Liquid immersion cooling platform
A two-phase liquid immersion cooling system is described in which heat generating computer components cause a dielectric fluid in its liquid phase to vaporize. The dielectric vapor is then condensed back into a liquid phase and used to cool the computer components. Using a pressure controlled vessel and pressure controller, the disclosed system may be operated at less than ambient pressure. By controlling the pressure at which the system operates, the user may influence the temperature at which the dielectric fluid vaporizes and thereby achieve increased performance from a given computer component. Utilizing robotic arms and slot-in computing components, a self-healing computing system may be created.
1. A cooling system for computing components comprising: a pressure controlled vessel comprising an interior and an exterior wherein said vessel comprises a top, a bottom, a front, a back and opposing sides and is configured to be operated above 650 torr, wherein the pressure controlled vessel is configured to comprise a volume of thermally conductive, condensable dielectric fluid in liquid and gas phase wherein the dielectric fluid has a boiling point below about 80 C at atmospheric pressure and wherein the dielectric fluid is substantially free of water; one or more computer components arranged such that the one or more computer components may be at least partially submerged within the liquid phase of a volume of thermally conductive, condensable dielectric fluid and a condenser on at least one of the opposing sides for actively condensing gas phase dielectric fluid to liquid phase dielectric fluid wherein the pressure controlled vessel is configured to direct gas phase of the thermally conductive dielectric fluid toward the condenser on at least one of the opposing sides; and wherein said vessel is configured to employ a blanket of inert gas when the pressure controlled vessel is exposed to atmospheric conditions during maintenance, start-up, or shutdown to reduces the amount of dielectric fluid lost and the top of said vessel comprises a condenser-free removable lid.
2. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the pressure controlled vessel is mounted within a super structure.
3. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a backplane system.
4. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a computer component of the at least one or more computer components which is configured to be swappable without significant disruption of the interior pressure of the pressure controlled vessel.
5. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a robotic arm and an airlock, wherein the airlock is configured to allow access to the interior of the pressure controlled vessel without significantly disrupting the pressure within the pressure controlled vessel.
6. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a purge system, wherein the purge system is configured to remove contaminants from the volume of thermally conductive dielectric fluid.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the purge system is configured to condense at least a portion of gaseous dielectric fluid, and discard gaseous contaminants.
8. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the pressure controlled vessel comprises an interior volume of between about 100 cubic feet and about 300 cubic feet.
9. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the pressure controlled vessel comprises a ratio of liquid dielectric fluid volume to gaseous dielectric fluid volume of between about 1:3 to about 1:8.
10. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a ballast block.
11. The system of claim 1 wherein the system comprises a power utilization effectiveness of from about 1.05 to about 1.15.
12. A method for cooling computer components, the method comprising:
providing a thermally conductive, condensable dielectric fluid in a liquid and gas phase in a pressure controlled vessel comprising a top, a bottom, a front, a back and opposing sides and comprising an active condenser located on an opposing side of the pressure controlled vessel; and
operating computer components at a pressure above 650 torr in the presence of the thermally conductive, condensable dielectric fluid wherein the dielectric fluid is substantially free of water, wherein the computer components are at least partially in contact with the thermally conductive, condensable dielectric fluid in liquid phase and wherein the dielectric fluid condenses in the active condenser located on the opposing side of the pressure controlled vessel and wherein the top of said vessel comprises a condenser-free removable lid; and
employing a blanket of inert gas to reduce the amount of dielectric fluid lost when the pressure controlled vessel is exposed to atmospheric conditions during maintenance, start-up, or shutdown.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of vaporizing the dielectric fluid from a liquid phase to a gas phase using at least a portion of any heat generated by the operating computer components.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of condensing at least a portion of the dielectric fluid from a gas phase to a liquid phase.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising removing at least a portion of non-readily condensable fluids from the dielectric fluid.
16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising replacing at least one or more computer components while said computer components are operating.
17. A method of cooling computer components, the method comprising:
operating computer components at above 650 torr in a pressure controlled vessel comprising a top, a bottom, a front, a back and opposing sides and an active condenser located on an opposing side of the pressure controlled vessel, wherein the computer components are at least partially in contact with a thermally conductive, dielectric fluid, and wherein the boiling point of the dielectric fluid is below about 80° C. at atmospheric pressure and wherein the dielectric fluid is substantially free of water and wherein the top of said vessel comprises a condenser-free removable lid; and
employing a blanket of inert gas to reduce the amount of dielectric fluid lost when the pressure controlled vessel is exposed to atmospheric conditions during maintenance, start-up, or shutdown.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising condensing the dielectric fluid at conditions such that the computer components do not exceed about 80° C.