Gas cooled condensers for loop heat pipe like enclosure cooling

Abstract

A cooling device includes an enclosure housing, a primary cooling system including a loop heat pipe like (LHPL) device that rejects heat to an external coolant. The LHPL device including an evaporator module, condenser module, vapor line, liquid return path including a liquid return line, one or more compensation chambers, optional inline storage chambers, a working fluid having a liquid and vapor phase and an optional pump in either the vapor or the liquid return line. The evaporator module including a porous wick that transfers heat from the evaporator shell to the wick including escape channels that help to generate the delta P that drives the working fluid about the cooling loop at the same time helping to prevent the switch from nucleate to transition boiling that takes place on flat surfaces and which makes it possible for an LHPL device to cool heat loads with hot spots releasing more than 100 Watts per square

1 . A cooling device to cool a plurality of heat rejecting components and a plurality of other components, comprising:
 an enclosure housing enclosing the heat rejecting components and the other components;   an external heat rejection device including a gaseous external coolant that transfers a primary heat load from a primary cooling system and a secondary heat load from a secondary cooling system to an environment outside of the enclosure housing, the enclosure housing includes an enclosure entry port and an enclosure exit port that allows the gaseous external coolant to pass into and out of the enclosure housing;   a first rotary cooling device sitting within or without the enclosure housing that causes the gaseous external coolant to circulate within the enclosure housing and to pass through the enclosure housing entering it through the enclosure entry port and leaving through the enclosure exit port exchanging the primary heat load with the gaseous external coolant using the primary cooling system and the secondary heat load with the gaseous external coolant with using the secondary cooling system, the primary cooling system includes a loop heat pipe like or LHPL device, the primary cooling system cooling a primary heat rejecting component that produces the primary heat load, wherein the primary heat rejecting component is one of the heat rejecting components, the LHPL device includes:
 an evaporator module; 
 a condenser module; 
 a vapor line; 
 a liquid return path; and 
 a working fluid having a liquid phase and a vapor phase, wherein the primary heat load produced by the primary heat rejecting component being cooled causes the liquid phase working fluid within the evaporator module to change from the liquid phase to the vapor phase, the vapor phase leaves the evaporator module passing through the vapor line and into the condenser module where the working fluid releases the primary heat absorbed in the evaporator module and returns to the liquid phase, the liquid phase then leaves the condenser module passing through the liquid return path and the liquid phase working fluid returns to the evaporator module, the evaporator module includes:
 a component evaporator heat spreader; 
 an evaporator body; and 
 an evaporator component clamp, wherein the component evaporator heat spreader is clamped to the primary heat rejecting component providing thermal contact to transfer the primary heat load produced by the primary heat rejecting component being cooled to the evaporator body by reducing the thermal resistance between the primary heat rejecting component and the evaporator body, the evaporator body includes:
 an evaporator outer shell; 
 a working fluid inlet port; 
 a final compensation chamber; 
 a working fluid exit port; and 
 an evaporator wick having a plurality of vapor escape channels, wherein the evaporator body receives the liquid phase working fluid through the working fluid inlet port where the liquid phase working fluid enters a space between the evaporator outer shell, the working fluid inlet port and an evaporator wick working fluid entrance surface forming the final compensation chamber before flooding the evaporator wick working fluid entrance surface and then passing into and through the evaporator wick by capillary action where the working fluid absorbs the primary heat load being rejected by one of the primary heat rejecting components causing the liquid phase working fluid to boil and change to a vapor phase working fluid that includes the absorption of the heat of evaporation of the working fluid resulting in the vapor phase working fluid carrying off the primary heat produced by one of the primary heat rejecting components as it flows out of the evaporator wick using the vapor escape channels that provide a low flow resistance path for the vapor phase working fluid to leave the evaporator wick before passing out of the evaporator module through the working fluid exit port, the condenser module includes: 
 a condensation channel; 
 a condensation channel wall; 
 a condensation channel working fluid inlet; 
 a condensation channel working fluid exit; 
 a condensation channel to external coolant thermal interface that includes: 
 a condensation channel wall to cooling object thermal interface; 
 an external coolant passageway; 
 a second rotary cooling device located within or without the enclosure housing that pulls or pushes the gaseous external coolant through the external coolant passageway; and 
