COOLING TECHNIQUE

1 . A method of cooling a heat source using a refrigerant flow in a heat exchanger, comprising:

measuring a value corresponding to a property of said refrigerant flow indicative of an amount of heat being removed by said heat exchanger;

determining a flow rate of the refrigerant in the heat exchanger using said value; and

operating a valve to adjust said flow rate of said refrigerant in said heat exchanger according to said determined value.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said measuring comprises measuring at least one parameter relative to said heat exchanger and selected from a group consisting of:

pressure,

temperature,

capacitance,

thermal conductance,

scattering of light,

ultrasonic response,

infrared image,

visible image,

mass flow, and

power consumption.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said measuring comprises measuring a temperature difference across a reference element located between said heat source and said heat exchanger.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein a flow property value is determined by measuring a first differential pressure at a first location upstream of said heat exchanger and a second differential pressure measured at a second location downstream of said heat exchanger and determining a ratio between said second differential pressure and said first differential pressure.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising maintaining a refrigerant flow rate in a branch of said heat exchanger higher than an optimum flow rate, said optimum flow rate being a flow rate at which a heat load present in said branch is a heat load required to vaporize an entirety of said refrigerant without superheat.

6 . An apparatus comprising a heat exchanger configured to cool a heat source using a refrigerant, comprising:

a flow property meter configured to measure a value corresponding to a property of a flow of said refrigerant;

a processing unit coupled to said flow property meter and configured to determine a flow distribution rate for said flow of said refrigerant in said heat exchanger using said value; and

a valve coupled to said processing unit and configured to adjust a flow rate of said refrigerant in said heat exchanger according to said determined flow distribution rate.

7 . The apparatus as recited in claim 6 , further comprising a control unit coupled to and configured to control an operation of said valve.

8 . The apparatus as recited in claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of heat exchangers associated with respective heat sources comprised in a cooling cycle network.

9 . The apparatus as recited in claim 6 , further comprising a pump configured to pump refrigerant through said heat exchanger.

10 . The apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein the cooling cycle network comprises a plurality of branches, wherein a branch includes:

at least one heat exchanger;

a flow property meter; and

a valve.

11 . The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , further comprising a valve configured to adjust a flow of said refrigerant in more than one individual branch in said network.

12 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said flow property meter is configured to measure a capacitance of a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

13 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said flow property meter is configured to measure a pressure within a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

14 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said flow property meter is configured to measure a thermal conductance within a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

15 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said flow property meter is configured to measure a scattering of light within a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

16 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said flow property meter is configured measure an ultrasonic response within a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

17 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein the flow property meter is configured to measure an infrared or visible image response within a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

18 . The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said flow property meter is configured to measure a vapor or void fraction of said the refrigerant within a volume of said refrigerant in a refrigerant conduit.

19 . The apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein said flow property meter comprises a first differential pressure meter configured to measure a differential pressure at a location upstream a flow of said refrigerant relative to said heat exchanger and a second differential pressure meter configured to measure a differential pressure at a location downstream said flow of said refrigerant relative to said heat exchanger.

20 . The apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein said apparatus is configured to maintain a refrigerant flow rate in a branch of said heat exchanger higher than an optimum flow rate, said optimum flow rate being a flow rate at which a heat load present in said branch is a heat load required to vaporize an entirety of said refrigerant without superheat.