JP5017088B2 - Electronic equipment cooling device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device cooling apparatus for cooling air blown by a fan attached to an electronic device housed in a cabinet.

In general, an air-water heat exchanger is arranged on the air outlet side of a cabinet for housing electronic equipment, and the air blown by a fan attached to the electronic equipment housed in the cabinet is used as the air-water heat exchanger. There is known an electronic device cooling device that cools the air and returns it to the room (for example, see Patent Document 1). This type of electronic device cooling apparatus is installed in a computer room, and cools servers and network devices installed in the computer room.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0232945

By the way, since electronic devices are vulnerable to water, it is desirable not to bring water into the computer room. However, since the air-water heat exchanger is disposed in the vicinity of the electronic device in the conventional device, if water leaks even from a part of the path through which the chiller water circulates in the air-water heat exchanger. This water may damage the electronic equipment.
Then, the objective of this invention is providing the electronic device cooling device which can cool an electronic device effectively, without using water.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention includes a cabinet having front and rear openings for housing a plurality of electronic devices with a fan, and a rear door that can be ventilated is provided in the opening on the rear face of the cabinet. In the electronic device cooling apparatus that returns the air including the exhaust heat of the electronic device blown by the air to the room through the rear door, a front door that can be ventilated is provided in the opening on the front surface of the cabinet, and a refrigeration cycle is provided on the front door. An air-permeable cover member that is integrally provided with a first evaporator, an expansion valve, and an electrical box for controlling the expansion valve, and is disposed on the inner surface of the front door so as to cover the first evaporator. And indoor air is sucked through the front door, and the air is cooled by the first evaporator of the front door and sent to the electronic device.
According to this configuration, since the refrigerant that circulates in the refrigeration cycle is supplied to the first evaporator disposed in the front door, even if leakage occurs from the path through which the refrigerant circulates, It is possible to prevent damage such as a short circuit or leakage of equipment. In addition, since the first evaporator, the expansion valve, and the electrical box are integrally disposed on the front door, the first evaporator, the expansion valve, and the electrical box can be handled as a single unit. By connecting to the heat source machine which comprises a cycle, the heat which an electronic device emits can be cooled easily.
Further, since the indoor air is sucked through the front door, and this air is cooled by the first evaporator and sent to the electronic device, there is no need to cool the entire indoor space, and the electronic device passes through the first evaporator and passes through the electronic device. What is necessary is just to cool the air supplied to the extent which can cool the said electronic device. Accordingly, the electronic device can be sufficiently cooled even with an evaporator having a small capacity, the first evaporator can be downsized, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In this configuration, the first evaporator is disposed over substantially the entire area of the front door, the refrigerant pipe connected to the first evaporator and the expansion valve are collectively disposed on the hinge side of the front door, and the electrical box is provided. It is good also as a structure arrange | positioned in the downward area of the said front door.
In addition, the first evaporator may be divided into a plurality of evaporators, and may be configured so that a refrigerant can be selectively distributed to each evaporator. In addition, a second evaporator connected in parallel with the first evaporator and constituting the refrigeration cycle is disposed in the rear door, and air containing exhaust heat of the electronic device is cooled by the second evaporator to be indoors. It is good also as a structure returned to.

  According to the present invention, a cabinet having front and rear surfaces for storing a plurality of electronic devices with a fan is provided, and a rear door that can be ventilated is provided at an opening on the rear surface of the cabinet, and the fan is blown by the fan. In the electronic device cooling apparatus for returning the air containing the exhaust heat of the electronic device to the room through the rear door, a front door that can be ventilated is provided in the opening on the front surface of the cabinet, and the first evaporation constituting the refrigeration cycle is provided on the front door. And an expansion valve, and an electrical box for controlling the expansion valve, and sucks indoor air through the front door and cools the air by the first evaporator of the front door to the electronic device. Since it was set as the structure which sends, an electronic device can be cooled effectively, without using water.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an electronic device cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The electronic device cooling system 1 is a system that cools a plurality of electronic devices 3 (see FIG. 2) disposed in a computer room 2. The computer room 2 has a double floor, and the server rack 10 is placed on the double floor.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the server rack 10. The server rack 10 includes a cabinet 11 having an open front surface and a rear surface, and a plurality of electronic devices 3 are stacked in the cabinet 11 so as to be stacked up and down with the back surface facing the rear surface of the cabinet 11. Further, on the rear surface of the cabinet 11, a single-open rear door 12 that opens and closes a rear opening 65 and a front door 14 that opens and closes a front opening 64 on the front of the cabinet 11. The rear door 12 and the front door 14 are configured to be freely permeable, and an electronic device cooling unit 20 is configured inside the front door 14. Further, a caster 13 is provided at the bottom of the server rack 10 so that the server rack 10 can be easily moved.

