US-12621959-B1 - Dual-medium, layered-cascade liquid-cooling system

US12621959B1US 12621959 B1US12621959 B1US 12621959B1US-12621959-B1

Abstract

A dual-medium, layered-cascade liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system includes a cold-plate assembly, a circulation loop, and a drive unit. The cold-plate assembly includes a lower-layer cold plate and an upper-layer cold plate. The lower-layer cold plate includes a first liquid-metal cold plate and a second liquid-metal cold plate located in the region of the GPU module on the main board. The upper-layer cold plate includes a large liquid-metal cold plate located in the region of the CPU module and the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) module on the main board. First and second water-based cold plates are respectively affixed to the tops of the first and second liquid-metal cold plates, and a large water-based cold plate is affixed to the bottom of the large liquid-metal cold plate. The system achieves balanced heat transfer between the high heat-flux region of the GPU module and the lower-power region including the CPU and HBM modules.

Inventors

Jinyi Pan
Richard Pan
Jianwu Pan

Assignees

Shanghai Funing GalliumCool Technologies Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20250923
Priority Date: 20250826

Claims (8)

1 . A dual-medium, layered, cascaded liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system, comprising a cold-plate assembly, a circulation pipeline, and a drive unit; wherein the cold-plate assembly comprises a lower-layer cold plate and an upper-layer cold plate, wherein the lower-layer cold plate comprises a first liquid-metal cold plate and a second liquid-metal cold plate located in an area corresponding to a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) module on a motherboard chip, and the upper-layer cold plate comprises a large liquid-metal cold plate located in a region corresponding to a Central Processing Unit (CPU) module and a High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) module on the motherboard chip; the first liquid-metal cold plate, the second liquid-metal cold plate, and the large liquid-metal cold plate are connected by the circulation pipeline to form a liquid-metal isothermal circulation system, and the drive unit is configured to drive medium in the liquid-metal isothermal circulation system; and a top side of the first liquid-metal cold plate and a top side of the second liquid-metal cold plate are respectively bonded to a first water-based cold plate and a second water-based cold plate, a bottom side of the large liquid-metal cold plate is bonded to a third water-based cold plate, and the first water-based cold plate, the second water-based cold plate, and the third water-based cold plate are connected by pipelines to form a water-based liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system, wherein the water-based liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system is connected to a main liquid-cooling manifold.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a chip area on a main board is divided into a first region and a second region, wherein the first region has a higher temperature than the second region, wherein the GPU module is located in the first region, and the CPU module and the HBM module are located in the second region; the first liquid-metal cold plate, the second liquid-metal cold plate, the first water-based cold plate, and the second water-based cold plate cover the first region, and the large liquid-metal cold plate and the third water-based cold plate cover the second region.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the first liquid-metal cold plate, the second liquid-metal cold plate, and the large liquid metal cold plate are filled with a liquid metal medium; the drive unit employs a magnetohydrodynamic drive (MHD) or magnet pump; the MHD or magnet pump is arranged on the circulation pipeline; when the MHD or magnet pump drives a flow of the liquid metal medium, a part of a heat absorbed from the first region is circulated by the liquid metal medium to the large liquid metal cold plate in the second region; and the large liquid metal cold plate transfers the heat to the third water-based cold plate.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the first liquid-metal cold plate and the second liquid-metal cold plate are copper-based cold plates protected by nickel plating or a ceramic coating, wherein a bottom of each of the copper-based cold plates is in thermal contact with a core heat-generating area of the GPU module, and a top of each of the copper-based cold plates is in contact with a bottom of the first water-based cold plate and a bottom of the second water-based cold plate, such that heat at the GPU module is transferred through the bottom of the copper-based cold plates to the liquid-metal medium inside, and the copper-based cold plates further transfer the heat upward to the first water-based cold plate and the second water-based cold plate.
5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the large liquid-metal cold plate is configured as two independent circulation chambers or as a single integrated circulation chamber; when configured as two independent circulation chambers, the large liquid-metal cold plate is divided into a third liquid-metal cold plate and a fourth liquid-metal cold plate; the circulation pipeline comprises a first liquid-metal delivery pipe, a second liquid-metal delivery pipe, a first liquid-metal return pipe, and a second liquid-metal return pipe, and the MHD or magnet pump comprises a first MHD or magnet pump provided on the first liquid-metal delivery pipe and a second MHD or magnet pump provided on the second liquid-metal delivery pipe; and a first end of the first liquid-metal cold plate and a first end of the third liquid-metal cold plate are remote from each other and are connected by the first liquid-metal delivery pipe; a second end of the first liquid-metal cold plate and a second end of the third liquid-metal cold plate are adjacent to each other and are connected by the first liquid-metal return pipe; a first end of the second liquid-metal cold plate and a first end of the fourth liquid-metal cold plate are remote from each other and are connected by the second liquid-metal delivery pipe; and a second end of the second liquid-metal cold plate and a second end of the fourth liquid-metal cold plate are adjacent to each other and are connected by the second liquid-metal return pipe.