 a plurality of cooling objects within the gaseous external coolant passageway whose surface the gaseous external coolant flows over thereby removing the heat they reject to the gaseous external coolant, wherein the gaseous external coolant whose velocity is controlled by an external rotary cooling device is directed into the gaseous external coolant passageway where it comes into thermal contact with the surfaces of the cooling objects placed within the gaseous external coolant passageway where they receive the heat from the condensation channel wall to cooling object thermal interface that they pass to the gaseous external coolant that comes in contact with their surfaces and which the gaseous external coolant transports into or out of the enclosure housing, the heat originating within the condensation channel whose condensation channel wall receives the heat from the vapor phase working fluid that enters the condensation channel through the condensation channel inlet where it comes into contact with the condensation channel wall that employs the condensation channel to cooling object thermal interface that is part of the condensation channel to gaseous external coolant thermal interface to first remove the sensible heat from the vapor phase working fluid causing the vapor phase working fluid to condense the resulting phase change releasing the heat of condensation that with the sensible heat includes all of the heat that was rejected by the primary heat load in thermal contact with the evaporator module at which point the liquid phase working fluid exits the condensation and the condenser module using the condensation channel working fluid exit that connects to the liquid return path, the liquid return path includes: 
 a wick entrance surface near the evaporator module's working fluid inlet port; 
 a liquid return tube that connects the condensation channel working fluid exit and the wick entrance surface within the evaporator body; 
 an electric heating device, the liquid phase returning to the evaporator working fluid inlet port through the liquid return tube where it encounters a space within the evaporator body between the working fluid inlet port of the evaporator body and the evaporator wick entrance surface at the end of the evaporator wick near where the liquid return tube is attached to the evaporator body providing an incoming liquid phase working fluid with access to the wick entrance surface that is flooded by the liquid phase working fluid entering the evaporator wick, the space between the evaporator wick entrance surface and the evaporator shell in the vicinity of the working fluid inlet port forming a storage volume for the liquid phase working fluid within the liquid return path called a default compensation chamber that sits at the point where the liquid phase working fluid enters the evaporator body flooding the evaporator wick; 
 a plurality of optional attached compensation chambers that connect to the liquid return path using a condensation channel attachment tube or CC attachment tube that connects the optional attached compensation chamber to the liquid return tube anywhere along the liquid return tube or to the evaporator body between the working fluid inlet port and the wick entrance surface which requires the electric heating device during the LHPL device start-up thereby adding storage volume to a default compensation chamber; 
 an optional compensation chamber within the evaporator body between the working fluid inlet port and the wick entrance surface created by increasing the distance between the working fluid inlet port and the wick entrance surface thereby adding to the storage volume of the default compensation chamber; and 
 a plurality of optional inline liquid return path chambers located anywhere along the liquid return path within the liquid return tube that increase the volume of the liquid return path, wherein the liquid phase working fluid passes from the condensation channel working fluid exit into the liquid return tube and through the evaporator module's working fluid inlet arriving at the wick entrance surface of the evaporator wick within the evaporator body, and the optional compensation chamber within the evaporator body or the default compensation chamber within the evaporator body as well as the optional attached compensation chamber connected to the liquid return path or the evaporator body using the CC attachment tube making it possible to employ compensation chambers to adjust the point within the condenser module's condensation channel where a boundary forms between the vapor phase working fluid and the liquid phase working fluid, whereby the LHPL device's heat rejection performance is improved by moving this boundary as close as possible to the point where the liquid phase working fluid exits the condensation channel through the condensation channel working fluid exit and thereby increasing the condensation wall area available for exchanging heat with the working fluid within the condensation channel, where the working fluid in the vapor phase comes into contact with the condensation channel wall and the optional inline liquid return path chambers located within the liquid return tube providing the liquid phase working fluid with a storage volume making it possible for a single sized evaporator module to employ a plurality of the liquid return paths of different lengths that contain the same volume of the liquid phase working fluid thereby making it possible for the LHPLs whose distance between their evaporator and condenser modules varies being manufactured using a single volume working fluid for all of the LHPLs, the secondary cooling system includes: 
 