  The electronic device 3 is a server or a network device. Generally, this type of electronic device is a fan-equipped electronic device provided with a cooling fan 4, and the fan 4 is driven when the temperature in the device exceeds a predetermined temperature. In addition, it has a forced air cooling function that introduces outside air into the equipment and discharges it from the back of the equipment. For this reason, by arranging the electronic device 3 with the rear surface thereof facing the rear surface of the cabinet 11, the indoor air is moved by the fan 4 attached to the electronic device 3 as shown in FIG. The electronic device 3 is cooled and passed through the rear door 12 and returned to the room. Further, by opening the rear door 12 and the front door 14, access to the electronic device 3 in the cabinet 11 is facilitated.

  The electronic device cooling unit 20 is configured integrally with the front door 14 of the server rack 10, and the electronic device cooling units 20 provided in a plurality (three in this example) of the server racks 10 are combined into one heat source device 30 ( It is connected in parallel to a main refrigerant pipe 31 (see FIG. 1) extending from (see FIG. 1). That is, the electronic device cooling device 40 is configured by the plurality (three) of electronic device cooling units 20 and the heat source device 30 to which the electronic device cooling units 20 are connected by piping. In the example shown in FIG. 1, 12 server racks 10 are arranged in the computer room 2, and the electronic device cooling unit 20 in the three server racks 10 is connected to one heat source unit 30. The case where the electronic device cooling device 40 is arrange | positioned 4 systems is shown.

The electronic device cooling unit 20 is a unit that constitutes a refrigeration circuit that performs a refrigeration cycle by being connected to the heat source unit 30 by piping, and includes an evaporator (first evaporator) 21 as shown in FIG. When the air discharged from the device 3 flows through the evaporator 21 in the front door 14, the air is cooled by the evaporator 21 and returned to the room. The evaporator 21 extends substantially vertically above and below the front door 14, and is divided into an upper evaporator 22 and a lower evaporator 23 with a substantially middle part between the upper and lower sides of the electronic door 3 of the upper half of the cabinet 11. The upper evaporator 22 is responsible for cooling, and the lower evaporator 23 is responsible for cooling the lower half of the electronic device 3.
In this configuration, since the refrigerant circulating in the refrigeration cycle is supplied to the evaporator 21 of the electronic device cooling unit 20, even if a refrigerant leaks from the path through which the refrigerant circulates, the refrigerant immediately It can evaporate and prevent damage such as a short circuit or electric leakage of the electronic device 3.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of the electronic device cooling apparatus 40. As shown in this figure, the electronic device cooling unit 20 is connected to the main liquid pipe 31A and the main gas pipe 31B constituting the main refrigerant pipe 31 extending from the heat source unit 30 via the flexible liquid pipe 25 and the flexible gas pipe 26. Connected in parallel. As the flexible liquid pipe 25 and the flexible gas pipe 26, a flexible tube having flexibility and refrigerant impermeability is applied. As the flexible liquid pipe 25, a relatively small diameter tube is applied, and the flexible gas pipe 26 has a relatively large diameter. A tube is applied.

