored). If the resistance value of the entire circuit is monitored to be R/5, it means that a leakage detection branch 212 is damaged or broken, and so on, so that it is convenient to detect whether the leakage detection branch 212 is normal.

It should be noted that the leakage detection branch 212 is not limited to include the resistor 2124. Please refer to FIG7, which is a partial conceptual diagram of the leakage detection module disclosed in the second embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the leakage detection module 20a is similar to the leakage detection module 20 in the aforementioned embodiment. The difference between the two is that the leakage detection branch 212a of the leakage detection module 20a in this embodiment does not include a resistor, and the first wire 2122a, the second wire 2123a and the hub 211a of the leakage detection branch 212a together form an open loop.

In such a configuration, when the water absorption rope 2121a of one of the leakage detection branches 212a absorbs the leaked coolant, the first wire 2122a and the second wire 2123a are electrically connected. At this time, the monitoring device (as shown in FIG. 5 ) can judge that there is leakage in the pipeline through the change of the resistance value of the overall circuit, and issue a leakage alarm to remind the maintenance personnel to perform maintenance. In detail, before the first wire 2122a and the second wire 2123a are not electrically connected, the resistance value of each leakage detection branch 212a is infinite, and the resistance value of the overall circuit is infinite. When the first wire 2122a and the second wire 2123a are electrically connected, since the resistance values of the cooling liquid, the first wire 2122a and the second wire 2123a are very small, the resistance value of the leakage detection branch 212a changes from infinity to close to 0, so the resistance value of the entire circuit drops sharply to close to 0. At this time, the monitoring device can determine the occurrence of leakage.

According to the liquid cooling system disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiments, these leakage detection branches are electrically connected to the hub in parallel and are respectively arranged in the liquid supply pipeline and the liquid return pipeline. Therefore, the total length required for leakage detection can be shared by these leakage detection branches to reduce the length of a single leakage detection branch, thereby reducing the total length of the entire leakage detection branch. Therefore, the installation cost and difficulty of these leakage detection branches can be reduced, and damage to these leakage detection branches during the installation process can be avoided, thereby maintaining the accuracy of leakage detection.

Although the present invention is disclosed as above with the aforementioned preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone skilled in the art may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of patent protection of the present invention shall be subject to the scope of the patent application attached to this specification.

1: Liquid cooling system 10: Liquid cooling module 11: Liquid cooling assembly 111: First liquid cooling plate 1111,1112: Connector 1113: Liquid storage tank 112: Second liquid cooling plate 1121,1122: Connector 113: Third liquid cooling plate 1131,1132: Connector 114,115: Connecting pipe 116: Liquid supply pipe 117: Liquid return pipe 12: Diverter 121: Diverter chamber 122: Converging chamber 13: Liquid supply main pipe 14: Liquid return main pipe 20,20a: Liquid leakage detection module 21: Liquid leakage detection device 211,211a: Hub 212,212a: Liquid leakage detection branch 2121,2121a: water absorption rope 2122,2122a: first conductor 2123,2123a: second conductor 2124: resistor 2125: insulation 22: monitoring device 23: main circuit

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a liquid cooling system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a liquid cooling module of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a water distributor of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a first liquid cooling plate of FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a liquid leakage detection module of FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is a conceptual schematic diagram of a liquid leakage detection module of FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a partial conceptual schematic diagram of a liquid leakage detection module according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

1: Liquid cooling system

10: Liquid cooling module

11: Liquid cooling assembly

111: The first liquid cooling plate

112: Second liquid cooling plate

113: The third liquid cooling plate

114,115:Connecting pipes

116: Liquid supply pipeline

117: Liquid return line

12: Shunt

13: Main liquid supply pipeline

14: Main return liquid pipeline

20: Liquid leakage detection module

212: Leakage detection branch

22: Monitoring device

23: Main Road

Claims (10)

A liquid cooling system is used to dissipate heat from at least one heat source, comprising: a liquid cooling module, comprising: at least one liquid cooling assembly, comprising: at least one liquid cooling plate; a liquid supply pipeline connected to the at least one liquid cooling plate; and a liquid return pipeline connected to the at least one liquid cooling plate; and a liquid leakage detection module, comprising: a liquid leakage detection device, comprising: a hub; and a plurality of liquid leakage detection branches, the liquid leakage detection branches are electrically connected to the hub in parallel and are respectively arranged in the liquid supply pipeline and the liquid return pipeline; at least one monitoring device; and at least one main circuit, electrically connecting the hub to the at least one monitoring device. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 1, wherein the leakage detection branches are leakage detection ropes. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 1, wherein each of the liquid leakage detection branches comprises a water absorption rope, a first wire, a second wire and a resistor, the first wire and the second wire are arranged on the water absorption rope, one end of the first wire and one end of the second wire are respectively connected to the positive pole and the negative pole of the hub, the other end of the first wire and the other end of the second wire are connected through the resistor, and the first wire, the second wire, the resistor and the hub together form a closed loop. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 1, wherein each of the liquid leakage detection branches comprises a water absorption rope, a first wire, and a second wire, the first wire and the second wire are arranged on the water absorption rope, one end of the first wire and one end of the second wire are respectively connected to the positive pole and the negative pole of the hub, and the first wire, the second wire and the hub together form an open loop. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 1, wherein the number of the at least one monitoring device and the at least one main path are both two, and the two main paths respectively connect the two monitoring devices to the hub. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 1, wherein the liquid cooling module further includes a diverter, a liquid supply main pipeline and a liquid return main pipeline, the diverter has a diverter chamber and a confluence chamber, the number of the at least one liquid cooling component is two, the two liquid supply pipelines and the liquid supply main pipeline of the two liquid cooling components are connected to the diverter chamber, the two liquid return pipelines and the liquid return main pipeline of the two liquid cooling components are connected to the confluence chamber of the diverter, and the leakage detection branches are respectively arranged on the two liquid supply pipelines, the two return pipelines, the liquid supply main pipeline and the liquid return main pipeline of the two liquid cooling components. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 1, wherein the number of the at least one liquid cooling plate is multiple, the liquid cooling plates include a first liquid cooling plate, a second liquid cooling plate and a third liquid cooling plate, and the at least one liquid cooling assembly further includes two connecting pipes, the first liquid cooling plate, the second liquid cooling plate and the third liquid cooling plate are connected in series in sequence through the two connecting pipes, and the liquid supply pipe and the liquid return pipe are respectively connected to the first liquid cooling plate and the third liquid cooling plate. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 7, wherein one of the leakage detection branches is arranged along the liquid supply pipeline, the first liquid cooling plate and one of the connecting pipelines, and another of the leakage detection branches is arranged along the liquid return pipeline and another of the connecting pipelines. The liquid cooling system as described in claim 7, wherein the first liquid cooling plate is a liquid cooling plate of a central processing unit, and the second liquid cooling plate and the third liquid cooling plate are liquid cooling plates of a graphics card. A liquid cooling system as described in claim 9, wherein the first liquid cooling plate has two liquid storage tanks and two connectors, and the two liquid storage tanks correspond to the two connectors.