 
 the secondary coolant being the same gaseous external coolant used to cool the LHPL device that now circulates through the enclosure housing cooling a secondary heat rejecting component, wherein the secondary heat rejecting component is one of the other components; 
 an optional finned heat exchanger in thermal contact with the secondary heat rejecting component rejecting its heat to the gaseous external coolant; 
 an optional large thermally conductive surface that is in thermal contact with the secondary heat rejecting component over which the gaseous external coolant flows and whose surface area is large enough given the velocity of the gaseous external coolant passing over the surface to reject the secondary component's heat in thermal contact with the gaseous external coolant; 
 an ordinary heat pipe in thermal contact with a first LHPL evaporator module whose condenser module is cooled using the gaseous external coolant, the LHPL device primary task being to cool the primary heat rejecting component where the opposing end of the ordinary heat pipe is in thermal contact with a secondary heat rejecting component thereby transferring this secondary heat load to the LHPL device which then rejects it to the gaseous external coolant; and 
 an optional second rotary cooling device that directs the gaseous external coolant to flow across the optional finned heat exchanger, the optional finned heat exchanger and the optional large thermally conductive surface except for the optional second rotary cooling device all of which are located within the enclosure housing, the optional second rotary cooling device being placed within or without the enclosure housing and being powered by a source of electricity or another form of power, wherein the secondary heat produced by the secondary heat rejecting component is released directly to the gaseous external coolant flowing over the optional finned heat exchangers or the optional large thermally conductive surface all of which employ forced convection to deliver their heat to the gaseous external coolant while they are also in thermal contact with the secondary heat rejecting component or to the ordinary heat pipe that is connected to a second LHPL evaporator module that also employs forced convection to deliver its heat to the gaseous external coolant, wherein all of the secondary heat rejecting components reject their heat to the gaseous external coolant along with the primary heat rejecting component cooled by the LHPL device that also employs forced convection to pass its heat to the same gaseous external coolant which then either circulates within the enclosure housing before passing out of the enclosure exit port or exits directly out of the enclosure housing after leaving the LHPL device through its condenser module passageway that is connected to the enclosure exit port. 
   
     
     
         2 . The cooling device according to  claim 1 , wherein the primary heat rejecting component situated within the enclosure housing further comprises a component mounting device that the primary heat rejecting device is mounted to while providing a mechanism to hold an LHPL evaporator module in thermal contact with the primary heat rejecting component. 
     
     
         3 . The cooling device according to  claim 2 , wherein a LHPL condenser module is attached to the enclosure or the component mounting device or some other structure within the enclosure. 
     
     
         4 . The cooling device according to  claim 2 , wherein a primary electric rotary cooling device is mounted to the condenser module or to the enclosure in a position to force gaseous coolant to flow over the condenser fins in the process removing the primary heat from the primary heat rejecting component being cooled by the LHPL cooling device. 
     
     
         5 . The cooling device according to  claim 2 , further comprising a plethora of cooling fins optionally made of a heat conducting metal, wherein the condenser module is moved to one or more locations within the enclosure where there is more free space than is found in either the vicinity or directly above the primary heat rejecting component making it possible to employ the condenser module whose fin area is greater than the fin area available to an air cooled heat sink or finned heat exchanger that is mounted directly to the primary heat rejecting component, thereby the larger fin area making it possible to reduce the velocity of the external coolant passing over the fins of an LHPL cooling system's condenser module whose area is often a factor of  2  greater than the area of the fins of either a heat sink with fins or the air cooled finned heat exchanger mounted directly to the primary heat rejecting component. 
     