One end of the flexible liquid pipe 25 and the flexible gas pipe 26 is connected to the main liquid pipe 31A and the main gas pipe 31B extending from the heat source unit 30, respectively. The other end of the flexible liquid pipe 25 is connected to the liquid pipe connection part PIN of the electronic device cooling unit 20. The refrigerant pipe (liquid pipe) 27 extending from the liquid pipe connecting portion PIN is branched into two, and one liquid branch pipe 27A is connected to the inlet of the upper evaporation section 22 via the expansion valve 28A, and the other liquid branch pipe. 27B is connected to the inlet of the lower evaporator 23 via the expansion valve 28B.
The outlets of the evaporating units 22 and 23 are connected to one merging refrigerant pipe (gas pipe) 29, and the flexible gas pipe 26 is connected to the gas pipe connecting part POUT provided at the end of the merging refrigerant pipe 29. . Thus, the refrigerant pipe is connected to the evaporation units 22 and 23 in the electronic device cooling unit 20 so that the refrigerant can be selectively circulated.
Thus, since the evaporator 21 of the electronic device cooling unit 20 is connected via the flexible liquid pipe 25 and the flexible gas pipe 26, the flexible pipe 25, when the front door 14 in which the evaporator 21 is built is opened and closed. 26 bends and does not hinder the opening and closing of the front door 14. Further, the position of the server rack 10 can be finely adjusted even when these pipes are connected.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the main liquid pipe 31A and the main gas pipe 31B are routed in the underfloor space between the upper floor 2A and the lower floor 2B of the computer room 2, and the main liquid pipe 31A and the main gas pipe 31B. The flexible liquid pipe 25 and the flexible gas pipe 26 connected to the gas pipe 31B are connected to the evaporator 21 in the front door 14 through the opening hole 2C (see FIG. 2) of the upper floor 2A. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 2, the flexible liquid pipe 25 and the flexible gas pipe 26 extend downward from the evaporator 21 and then are routed so as to bend gently in the underfloor space. By providing a sufficient margin, only the flexible pipes 25 and 26 move in accordance with the movement of the front door 14 when the front door 14 is opened and closed. Accordingly, no force is applied to the other pipes when the front door 14 is opened and closed, and it is possible to apply steel pipes to other pipes, for example, the main liquid pipe 31A and the main gas pipe 31B.

  In the electronic device cooling unit 20, an electrical unit (electrical box) 51 and a remote controller 52 connected to the electrical unit 51 are provided below the evaporator 21. The electrical unit 51 includes four temperature sensors (refrigerant temperature detection means) for the inlet refrigerant temperature L1 and the outlet refrigerant temperature G1 of the upper evaporator 22, and the inlet refrigerant temperature L2 and the outlet refrigerant temperature G2 of the lower evaporator 23. Each of the expansion valves 28A and 28B is controlled so as to have an appropriate degree of superheat based on the temperature difference (L1-G1, L2-G2) of each of the evaporators 22 and 23. And a function of communicating with the heat source device 30.

  The remote controller 52 is disposed on the side surface or the back surface of the server rack 10 in the computer room 2 and connected to the electrical unit 51 in the front door 14 by wire or wirelessly. Although not shown, the remote controller 52 is provided with an indoor temperature sensor, an operation button, a display unit, a buzzer (sounding unit), and the like. Stop, change of set temperature T0, notification of various error messages (display and buzzer sound output), etc. are performed. Here, the set temperature T0 is the target temperature of the electronic device cooling unit 20, and normally the indoor target temperature of the computer room 2 is set. And in this electronic device cooling device 40, control of each part is performed so that the temperature of the air which entered from the front side opening of the cabinet 11, or the air which passed the evaporator 21 becomes this preset temperature T0.

The heat source device 30 is installed outside the room, and generally includes a compressor 32 that compresses the refrigerant, an oil separator 33, a four-way valve 34, a heat source side heat exchanger (condenser) 35, an expansion valve 36, and a receiver tank 37. The main liquid pipe 31 </ b> A is connected to the receiver tank 37 in order, and the main gas pipe 31 </ b> B is connected to the low-pressure side pipe 41 connected to the compressor 32 inlet via the accumulator 38.
The compressor 32 has an AC compressor (constant capacity type compressor) 32A for constant speed operation and an inverter compressor (variable capacity type compressor) 32B for variable frequency operation, which are in parallel. The cooling capacity of the heat source unit 30 as a whole is configured by being connected and variably controlling the operation frequency of the compressor 32B and the operation frequency of the compressor 32B in accordance with the cooling load.

More specifically, check valves 42A and 42B are provided on the discharge sides of the compressors 32A and 32B, respectively, and the oil separator 33 is connected to the high-pressure side pipe 42 that merges downstream of the check valves 42A and 42B. The check valve 43, the four-way valve 34, the heat source side heat exchanger 35, the expansion valve 36, and the receiver tank 37 are sequentially connected. The low-pressure side pipe 41 connected to the suction side of each compressor 32A, 32B is connected downstream of the accumulator 38, connected to the four-way valve 34 upstream of the accumulator 38, and connected to the main gas pipe 31B via the four-way valve 34. Connected. The four-way valve 34 is not switched and is fixed to the state shown in FIG.
Further, a check valve 44 is connected to the high-pressure side pipe 42 in parallel with the expansion valve 36, and the check valve 44 allows a flow from the heat source side heat exchanger 35 to the receiver tank 37 and a reverse flow. Is prohibited. A refrigerant return pipe 45 is connected between the check valves 42A and 42B and the oil separator 33, and the tip of the refrigerant return pipe 45 is connected to the suction side of the compressors 32A and 32B. The refrigerant return pipe 45 is provided with an opening / closing valve 46, and by opening the opening / closing valve 46, a part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressors 32A, 32B can be returned to the suction side of the compressors 32A, 32B. The discharge capacity of the compressors 32A and 32B can be reduced.

