JP4991633B2 - Cooling system for electronic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device such as a blade server in which a CPU module on which a semiconductor device (CPU or the like) is mounted, for example, as a heating element, and relates to a cooling system that cools the heating element in the CPU module.

  In recent years, semiconductor devices such as a central processing unit (CPU) installed in electronic equipment typified by an electronic computer have increased the amount of heat generated with high integration, high processing speed, and high functionality. . On the other hand, when the temperature exceeds a predetermined temperature, the performance of the semiconductor device cannot be maintained and the semiconductor device may be damaged. For this reason, semiconductor devices that increase the amount of heat generation require temperature management by cooling or the like.

  On the other hand, in an electronic device such as a server, the rack mount method is widely used because it can flexibly construct a system that meets the user's needs and can be expanded in response to changes in the user's needs. This rackmant system is an apparatus in which individual devices having various functions and performances are detachably selected and arranged to constitute an electronic device, and has the advantage that it is easy to reduce the size of the system.

  However, in the rack mount system, the heat generation state of individual modules and devices that are detachably selected and arranged varies depending on the performance and function of each module and device. In addition, modules and devices tend to increase the amount of heat generated by heating elements such as semiconductor devices as high performance and high functionality are pursued. It is necessary to replace with a device having a different cooling performance corresponding to the heat generation state of the device.

  Here, even if the conventional electronic device is an air-cooling method using a fan or a water-cooling method provided with a refrigerant liquid, air is taken into the electronic device to cool the heating element inside the cooling device, and the heating element The state of high temperature due to the heat conversion is discharged out of the housing of the electronic device.

  However, this exhaust raises the temperature of the space where the electronic equipment is installed, and as a result, this temperature rise reduces the cooling capacity of the cooling device and affects the performance of electronic equipment and peripheral equipment. Will give. Therefore, the space in which the electronic device is installed is air-conditioned so that the temperature does not rise due to the air exhausted from the electronic device.

  In such a background, a CPU module device equipped with a semiconductor device that is detachably attached to a blade server or the like and has an increased calorific value is supported by various cooling structures in order to achieve high performance.

  For example, in the electronic device disclosed in Patent Document 1, a heat transfer member thermally connected to a heating element is provided with a heat-dissipating member for air cooling and a heat-absorbing member for liquid cooling to cool the heat-absorbing member for liquid cooling. A technique is disclosed in which the heat transfer member is detachable from the heat transfer member.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a cooling system in which a cooling device in a storage rack type electronic device is arranged on a rear door of the electronic device so that the cooling device can be easily replaced.

  Furthermore, in patent document 3, the technique regarding the installation position of an outdoor unit and a rack is disclosed.

JP 2007-1116055 A JP 2007-72635 A JP 2007-299892 A

  The electronic device described in Patent Document 1 has a configuration in which heat of a heating element is transferred from a heat transfer member thermally connected to the heating element to a heat dissipation member for air cooling and radiated to the atmosphere by the heat dissipation member. The heat transfer member is detachably thermally connected to the heat transfer member to convert heat through a refrigerant and radiate heat to the atmosphere by a heat exchanger. The heat-absorbing member for liquid cooling is detachable from the heat-transfer member, and at the time of replacement due to failure of the liquid-cooling unit or the like, cooling is performed only by the heat-radiating member for air cooling, so that redundancy can be ensured. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, both the air cooling unit and the liquid cooling unit are placed in the housing space of the electronic device by the housing, and the heat treatment method after heat dissipation in the housing No consideration is given to exhaust processing when heat is exhausted outside the housing.

  In the rack-type electronic device described in Patent Document 2, a heat receiving jacket in which piping led out to the outside of the electronic device is connected to a heating element placed in the electronic device, and the water cooling device is attached to the electronic device. It is installed on the rear door. Since it is set as the structure which cools the radiator of a water cooling apparatus with the fan mounted in the electronic device, it is supposed that a cooling system can be changed without changing a rack part. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 2, since the refrigerant flow path is configured outside the electronic device via a joint with a valve, there is a concern about refrigerant leakage at the joint or the like when the cooling system is replaced. Furthermore, the correspondence to the heat discharged to the outside of the electronic device is not described as in Patent Document 1.