     
         6 . The cooling device according to  claim 5 , wherein the larger fin area of the condenser module reducing the velocity of the air passing over the fins being inversely proportional to the increase in fin area made possible by the use of the LHPL device in turn reducing the rotational speed of the primary electric rotary cooling device whose rotational speed is proportional to the air velocity further reducing the energy required to run the rotational cooling device whose power approaches being proportional to the rotations per minute or RPMs of the device cubed, resulting in a factor of two increase in the fins that are producing up to a factor of 8 reduction in the power required to run an electric rotary cooling device while at the same time making a dramatic improvement in the reliability of the electric rotary cooling device used to cool the primary cooling system and reducing operating costs related to fan failures along with loud noise produced by small electric rotary devices running up to  20 , 000  RPMs. 
     
     
         7 . The cooling device according to  claim 2 , further comprising the environment outside of the enclosure housing being an HVAC cooling system that returns chilled air to the enclosure, an enclosure wall with a hole that allows air to pass between the interior and exterior of the enclosure along with mounting the condenser module or the primary electric rotary cooling device to the enclosure wall near the hole. 
     
     
         8 . The cooling device according to  claim 7 , wherein the primary heat rejecting component situated within the enclosure mounted to the component mounting device creates thermal contact between the LHPL evaporator module and the primary heat rejecting component. 
     
     
         9 . The cooling device according to  claim 8 , wherein the LHPL condenser module is attached to either side of the enclosure wall near the hole enabling the primary electric rotary cooling device to pass air through the condenser module enabling air to be removed from the enclosure's interior. 
     
     
         10 . The cooling device according to  claim 9 , wherein the condenser module situated on either side of the hole in the enclosure wall lets the ambient air within the enclosure flow out of the enclosure to convectively cool the condenser module sitting on either side of the enclosure wall resulting in a reduction of the temperature of the ambient air within the enclosure that would not have occurred if the condenser had been mounted in front of an air inlet hole or within the enclosure in a manner that would not have allowed the heated air exhausting from it being directed out of the enclosure, instead mixing with the ambient air within the enclosure allowing recirculation to take place within the enclosure resulting in pre-heated air making more than one pass through the condenser module so that its exhaust is not directed out of the enclosure, thereby the mounting of the condenser module is so that the air being exhausted from it leaves the enclosure without mixing with the ambient air within the enclosure making an improvement in the energy efficiency of the primary and secondary cooling systems by reducing the temperature of the ambient coolant used by both the primary and secondary cooling systems which in turn reduce the required velocity of the air flowing over secondary components as well as the fins used in air cooled finned heat exchangers and an air cooled LHPL cooling device condenser module that in turn reduces the energy required to run the primary electric rotary cooling devices that provide the convective heat transfer, the increase in the volumetric heat content of the air leaving the enclosure through all of its vents improving the energy efficiency of the HVAC cooling system used to cool the heat rejecting components in the enclosure is placed in a geographic location that requires the HVAC cooling system to deliver the primary and secondary rejected heats to the outside air or to an external heat sink such as a body of water or the earth. 
     
     
         11 . The cooling device according to  claim 2 , further comprising a passageway that brings air from the outside of the enclosure housing to the LHPL condenser module within the enclosure and a passageway that removes air exhausted by an air cooled condenser and delivers it to the air outside of the enclosure without pre-heating the air within the enclosure. 
     
     
         12 . The cooling device according to  claim 11 , wherein the condenser module of the LHPL cooling device is situated outside of the wall of the enclosure housing or is provided cool air by the passageway that has not been pre-heated by components within the enclosure and a second passageway that delivers the exhaust of the condenser module to the outside air without pre-heating the ambient air within the enclosure. 
     