  The high pressure side pipe 42 is connected to the main liquid pipe 31A via the liquid side service valve 47, and the low pressure side pipe 41 is connected to the main gas pipe 31B via the gas side service valve 48. The oil separated by the oil separator 33 is returned to the suction side of the compressors 32A and 32B through the oil return pipe 49. In addition, the high pressure side of one compressor 32A, 32B and the low pressure side of the other compressor 32B, 32A are connected to each other by oil return pipes 32C, 32D, and the oil amount in each compressor 32A, 32B is adjusted appropriately. Is done. Further, high pressure switches 5A and 5B are respectively provided on the discharge side of the compressors 32A and 32B. When the discharge pressure of the compressors 32A and 32B exceeds the upper limit of the allowable range by the high pressure switches 5 and 6, each compressor The operation of 32A and 32B is stopped.

  The heat source unit 30 includes an electrical unit 61, and the electrical unit 61 is communicably connected to the electrical unit 51 of the electronic device cooling unit 20 connected to the heat source unit 30 via an internal / external communication line 62. The The electrical unit 61 transmits and receives control signals and operation signals to and from the electrical unit 51 of each electronic device cooling unit 20, and inputs the operation of the remote controller 52 provided on the electronic device cooling unit 20 side. Thus, each part of the electronic device cooling apparatus 40 is controlled.

In the electronic device cooling apparatus 40, the compressors 32A and 32B are operated under the control of the electrical unit 51 of the heat source unit 30. In this case, the electrical unit 51 operates the compressors 32A and 32B based on the difference between the outdoor temperature T2 detected by a temperature sensor (not shown) and the indoor temperature T1 detected by the remote controller 52. The temperature of the expansion valve 36 is controlled so that the temperature difference between the entrance and exit of the heat source side heat exchanger 35 is detected by a temperature sensor (not shown). Control.
In this case, the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressors 32 </ b> A and 32 </ b> B is condensed and liquefied by the heat source side heat exchanger 35, and then passes through the main liquid pipe 31 </ b> A extending from the heat source device 30 to It is supplied to the equipment cooling unit 20.

In each electronic device cooling unit 20, the liquid refrigerant flowing through the main liquid pipe 31A flows through the flexible liquid pipe 25 and flows through the liquid pipe 27, where it is divided into two systems, one of which passes through the expansion valve 28A and passes through the upper evaporation section. 22, and the other flows through the lower evaporation section 23 through the expansion valve 28 </ b> B, evaporates and gasifies in each evaporation section 22, 23, and each evaporation section 22 is generated by the refrigerant evaporation heat in each evaporation section 22, 23. , 23 is cooled.
The refrigerant gasified in each of the evaporation units 22 and 23 merges in the gas pipe 29, then flows through the flexible gas pipe 26 to the main gas pipe 31 </ b> B, and returns to the heat source unit 30. The refrigeration cycle is performed as described above.

Next, the server rack will be described.
FIG. 4 is an external view of the server rack, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the front door is opened. The server rack 10 includes a cabinet 11 for storing the electronic device 3 (see FIG. 2), a rear door 12 that opens and closes a rear opening 65 of the cabinet 11, and a front opening 64 of the cabinet 11 that can be closed. And a front door 14 that opens and closes.
The cabinet 11 has a size that matches the standard of the electronic equipment to be stored, and is formed in a rectangular shape including a sheet metal top plate 11A, a bottom plate 11B, and side plates 11C and 11D. A front opening 64 and a rear opening 65 (see FIG. 2) are formed on the front and rear surfaces of the cabinet 11, respectively, and the indoor air of the computer room 2 flows into the cabinet 11 through the openings 64 and 65. Further, the cabinet 11 includes a partition plate (shelf) 11E disposed between the top plate 11A and the bottom plate 11B substantially parallel to the top plate 11A and the bottom plate 11B. This partition plate 11E partitions the inside of the cabinet 11, and the electronic device 3 is arrange | positioned on the partition plate 11E. The partition plate 11E is supported by support portions (not shown) formed on the side plates 11C and 11D, and a plurality of the support portions are provided at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. As a result, the partition plate 11E can be disposed on the support portion at a desired position, or a plurality of the partition plates 11E can be disposed in the cabinet 11.