The technique described in Patent Document 3 is configured such that a cabinet is brought into contact with a corner of an installation room, an air conditioner is provided on the corner of the cabinet, and cooling air is sent from the air conditioner to a rack in the cabinet. In addition, exhaust heat from the air conditioner is transferred to a heat pump outside the cabinet installation room via a heat pipe. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 3, the air inside the cabinet in which the computer is placed is cooled by an air conditioner, and the piping for exhausting heat from the computer to the outside is only shortened. Basically, it is equivalent to air-conditioning the space where the electronic equipment is installed. Therefore, optimal cooling cannot be performed for individual devices in the air-conditioned space, which is a problem of the conventional air-conditioning method. In addition, there is a problem that power consumption for cooling increases.
The prior art as described above has a problem that must be solved in order to perform optimum cooling in accordance with the heat generation amount of the heating element.

In order to solve the above-described problem, a cooling system for an electronic device according to the present invention is a cooling system for an electronic device that cools a heating element placed on a circuit board of the electronic device. A heat conductor that is thermally connected in a region and transfers heat of the heating element to another region, and is held in such a manner as to be attached to and detached from the electronic device integrally with the circuit board. A cooling member;
A second cooling member that converts heat of the heating element outside the electronic device or outside the space where the electronic device is installed;
A heat transfer body for transferring and transferring heat between a first cooling member in the electronic device and a second cooling member outside the electronic device, wherein the circuit board is mounted on the electronic device. And a third cooling member thermally connected to the first cooling member, wherein heat generated by the heating element in the electronic device is dissipated outside the electronic device.

  A pressing and holding mechanism for enabling separation of thermal connection between the first cooling member and the third cooling member is further provided, and the pressing and holding mechanism is attached to and detached from the electronic device. You may make it operate by.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to provide a cooling system for an electronic device that can perform optimal cooling corresponding to the heat generation amount of a heating element that is detachable from the electronic device.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual perspective view showing a rack mount type electronic device on which a blade server or the like according to the present invention is mounted. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a part of a housing of an electronic device for easy understanding. As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic device (rack mount cabinet) 1 is composed of a housing 2 and a lid 3 of a main body, and is specified according to IEC (International Electrical Commission) standard / EIA (The Electrical Industries Association) standard. It has a plurality of shelves 4 formed in a shape based on the standard. Since the plurality of shelves 4 can select and mount devices 5 having individual functions in a free arrangement, the system configuration has an advantage of excellent flexibility and expandability.

  Due to the high performance and high functionality of electronic equipment, various devices 5 are mounted on the rack mount cabinet 1 in various ways. Therefore, downsizing of the individual devices 5 mounted on the rack mount cabinet 1 and downsizing of the cooling device are greatly expected since the number of shelves 4 in the rack mount cabinet 1 can be increased. The device 5 placed on the shelf 4 is pursued to have high performance and multiple functions.

  On the other hand, a semiconductor device such as a CPU 53 (to be described later) mounted on the apparatus 5 has an increased amount of heat for high performance, and the amount of generated heat varies greatly depending on the work contents. It is desired to realize an efficient cooling method in the specified area.

  The cooling of the CPU 53 of the blade server 51 in one of the devices 5 mounted on the rack mount cabinet 1 will be described as an example.

  FIG. 2 is a conceptual perspective view showing a part of the configuration of the blade server and the configuration of the cooling device according to the present embodiment. Some of the same components are omitted for ease of explanation.

  In FIG. 2, the blade server 51 includes a plurality of CPU modules 54 each having a CPU 53 mounted in a server frame 52, a backplane 55 to which the plurality of CPU modules 54 are connected, and a power supply module, a switch module, a management module, etc. (not shown). It is equipped with.

  Here, the plurality of CPU modules 54 are mounted in the blade server 51 with an interval (D), and are inserted into and removed from the blade server 51 in the directions indicated by arrows (A) and (B). It is. In addition, in order to cool the heat generated by the CPU 53 mounted on each CPU module 54, each CPU 53 is heated by a member (first cooling member) 61 constituting a part of the cooling system according to the present embodiment. Connected. For the first cooling member 61, for example, a high thermal conductivity sheet such as carbon graphite is used. Since the first cooling member (carbon graphite sheet) 61 has a predetermined elastic force in the thickness direction, it normally avoids a dispersed contact state that occurs when the CPU and the heat sink are brought into solid contact. And is used as a heat conductor for improving the thermal connection by increasing the substantial contact area ratio. Therefore, if the first cooling member is made of carbon graphite, the substantial contact area between the CPU 53 and the first cooling member 61 can be improved, and the thermal connection between them can be improved. The thermal connection between the CPU 53 and the first cooling member 61 is performed by pressing and holding with a fastening member (not shown).