6 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the MHD or magnet pump delivers the liquid metal medium from the first liquid-metal cold plate and the second liquid-metal cold plate in the first region to the large liquid-metal cold plate in the second region, wherein the liquid metal medium transfers heat to the large liquid-metal cold plate to form an isothermal layer.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein, after the liquid metal medium in the first liquid-metal cold plate and the second liquid-metal cold plate absorbs the heat from the GPU module, a first portion of the heat is transferred to the first water-based cold plate and the second water-based cold plate, and a second portion of the heat is conveyed, under drive of the MHD or magnet pump, to the large liquid-metal cold plate, wherein the large liquid-metal cold plate transfers the heat to the third water-based cold plate.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second water-based cold plate, the first water-based cold plate, and the third water-based cold plate are sequentially connected in series via a first water-based liquid-cooling pipe and a second water-based liquid-cooling pipe; the third water-based cold plate is connected to the main liquid-cooling manifold via a first liquid-cooling system pipeline, and the second water-based cold plate is connected to the main liquid-cooling manifold via a second liquid-cooling system pipeline; or each of the second water-based cold plate, the first water-based cold plate, and the third water-based cold plate is directly connected to the main liquid-cooling manifold.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202511203134.8, filed on Aug. 26, 2025, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of heat dissipation for computer hardware, and in particular to a dual-medium, layered, cascaded liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system. BACKGROUND With the rapid development of high-performance computing (HPC), artificial-intelligence training, and data centers, the power density of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) chips has increased significantly, and the thermal design power (TDP) of a single chip has reached the kilowatt level. Traditional single-medium water-based liquid-cooling systems are often limited by cold-plate area and heat-exchange efficiency when dealing with the high heat-flux density of GPUs, resulting in excessive local hot-spot temperatures that adversely affect chip performance and service life. In typical high-end computing platforms (e.g., NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 series), GPU, Central Processing Unit (CPU), and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) modules are usually closely arranged within the same main-board area, wherein the CPU+HBM area has lower power consumption and relatively limited heat generation. If a portion of the GPU heat can be efficiently transferred to cold plates in that area for cooperative heat dissipation, the GPU's cooling burden can be effectively dispersed and improving overall thermal management capabilities. Also, over the past few years, the liquid cooling technology has continuously improved, forming relatively complete solutions and a comprehensive supply chain system. However, there remains a need for a solution that not only enhances GPU heat dissipation capacity but is also compatible with existing cooling systems, requires no restructuring of the CDU or heat exchanger, involves modifications only to the cold plate and local loops, has low maintenance and expansion costs. SUMMARY The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a dual-medium, layered, cascaded liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system to overcome the problems of the prior art, but also compatible to the existing liquid cooling systems. To address the above technical problems, the invention adopts the following technical solution: A dual-medium, layered, cascaded liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system including a cold-plate assembly, a circulation pipeline, and a drive unit. The cold-plate assembly includes a lower-layer cold plate and an upper-layer cold plate. The lower-layer cold plate includes a first liquid-metal cold plate and a second liquid-metal cold plate located in the region where a GPU module on the main-board chip is situated. The upper-layer cold plate includes a large liquid-metal cold plate located in a region where a CPU module and an HBM module on the main-board chip are situated. The first liquid-metal cold plate, the second liquid-metal cold plate, and the large liquid-metal cold plate are connected by the circulation pipeline to form a liquid-metal isothermal circulation system, and the drive unit is configured to drive circulation flow of a medium in the liquid-metal isothermal circulation system. Top sides of the first and second liquid-metal cold plates are respectively bonded to or as the bottom of a first water-based cold plate and a second water-based cold plate. A bottom side of the large liquid-metal cold plate is bonded to or as the top side of large water-based cold plate. The first water-based cold plate, the second water-based cold plate, and the large water-based cold plate are connected by pipelines to form a water-based liquid-cooling heat-dissipation system, which is connected to a main liquid-cooling header/manifold, or each water-based cold plate can be direct connected the liquid-cooling manifold. Furthermore, the main-board chip area is divided into an ultra-high-temperature region and a low-temperature region, the ultra-high-temperature region being where the GPU module is located and the low-temperature region being where the CPU and HBM modules are located. The first liquid-metal cold plate, the second liquid-metal cold plate, the first water-based cold plate, and the second water-based cold plate cover the ultra-high-temperature region, while the large liquid-metal cold plate and the large water-based cold plate cover the low-temperature region. Furthermore, each of the first liquid-metal cold plate, the second liquid-metal cold plate, and the large liquid-metal cold plate has an plenum and microchannels and is filled with a liquid metal medium. The drive unit of the liquid metal is a magnetohydrodynamic drive (MHD) or magnet pump arranged on the circulation pipeline. When the MHD or magnet pump drives the liquid metal medium to flow, a portion of the heat absorbed from the ultra-high-temperature region is circulated to the large liquid-metal cold plate in the