  The rear door 12 is formed by bending a metal (for example, aluminum) plate. One end of the rear door 12 is connected to the cabinet 11 via a hinge 101, and is operated when the rear door 12 is opened and closed on the other end. A handle 102 (see FIG. 1) is formed. In addition, a surface material (not shown) in which a vent hole is formed by punching metal processing or the like is disposed at a substantially central portion of the outer surface of the rear door 12 so as to be ventilated.

On the other hand, the front door 14 is formed by bending a metal (for example, aluminum) plate in the same manner as the rear door 12, and one end side of the front door 14 is connected to the cabinet 11 via a hinge 66 and the other end side. Further, a handle 67 that is operated when the front door 14 is opened and closed is formed. When the handle 67 is operated to pull the handle 67 forward, the front door 14 rotates about the hinge 66 so that the front opening 64 of the cabinet 11 is opened as shown in FIG. It has become. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, an opening 14A is formed in a substantially central portion of the outer surface of the rear door 12, and a surface in which a vent hole 68 having a predetermined diameter is formed substantially on the opening 14A. A material 69 is arranged. The surface material 69 allows the front door 14 to be ventilated through the vent holes 68 and functions so as not to expose the evaporator 21 disposed inside the front door 14 to the outside. We are trying to improve.
Here, each ventilation hole 68 of the surface material 69 is formed so that the opening ratio is, for example, 60% or more so as not to inhibit ventilation. Further, the diameter of the vent hole 68 is set to be smaller than that of a human finger. According to this, for example, an operator of the electronic device 3 arranged in the server rack 10 is prevented from touching the evaporator 21 through the vent hole 68, and an accident such as a finger being injured by the fin of the evaporator 21 is prevented. be able to.