  The cooling system according to the present embodiment includes the first cooling member 61, the second cooling member 62, and the third cooling member 63. The third cooling member is thermally connected to the first cooling member 61 in a predetermined region, and is configured by a heat conducting member for receiving heat transmitted from the CPU 53 that is a heating element to the first cooling member 61. ing. Further, in the present embodiment, the second cooling member is installed outside the rack mount cabinet 1 which is an electronic device, and is thermally connected in a predetermined region of the third cooling member 63 so that the third cooling member is connected. The heat transmitted to the cooling member is radiated to the outside of the rack mount cabinet 1. Although details of the second cooling member 62 will be described later, in the present embodiment, the second cooling member 62 is configured to dissipate heat by a liquid cooling method.

  In the present embodiment, the first cooling member 61 of the cooling system 6 is configured to be inserted and removed integrally with the CPU module 54 when the CPU module 54 is attached to and detached from the blade server 51.

  In addition, since the first cooling member 61 is formed in a sheet shape having a thickness of several mm (for example, 3 mm), the first cooling member 61 has a structure that is significantly thinner than the shape of a heat sink or the like attached on the CPU 53 as in the past. Become. Accordingly, the arrangement interval (D) of the CPU modules 54 can be reduced, and the number of CPU modules 54 mounted on the blade server 51 can be increased. Next, a configuration for inserting / removing the CPU module 54 with respect to the blade server 51 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration perspective view showing a specific example of the thermal connection between the first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a specific example of an operation related to thermal separation between the first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, some members are omitted for easy understanding.

  FIG. 3 shows a state before the CPU module 54 is mounted on the blade server 51, or a state where the CPU module 54 is removed from the blade server 51. The first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 are shown in FIG. , Shows a disconnected positional relationship that is not thermally connected.

  In FIG. 3, the CPU 53 mounted on the CPU module 54 is thermally connected to the planar region 611 (the back side in the drawing) of the first cooling member 61 by the fastening member (not shown) as described above. Thereby, the heat generated by the CPU 53 is transferred to the first cooling member 61.

  Here, the 1st cooling member 61 is a heat conductive sheet which has anisotropy in a heat conductive characteristic, Comprising: The heat conductivity of the plane direction in the same plane of a heat conductive sheet is very excellent ( For example, the thermal conductivity is 800 to 1600 W / m · K, which is about twice the thermal conductivity of copper material, 350 to 400 W / m · K. Therefore, the heat generation of the CPU 53 is generated from the heat receiving portion flat region 611 of the first cooling member 61 that is a thermally conductive sheet thermally connected to the CPU 53 to the flat region 612 on the same plane as the heat receiving portion flat region 611. For example, the heat transfer is performed in the direction indicated by the filled arrows.

  On the other hand, the CPU module 54 is coupled to the operation member 7 in an urging state in which the CPU module 54 is attracted to each other by an elastic urging member 8 such as a spring. The operation member 7 includes a base portion 71 that serves as a slide guide when the CPU module 54 is inserted into and removed from the blade server 51, a locking portion 72 that serves as a stopper of the CPU module 54, and the first cooling member 61. And a piece portion 73 for operating the pressing and clamping members 91 and 92 including a pair of flat plate members for thermally connecting the third cooling member 63.

  The pressing and clamping members 91 and 92 are used to sandwich and thermally connect the first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 with the insertion of the first cooling member 61 into the blade server 51. The third cooling member 63 is disposed to face the heat transfer surface 631 position. Further, the pressing and clamping members 91 and 92 are arranged so as to be urged in the direction of the arrow (c) by the urging member (not shown), that is, in the direction facing each other.

  The third cooling member 63 generates heat from the CPU 53 transferred to the first cooling member 61 to a second cooling member 62 (not shown in FIG. 3) disposed outside the housing 52. It is a member that transfers heat so as to transfer heat, and performs heat transfer by thermal connection in a predetermined plane area with each of the first cooling member 61 and the second cooling member 62. For such heat transfer, a planar region 631621 that is in contact with the planar region 612 of the first cooling member is provided on one end side of the third cooling member 63, and the second cooling member 62 is provided on the other end side. A planar region 632 that is in contact with is provided. The third cooling member 63 is preferably made of carbon graphite having the same quality as that of the first cooling member 61 in consideration of a reduction in thermal resistance during heat transfer.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the third cooling member 63 has a sheet-like one end disposed inside the casing 52 across the casing 52 of the blade server 51 and the other end. Are arranged outside the housing 52. Since carbon graphite is a sheet-like heat transfer member, the arrangement of the blade server 51 and the second cooling member 62 installed outside the housing 52 can be set relatively arbitrarily.

  Here, the heat transfer amount of the third cooling member 63 is expressed by the following formula 1.