     
         13 . The cooling device according to  claim 11 , wherein the component and the evaporator module of the LHPL cooling is located within the enclosure the temperature of the air used to cool the LHPL's condenser module having not been raised by the pre-heated air within the enclosure making it possible for the LHPL cooling device whose condenser module does not receive pre-heated air to increase the amount of heat that the LHPL cooling device rejects making it possible to cool primary heat rejecting components whose rejected heat is related to their throughput allowing primary heat rejecting components that deliver their rejected heat to air cooled LHPL cooling devices to increase their operating frequencies and computational throughput while not impacting the secondary cooling system if the rejected primary heat does not pre-heat the ambient air within the enclosure. 
     
     
         14 . The cooling device according to  claim 2 , further comprising a component mounting device that is a circuit board, wherein the primary heat rejecting component and the secondary heat rejecting component are situated within the enclosure and the primary and secondary heat rejecting components are mounted to the circuit board providing them with electric power often containing layers that conduct both electricity to components mounted on the circuit board while conducting heat away from the components that reject their heat to copper layers of the circuit board using pins that connect the components to the copper layers and copper via that conduct heat between the internal copper layers and the top and bottom layers of the circuit board which in the case of circuit boards with large areas make it possible to convectively extract heat from the circuit board by flowing air over the circuit board's surfaces or to mount air cooled finned heat exchangers to the exposed copper layers to further increase the surface area of the circuit board delivering rejected heat to the secondary coolant. 
     
     
         15 . The cooling device according to  claim 1 , wherein the primary and secondary rotary electric cooling devices further comprise a conduit placed adjacent to one or more enclosure housings to which mating sealed holes are placed in both the enclosures and the conduit, the enclosure coming together with conduit using an air tight seal between the holes forming an air passageway between the enclosure and conduit and employing the rotary cooling device that need not be powered by electricity being mounted to the conduit so as to exhaust air out of the conduit reducing the air pressure within the conduit and the enclosure below the pressure outside the enclosure. 
     
     
         16 . The cooling device according to  claim 15 , wherein a pressure gradient being established between the conduit and the air outside of the enclosure causes air to be sucked into the enclosure through an entrance hole in the wall of the enclosure, the air flowing into the entrance hole through the enclosure with a velocity capable of convective cooling of primary and secondary heat rejecting components, the air being exhausted out to the passageway and the conduit before leaving for an external HVAC system in the case where the outside air is not cold enough to cool the components within the enclosure, thereby making it possible to cool the heat rejecting components within the enclosure without the need for primary electric rotary cooling devices replacing them with large rotary cooling devices whose energy efficiency is much higher than the small primary electric rotary cooling devices typically employed within enclosure housings and completely eliminating the need for small primary electric rotary cooling devices that also eliminates the noise that they generate, the conduit collecting all of the heated air being released to the conduit that normally is mixed with the cold air within the rooms that contain air cooled electrically powered enclosure housings that raises the temperature of the air entering the enclosure to convectively cool components causing the velocity required to get the same amount of cooling to rise which spreads the external heat out over a larger volume of cooling air that leaves the enclosure, reducing the temperature of the air leaving the enclosure ultimately raising the energy put into accelerating air throughout the system and reducing the energy efficiency of the HVAC system used to provide air to cool the room that the enclosure sits in, which except for the case when the outside air is cold enough to cool the enclosure rarely persists for more than four months of the year. 
     
     
         17 . The cooling device according to  claim 16 , further comprising the environment outside of the enclosure housing being an HVAC cooling system that returns chilled air to the enclosure housing being a rack mounted chassis with a vent hole in the front panel of the chassis that allows cooling air to leave the chassis through an exhaust hole in the its rear allowing the heat cooling air to flow into an air tight passageway that connects the exhaust hole in the rear of the chassis with a conduit inlet that is cut into a rack mounted conduit that is mounted to the rack cabinet so will remain stationary in the rear of a rack cabinet, the conduit inlet forming the end of the air passageway that starts with the exhaust hole of the rack mounted chassis employing an airtight seal that guarantees when the rack mount chassis is fully inserted into the rack cabinet so that it butts-up against the rack mounted conduit so air cannot leak into the passageway from the outside, the rack mounted conduit employing a conduit vacuum seal that closes when the rack mounted chassis is removed from the rack cabinet preventing air to leak into the conduit when the rack mounted chassis is not installed, the vacuum seal being broken when the rack mounted chassis is inserted into the rack cabinet coming into contact with the mechanism that controls the conduit vacuum seal. 
     