On the inner surface of the front door 14, as shown in FIG. 6, the evaporator 21 disposed in substantially the entire area of the front door 14 and the expansion valves 28 </ b> A provided in the liquid branch pipes 27 </ b> A and 27 </ b> B connected to the evaporator 21. , 28B and an electrical unit 51 for controlling the opening degree of the expansion valves 28A, 28B are integrally provided. Thus, by arranging the evaporator 21, the expansion valves 28A and 28B, and the electrical unit 51 integrally on the inner surface of the front door 14, these can be handled as an integrated electronic device cooling unit 20, and this electronic device By connecting the cooling unit 20 to the heat source device 30, the heat generated by the electronic device 3 can be easily cooled.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the evaporator 21 is divided into an upper evaporating unit 22 and a lower evaporating unit 23 with a substantially intermediate portion in the vertical direction as a boundary. The upper evaporation section 22 and the lower evaporation section 23 include small-diameter liquid branch pipes 27A and 27B connected to the respective evaporation sections 22 and 23, and a large-diameter gas pipe 29. These liquid branch pipes 27A and 27B and The gas pipes 29 are arranged together on the hinge 66 side of the front door 14. In this configuration, as shown in FIG. 6, the gas pipe 29 is disposed closer to the hinge 66 of the front door 14 than the liquid pipe 27 (liquid branch pipes 27A and 27B). For this reason, the large-diameter flexible gas pipe 26 connected to the gas pipe connecting portion POUT of the gas pipe 29 is disposed at a position closer to the hinge 66, so that the flexible gas pipe 26 bends when the front door 14 is opened and closed. The amount can be kept small, and the front door 14 can be opened and closed with a small force.
As shown in FIG. 7, the evaporator 21 is a fin-tube type heat exchanger configured to include a refrigerant pipe 70 through which a refrigerant flows and a plurality of heat radiation fins 71 arranged in layers on the refrigerant pipe 70. The tube plates 72 for holding the fins 71 are disposed at both ends of the evaporator 21. When the evaporator 21 is disposed on the front door 14 (see FIG. 6), the tube plate 72 is provided with a mounting portion 72A that extends substantially parallel to the front door 14 on the front door 14 side, and is substantially L-shaped. Is formed. In the present embodiment, the evaporator 21 is fixed in the front door 14 by being screwed to the front door 14 using the mounting portion 72A.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the electrical unit 51 is disposed in a lower region of the evaporator 21. According to this, since a part of the air cooled by the evaporator 21 descends to cool the electrical unit 51, it is not necessary to provide a cooling device in the electrical unit 51 itself. Further, since the electrical unit 51 is disposed below the evaporator 21, the internal / external communication line 62 (see FIG. 3) that connects the electrical unit 51 and the electrical unit 61 (see FIG. 3) of the heat source unit 30 is connected to the flexible pipe 25. , 26 and the under floor space between the upper floor 2A and the lower floor 2B through the opening hole 2C, the length of the internal / external communication line 62 can be shortened. For this reason, this internal / external communication line 62 is prevented from picking up noise, and the expansion valves 28A and 28B connected to the electronic device cooling unit 20, that is, the evaporator 21, can be stably operated.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a cover material 74 having a vent hole 73 having a predetermined diameter is formed on the inner surface of the front door 14 so as to cover the evaporator 21. ing. The cover material 74 is formed of a plate material that has been subjected to punching metal processing similarly to the surface material 69, and allows the front door 14 to be ventilated through the air holes 73.
Even when the front door 14 is opened, the cover member 74 prevents a person other than the service person of the electronic device cooling unit 20 from touching the fins of the evaporator 21 by mistake. The cover member 74 is fixed to the front door 14 with screws through screw holes (not shown) formed in the periphery. Here, it is desirable that a part of the screw hole is a dharma hole so that the cover member 74 is hooked on a screw temporarily fixed to the front door 14. According to this, since the cover material 74 can be temporarily fixed to the front door 14 at the time of maintenance, the cover material 74 can be easily attached to and detached from the front door 14.
The cover member 74 includes a pair of handles 75 for handling the cover member 74. The handle 75 is attached to the substantially central edge of the cover member 74 in the height direction, and does not hinder ventilation.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the cover member 74 has an opening 76 at a position corresponding to the expansion valves 28 </ b> A and 28 </ b> B when the cover member 74 is attached to the front door 14. This opening 76 is for maintaining the expansion valves 28A and 28B without removing the cover material 74. For example, the operation of the expansion valves 28A and 28B can be confirmed, or the coil portions of the expansion valves 28A and 28B can be checked. Is defective, the coil portion can be exchanged through the opening 76.
Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a drain pan 77 that receives drain water flowing down from the evaporator 21 is provided below the evaporator 21. The drain pan 77 is located above the electrical unit 51 and prevents the drain water from falling on the electrical unit 51.

