Liquid cooled rack information handling system having storage drive carrier for leak containment and vibration mitigation

1. A method of assembling a direct-contact, liquid-cooled (DL) Rack Information Handling System (RIHS), the method comprising:

inserting a leak containment barrier in a node enclosure;

provisioning the node enclosure with heat-generating functional components; and

attaching a system of conduits supplying cooling liquid through the node enclosure and including a supply conduit extending from a node inlet coupling and a return conduit terminating in a node outlet coupling, wherein a trough of the leak containment barrier underlays a portion of the system of conduits of a liquid cooled (LC) node and forms a drain path to a drain port of the node enclosure; and

mounting the LC node insertably received in one node-receiving slot of a rack having one or more node-receiving slots, each slot having a front opening for node insertion and a rear section opposed to the front access configured for blind mating of the node inlet and outlet ports to a node-receiving liquid inlet port and a node-receiving liquid outlet port located at the rear section of one node-receiving slot and positioned to be inwardly facing to receive the couplings of the LC node inserted in the one node-receiving slot.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

connecting the system of conduits to a cooling liquid supply to receive direct contact of cooling liquid to regulate the ambient temperature of the LC node by absorbing and transferring heat from within the node via the cooling liquid.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning the node inlet coupling and node outlet coupling and the inlet liquid port and outlet liquid port to be inwardly facing for blind mating to a node inlet and outlet ports of the inserted LC node.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing at least one shutoff valve to interrupt the supply flow of cooling liquid to the LC node; and

providing a node-level liquid sensor that detects liquid leaks in the trough structure and which is configured to communicate a signal identifying a presence of a liquid leak to at least one leak controller that triggers the at least one shutoff valve to close in response to receipt of the signal.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein providing a node-level liquid sensor comprises:

positioning an absorbent material to absorb and hold at least an initial portion of any liquid that leaks in the leak containment barrier; and

exposing the node-level liquid sensor to the absorbent material to detect a presence of liquid within the absorbent material.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein providing the node level liquid sensor comprises:

positioning an absorbent material to absorb and hold at least an initial portion of any liquid that leaks in the leak containment barrier; and

inserting a pair of electrical conduits inserted within the absorbent material, each conduit of the pair of electrical conduits separated by a volume of the absorbent material, wherein an electrical current passes from a first conduit to a second conduit only when the absorbent material has absorbed a minimum threshold supply of leaked fluid.

7. A method of containing leaks in a direct-contact, liquid-cooled (DL) Rack Information Handling System (RIHS), the method comprises:

communicating with a liquid sensor to detect liquid received in a leak containment barrier that is leaked in a trough from a received system of conduits internal to a node enclosure of a liquid cooled (LC) node that is provisioned with a heat-generating computing component; and

in response to detecting a leak:

identifying which levels of leak detection sensors detected the leak from among a node-level sensors, one or more block-level sensors, and a rack-level sensor;

in response to determining which levels of leak detection sensors detected the leak, triggering shutoff of at least a lowest level shutoff valve that supplies cooling liquid to an area monitored by the identified sensor; and

interrupting a supply flow of cooling liquid to the LC node by causing at least the lowest level shutoff valve to close.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:

an absorbent material is positioned to absorb and hold at least an initial portion of any liquid that leaks in the leak containment barrier; and

the node-level liquid sensor is exposed to the absorbent material to detect a presence of liquid within the absorbent material.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether the containment solution applied was effective by determining whether an additional leak detection signal is subsequently received at a higher-level sensor; and

in response to determining the containment solution was not effective, triggering a shutoff valve that supplies cooling liquid to a higher-level area monitored by the higher-level sensor.

10. A method of containing leaks in a direct-contact, liquid-cooled (DL) Rack Information Handling System (RIHS), the method comprising:

provisioning a liquid rail formed by more than one modular liquid distribution conduit connecting a rail supply and return port of adjacent LC nodes into a respective rail supply conduit and a respective rail return conduit;

communicating with a liquid sensor to detect liquid received in a leak containment barrier that is leaked in a trough from a received system of conduits internal to a node enclosure of a liquid cooled (LC) node that is provisioned with a heat-generating computing component; and

in response to detecting a leak, interrupting a supply flow of cooling liquid to the LC node by causing a shutoff valve to close.