(Equation 1) q ∝ λ × S / L
q (heat transfer amount) [W / K]
λ (thermal conductivity) [W / m · K]
S (Heat transfer cross section) [m ² ]
L (heat transfer distance) [m]
That is, since the heat transfer amount is inversely proportional to the heat transfer distance, it is preferable to set the third cooling member 63 as short as possible.

  Next, the insertion / extraction operation of the CPU module 54 and the thermal connection / disconnection operation of the first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 in the insertion / extraction of the CPU module 54 will be described.

  FIG. 4 (1) shows a state before the CPU module 54 is mounted on the blade server 51. The CPU module 54 in which the first cooling member 61 is thermally connected to the CPU 53 is placed on the base 71 of the operation member 7 that slides forward and backward outside the blade server 51. The CPU module 54 is mounted on the blade server 51 by the movement of the base unit 71 in the arrow (A) direction.

  (2) of FIG. 4 shows a process of mounting the CPU module 54 on the blade server 51. The operation member 7 inserted into the blade server 51 is pressed from the left and right side surfaces by the urging force acting in the direction (c) by the inclined surface of the front end portion 731 of the piece portion 73, and is close to each other. 92 is separated in the arrow (b) direction against the biasing force. Furthermore, the movement of the operation member 7 in the direction of the arrow (A) causes the trunk portion 732 of the piece portion 73 to form a separated state of the pressing and clamping members 91 and 92 as shown in FIG. A part of the cooling member 61 is in a state in which it can enter between the pressing and clamping members 91 and 92 that are separated from each other.

  (3) of FIG. 4 shows a state in which the CPU module 54 is mounted at a predetermined position of the blade server 51 and the first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 are thermally connected. . When the CPU module 54 is mounted at a predetermined position on the blade server 51, it is engaged with a connector or the like provided on the backplane 55 of FIG. After the CPU module 54 is locked, the operation member 7 is moved by a distance (S) in the direction of the arrow (A) inside the blade server 51 against the biasing force of the spring 8. By the movement of the distance (S) of the operation member 7, the piece portion 73 moves to a position where the contact with the pressing and clamping member 9 is released. In this state, the operation member 7 is held by a holding member (not shown). At this time, the pressing and holding members 91 and 92 press and hold the first cooling member 61 and the third cooling member 63 so as to be thermally connected by an urging member (not shown).

  When the blade server 51 can be operated, the CPU 53 of the CPU module 54 is in a heat generation state when the blade server 51 is operated. The heat generated by the CPU 53 is transferred to the flat area 611 of the first cooling member 61 and transferred to the flat area 612 of the first cooling member 61 as described above. The heat transferred in the first cooling member 61 is transferred to the planar region 631 of the third cooling member 63 that is thermally connected to the planar region 612 of the first cooling member 61. The heat transferred to the planar region 631 of the third cooling member 63 is heated with the second thermal cooling member 62 (not shown in FIG. 4) on the same plane of the third cooling member 63. Heat transfer to the planar area 632 to be connected.

  (4) of FIG. 4 shows an operation state in which the CPU module 54 is removed from the blade server 51 in the arrow (b) direction. By releasing the operation member 7 from the above-described locked state and allowing the operation member 7 to move in the direction of the arrow (b), the piece portion 73 of the operation member 7 moves to the blade server 51 of the CPU module 54 described above. As in the case of mounting, the pressing and holding members 91 and 92 pressed by the urging member are separated in the direction of the arrow (d). As a result, the first cooling member 61 is released from the clamping state by the pressing nipping member 9, and the first cooling member 61 can be moved. Further, the CPU module 54 is removed from the blade server 51 integrally with the first cooling member 61 by moving the operation member 7 in the arrow (b) direction.

  According to such a configuration, the CPU module 54 removed from the blade server 51 is replaced with another CPU module 54 equipped with a CPU 53 having a different calorific value in accordance with the use of the blade server 51. It can be mounted on the blade server 51.

  Here, in order to cool the heating elements having different heat generation amounts, it is necessary to set the cooling performance of the cooling device including the first cooling member 61 coupled to the CPU module 54 to an optimum state.

  FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an installation state of a heating element of an electronic device and its cooling device in the present embodiment. In FIG. 5, for ease of explanation, the number and shape of devices and apparatuses are illustrated in a simplified manner, and are not limited to the illustrated shape, structure, and number.

  In FIG. 5, a rack mount cabinet 1 that is an example of an electronic device is installed in an installation room together with other electronic devices (not shown), for example. The rack mount cabinet 1 is equipped with a plurality of CPU modules 54 in the server blade 51 that require cooling. As described above, the heat generation in the CPU module 54 is transferred to the outside of the server blade 51 by the first cooling device 61 and the third cooling device 63.