     
         18 . The cooling device according to  claim 17 , wherein an air flow path is established between the front panel vent hole of the rack mount chassis and the rack mount conduit that employs the rotary cooling device to exhaust air from the conduit thereby lowering the pressure in the conduit establishing a pressure gradient between the front panel vent hole and the rotary cooling device that sucks air into the chassis causing air to flow through the rack mount chassis with a velocity high enough to cool by convection the primary cooling and secondary cooling systems delivering the heat rejected by the primary and secondary heat rejecting components to the external coolant being air, thereby further improving energy efficiency by eliminating the need for small electric rotary cooling devices within the rack mount chassis and rack cabinet rear door fans, both of which being small are less energy efficient than the large rotary cooling device capable of being mounted on an air conduit or an air duct that remove air from either the conduit or the duct, the rack cabinet rear door fans creating air that leaves them at high velocity and is free to force its way around ducts used to capture the heat coming out of the rear of rack cabinets in a hot isle of a data center allowing hot air leaving the rack cabinet to recirculate within the data center room mixing with the air being produced by the HVAC cooling system that cools air directed into the room returning to the front of the rack mount chassis after mixing with the hot air being directed around the ducting designed to capture the hot air then mixing with the incoming cooling air causing it to rise in temperature before it enters the front panel vent of the chassis and being hotter than it would have been if a rack mounted conduit had been employed causing the electric rotary cooling devices and rear door mounted fans in a rack cabinet cooling system that does not employ a rack cabinet conduit to increase speed to compensate for the higher temperature of the external coolant that needs to be raised when removing a constant amount of heat from the heat rejecting components within the enclosure and in addition to consuming extra power also causing volumetric heat content of the air leaving the enclosure to fall resulting in the HVAC cooling system to employ more energy in its water chiller to reject the heat to the outside air and finally by eliminating the internal electric rotary cooling devices as well as the rear door fans completely eliminating noise. 
     
     
         19 . The cooling device according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas cooled condenser module further comprises one or more heat sinks and a serpentine shaped condensation channel, wherein the serpentine condensation channel is thermally attached to either one or more heat sinks resulting in a condenser composed of a single heat sink whose base plate is thermally attached to the condensation channel or a condenser composed of two or more heat sinks whose base plates are both thermally attached to a condensation channel which is sandwiched between the base plates making it possible to flow the heat between the condensation channel and the base plates of the heat sinks thermally attached to it. 
     
     
         20 . The cooling device according to  claim 19 , wherein the gas cooled condenser module further comprises a multitude of fins each containing a plurality of extruded holes whose spacing matches that of a group of condensation channels that are part of a network formed by attaching them to a pair of manifolds one of which receives working fluid vapor from the vapor line that connects it to the evaporator and distributes the vapor to the condensation channels attached to it while the second manifold situated on an opposing side of the network receives working fluid liquid from the condensation channels attached to it and returns it to the evaporator using the working fluid path, wherein the working fluid path is created that distributes incoming vapor to the group of condensation channels which have been thermally attached to the multitude of fins by the extruded holes in the fins whose spacing makes it possible to stack the fins over the condensation channels creating a thermal transfer mechanism between the condensation channel and the fins that enables the transfer of the heat of condensation from the condensation channels to the fins from which the heat of condensation gets passed to the air flowing down the length of the fins, resulting in the heat being rejected to the air while simultaneously returning the working fluid to its liquid phase before it leaves the condenser by flowing into an opposing manifold, which is connected to the liquid return path.