US-20260129792-A1 - COLD PLATES IN COMPUTER HARDWARE

Abstract

Approaches presented herein provide for receiving liquid coolant from external sources to cold plates of a server or other liquid-cooled computer system. In at least one embodiment, initial standalone manifolds of the server can be forgone or bypassed, with the flow of liquid coolant received to a server at the cold plates. Some components of the server can be provided a source of cooling from the cold plates and other components can be provided the flow of liquid coolant distributed from the cold plates. The flow of liquid coolant can be provided from the cold plates to the some components to as a source of cooling, as well as to a separate manifold to be further distributed. The cold plates can be connected together to provide the appropriate flow of liquid coolant for the server.

Inventors

• Ryan Albright
• John Norton
• Ramanand Nayak
• Mohammed Amin Godil
• Elad Mentovich
• Tahir Cader

Assignees

• NVIDIA CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20241105

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A liquid-cooled server, comprising: at least one circuit board; one or more compute devices positioned on the at least one circuit board; and one or more cold plates to receive a flow of liquid coolant from an external liquid coolant source and to provide a source of cooling for the one or more compute devices separated from the flow of liquid coolant, the one or more cold plates connectable to further provide the flow of liquid coolant to one or more additional components of the liquid-cooled server.
2. 2 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , wherein the server receives the flow of liquid coolant from the external liquid coolant source to a first plate of the cold plates without an intervening manifold within a server housing.
3. 3 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cold plates are able to connect to the flow of liquid coolant using a manual connection or a blind mate connection.
4. 4 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , further comprising: a manifold separate from the one or more cold plates and configured to provide a flow of liquid coolant to one or more second components on the at least one circuit board.
5. 5 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 4 , further comprising: one or more sensors to monitor the flow of liquid coolant associated with at least one of the manifold and the one or more second components.
6. 6 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sensors provide monitoring data to a data aggregator.
7. 7 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , wherein individual cold plates of the one or more cold plates are able to be directly connected to multiple flows of liquid coolant.
8. 8 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cold plates are able to be connected using at least one daisy chain-style connection including a plurality of hoses and connectors.
9. 9 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , wherein a rate of at least a portion of the flow of liquid coolant is balanced using at least one flow damper associated with the one or more cold plates.
10. 10 . The liquid-cooled server of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cold plate to limit backflow and crossflow of the flow of liquid coolant to the one or more additional components.
11. 11 . A cold plate for a computer system, comprising: at least one inlet to receive a flow of liquid coolant from a liquid coolant loop associated with a remote source; an exterior thermal transfer surface to provide a source of cooling from the flow of liquid coolant; and at least one outlet to distribute the flow of liquid coolant to one or more components of the computer system.
12. 12 . The cold plate of claim 11 , further comprising: an interface, including a plurality of connectors, between the at least one inlet and the liquid coolant loop without an intervening manifold within the computer system.
13. 13 . The cold plate of claim 11 , wherein one or more components may be positioned on the exterior thermal transfer surface to receive the source of cooling.
14. 14 . The cold plate of claim 11 , further comprising: at least one additional outlet to provide at least a portion of the flow of liquid coolant to the liquid coolant loop; and at least one additional inlet to receive at least a portion of the flow of liquid coolant from one or more components.
15. 15 . The cold plate of claim 11 , further comprising: a plurality of hoses and connectors to connect the at least one outlet to the one or more components including at least one other cold plate.
16. 16 . A method for a liquid-cooled server, comprising: determining at least one component having a heat generating feature; providing one or more cold plates to receive a flow of coolant from an external liquid coolant source; determining at least one additional component to receive the flow of coolant; and enabling the one or more cold plates to provide a source of cooling to the at least one component and further provide the flow of coolant to the at least one additional component.
17. 17 . The method for a liquid-cooled server of claim 16 , further comprising: providing, using an interface, the flow of coolant to the one or more cold plates from the external liquid coolant source.
18. 18 . The method for a liquid-cooled server of claim 16 , wherein the one or more cold plates are able to connect to the flow of liquid coolant using a manual connection or a blind mate connection.
19. 19 . The method for a liquid-cooled server of claim 16 , further comprising: flow rate balancing at least a portion of the flow of coolant within the liquid-cooled server using at least one flow damper associated with the one or more cold plates.
20. 20 . The method for a liquid-cooled server of claim 16 , further comprising: limiting backflow and crossflow of the flow of liquid coolant to the at least one additional component.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD At least one embodiment pertains to cold plates in computer hardware. BACKGROUND As the development of computer hardware systems continues, the complexity and power requirements of those systems increase. This increase in the complexity and power requirements can lead to constraints on available space and the ability to effectively cool the systems. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings, in which: FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate an exemplary data center cooling system subject to improvements described in at least one embodiment; FIG. 2A illustrates server-level features associated with cold plates as liquid manifolds in computer hardware, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 2B illustrates a liquid-cooled server including server-level features associated with cold plates as liquid manifolds, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 3 illustrates rack-level features associated with cold plates as liquid manifolds in computer hardware, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 4 illustrates component-level features associated with cold plates as liquid manifolds in computer hardware, according to at least one embodiment; FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate example cold plates to distribute liquid coolant in computer hardware, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 6 illustrates an example process that can be performed to use a cold plate as a manifold for a liquid cooled server, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 7 illustrates components of a distributed system that can be used to generate, test, and use data center cooling data, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 8 illustrates an example data center system, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 9 illustrates a distributed system, in accordance with at least one embodiment; FIG. 10 illustrates a system that includes a client-server network, in accordance with at least one embodiment; FIG. 11 illustrates a computer network connecting one or more computing machines, in accordance with at least one embodiment; FIG. 12A illustrates a networked computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment; FIG. 12B illustrates a networked computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment; FIG. 12C illustrates a networked computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment; FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a computer system, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a computer system, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 15 illustrates a computer system, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 16 illustrates a computer system, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 17 illustrates exemplary integrated circuits and associated graphics processors, according to at least one embodiment; FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate exemplary integrated circuits and associated graphics processors, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 19 illustrates a computer system, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 20A illustrates a parallel processor, according to at least one embodiment; FIG. 20B illustrates a partition unit, according to at least one embodiment; and FIG. 21 illustrates at least portions of a graphics processor, according to one or more embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the following description, various embodiments will be described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the embodiment being described. For liquid-cooled systems, such as a liquid-cooled server, an approach to provide cooling can include internal manifolds connected to a flow of cooling liquid. The manifold can use hoses and connectors to receive and distribute the cooling liquid to multiple components, including cold plates, within the server. As the amount of available space in a server continues to decrease, there are few such approaches to reduce or eliminate the need for the relatively thick hoses and expensive connectors typically used with standalone manifolds while still providing sufficient cooling capacity. Further, the standalone manifolds themselves take up valuable space and introduce additional connection points. Approaches in accordance with various illustrative embodiments provide for using cold plates as liquid manifolds in computer hardware. In particular, at least one embodiment reduces costs, complexity, and overcrowding in liquid-cooled servers by receiving a flow of liquid coolant from an external coolant source to cold plates of the server for redistribution. A server can include compute devices positioned on circuit boards, cold plates to rec