  Here, the end of the third cooling device 63 drawn out to the outside of the server blade 51 extends so as to be arranged outside the installation room, and is configured to transfer heat and transfer heat to the outside of the installation room. A heat receiving member 621 in the second cooling device 62 for heat radiation is thermally connected to a planar region 632 of the third cooling device 63 extended outside the installation room. For example, when the second cooling device 62 is a water-cooling type cooling device, the heat receiving member 621 for allowing the refrigerant liquid to flow is thermally connected to the planar region 632 of the third cooling device 63 to pump the refrigerant liquid. It is configured to circulate by 623 and the like and to radiate heat by the heat radiating member 622. However, receiving heat generated by the plurality of CPU modules 54 individually by the heat receiving member 621 with this configuration can provide optimum cooling performance even when the CPU 53 has a different heat generation amount, but many heat receiving members 621 is required, which adds to the complexity of the cooling device. Therefore, for example, a plurality of cooling spaces 100 are provided outside the installation room, and the drawing position of the third cooling device 63 is specified as one of the plurality of spaces depending on the heat generation amount of the CPU 53. The cooling air volume may be controlled for each cooling space 100. Further, it may be possible to provide optimum cooling performance for different calorific values by a method such as adjusting the temperature for each space 100.

  As described above, by configuring the first and second cooling devices of the cooling device of the CPU 53 with carbon graphite sheets, the cooling device is divided into the first to third cooling members 61, 62, 63, and between these It is possible to realize a configuration in which thermal connection and disconnection can be easily performed. With this configuration, it is possible to safely and easily provide optimum cooling performance regardless of whether the CPU module 54 is inserted or removed.

  In addition, since the exhaust heat from the cooling device 6 can be easily arranged outside the electronic device, and further outside the room where the electronic device is installed, the power consumption of the entire electronic device can be reduced.

  Further, since the cooling device for the CPU module 54 in the server blade 51 can be made thin and flat, the number of CPU modules can be increased, the electronic equipment can be downsized, and the installation room can be saved. can do.

1 is a conceptual perspective view showing a rack mount type electronic device on which a blade server or the like according to the present invention is mounted. It is a conceptual perspective view which shows a part of structure of the blade server which concerns on a present Example, and a structure of a cooling device. It is a schematic structure perspective view which shows an example of the thermal connection of the 1st cooling member and 3rd cooling member which concern on a present Example. It is the figure which showed typically an example about operation of thermal connection / detachment with the 1st cooling member and 3rd cooling member which concern on a present Example. It is the conceptual diagram which showed the installation state of the heat generating body of the electronic device which concerns on a present Example, and its cooling device.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... rack mount cabinet,
2 ... Main body casing, 3 ... Lid, 4 ... Shelf 5 ... Apparatus, 51 ... Blade server, 52 ... Server frame,
53 ... CPU, 54 ... CPU module, 55 ... backplane 61 ... first cooling member, 62 ... second cooling member 63 ... third cooling member,
7 ... Operation member 8 ... Elastic biasing member 91, 92 ... Press clamping member

Claims (3)

In a cooling system for electronic equipment that cools a heating element mounted on a circuit board of the electronic equipment,
A heat conductor that is thermally connected to the heating element in a predetermined area and transfers heat of the heating element to another area, and is attached to and detached from the electronic device integrally with the circuit board. A retained first cooling member;
A second cooling member that converts heat of the heating element outside the electronic device or outside the space where the electronic device is installed;
A heat transfer body for transferring and transferring heat between a first cooling member in the electronic device and a second cooling member outside the electronic device, wherein the circuit board is mounted on the electronic device. A third cooling member thermally connected to the first cooling member ;
A press holding mechanism for sandwiching the first cooling member and the third cooling member to enable separation of thermal connection;
The pressing and holding mechanism is composed of a pair of flat plate-like pressing and holding members that are biased from both the left and right side surfaces by a biasing member and are close to each other. The separation state is operated,
A cooling system for an electronic device, wherein heat generated by a heating element in the electronic device is dissipated outside the electronic device. The cooling system for electronic equipment according to claim 1,
The cooling system for electronic equipment, wherein the first cooling member and the third cooling member are thermally conductive sheets having a predetermined planar shape made of the same material. The cooling system for electronic equipment according to claim 2,
Cooling for electronic equipment, characterized in that the areas of the flat portions that come into contact with each other for heat transfer between the first cooling member and the third cooling member performed by attaching and detaching the circuit board are substantially equal. system.

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