Next, an operation in which the electronic device cooling device 40 cools the electronic device 3 will be described.
When the temperature in the device 3 exceeds a predetermined temperature, the electronic device 3 drives the fan 4 and takes in the room air in the computer room 2 into the device 3. In this case, the indoor air is cooled by the evaporator 21 when passing through the evaporator 21 disposed inside the front door 14 of the electronic device cooling device 40, and the cooled air is supplied into the electronic device 3. Therefore, the electronic device 3 is cooled. The air heated by the exhaust heat of the electronic device 3 is discharged to the computer room 2 through the rear door 12.
In general, in a computer room 2 in which a plurality of server racks 10 containing electronic devices 3 are arranged, a server administrator or the like does not reside in the computer room 2 in order to monitor the operation of each electronic device 3. Therefore, even if the computer room 2 has a high room temperature (for example, 30 ° C.) and the air temperature introduced into the electronic device 3 is cooled to a predetermined temperature (for example, 25 ° C.), the electronic room 3 is cooled and operates stably.
In this embodiment, the front door 14 which can ventilate is provided in the opening 64 of the front surface of the cabinet 11, The evaporator 21 which comprises a refrigerating cycle, 28A, 28B, and the electrical unit for expansion valve control are provided in this front door 14. 51 is integrated, the air in the computer room 2 is sucked through the front door 14, this air is cooled by the evaporator 21 of the front door 14, and sent to the electronic equipment. For this reason, it is not necessary to cool the entire computer room 2, and the air supplied to the electronic device 3 may be cooled to such an extent that the electronic device 3 can be cooled. Accordingly, the electronic device 3 can be sufficiently cooled even by the evaporator 21 having a small capacity, the size of the evaporator 21 can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to this embodiment, the front and rear surfaces for housing a plurality of electronic devices 3 with fans 4 are provided, and a rear door 12 that can be ventilated is provided in the opening 65 on the rear surface of the cabinet 11. In the electronic device cooling apparatus 40 that returns the air including the exhaust heat of the electronic device 3 blown by the fan 4 to the computer room 2 through the rear door 12, the front door 14 that can be ventilated is provided in the opening 64 on the front surface of the cabinet 11. Since the front door 14 is integrally provided with the evaporator 21 constituting the refrigeration cycle, the expansion valves 28A and 28B, and the electrical unit 51 for controlling the expansion valve, the evaporator 21, the expansion valves 28A and 28B, and The electrical unit 51 can be handled as one electronic device cooling unit 20, and this electronic device cooling unit 20 By connecting the heat source equipment 30 constituting the refrigeration cycle, it is possible to cool the heat generated easily with the electronic device 3.
Moreover, since the refrigerant | coolant which circulates through a refrigerating cycle is supplied to the evaporator 21 arrange | positioned at the front door 14, even if a leak arises from the path | route through which a refrigerant | coolant circulates, the electronic device 3 is short-circuited by this refrigerant | coolant. Alternatively, damage such as electric leakage can be prevented. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the electronic device 3 can be effectively cooled without using water.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the evaporator 21 is disposed almost in the entire area of the front door 14, and the liquid pipe 27, the gas pipe 29, and the expansion valves 28 A and 28 B provided in the liquid pipe 27 are connected to the evaporator 21. 14 are arranged together on the hinge 66 side, and the electrical unit 51 is disposed in the lower region of the front door 14, so that the evaporator 21, the expansion valves 28 </ b> A and 28 </ b> B, and the electrical unit 51 can be disposed on the front door 14 together. it can. Furthermore, since the electrical unit 51 is disposed below the front door 14, that is, below the evaporator 21, a part of the air cooled by the evaporator 21 is lowered to cool the electrical unit 51. For this reason, it is not necessary to separately provide a device for cooling the electrical unit 51, and the configuration of the electrical unit 51 can be simplified.

  According to the present embodiment, the evaporator 21 is divided into a plurality of evaporators 22 and 23, and is formed so that the refrigerant can be selectively circulated through the evaporators 22 and 23. For example, the heat load is large. Adjusting the amount of refrigerant flowing through each of the evaporation units 22 and 23 so that the amount of refrigerant flowing through the evaporation unit 22 corresponding to the area is increased and the amount of refrigerant flowing through the evaporation unit 23 corresponding to the area with a small heat load is decreased. Thus, the electronic device 3 housed in a stack in the cabinet 11 can be effectively cooled.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on one Embodiment, this invention is not limited to this. For example, in the present embodiment, the configuration in which the electronic device cooling unit 20 having the evaporator 21 is disposed inside the front door 14 has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 8, the rear door 12 evaporates in addition to the front door 14. An electronic device cooling unit 120 having a container 121 (second evaporator) may be disposed. Since the electronic device cooling unit 120 disposed inside the rear door 12 has substantially the same configuration as the electronic device cooling unit 20 disposed inside the front door 14, the description thereof is omitted.
The evaporator 121 is connected to the main refrigerant pipe 31 constituting the refrigeration cycle in parallel with the evaporator 21 via flexible pipes 125 and 126. For this reason, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 32 of the heat source device 30 is supplied to the evaporators 21 and 121 through the main refrigerant pipe 31.
In this embodiment, when the air containing the exhaust heat of the electronic device 3 passes through the evaporator 121 of the rear door 12, the air is cooled by the evaporator 121 and discharged to the computer room 2. Is prevented from excessively rising and temperature distribution in the room.

Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the evaporator 21 is divided into the upper evaporation unit 22 and the lower evaporation unit 23 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be divided into three or more. It is good also as composition to do. Specifically, if the partition plate 11E in the cabinet 11 has a three-stage configuration, the evaporator is divided into three in the vertical direction with these partition plates 11E as a boundary, and the partition plate 11E in the cabinet 11 has six stages. In this configuration, the evaporator 21 is divided into six parts in the vertical direction with the partition plate 11E as a boundary, and an expansion valve is connected to each of the plurality of divided evaporators to provide refrigerant corresponding to the number of stages of the partition plate 11E. It is good also as a structure which performs flow control.
Further, in the present embodiment, the configuration in which the evaporator 21 is divided into two parts, that is, the upper evaporation part 22 and the lower evaporation part 23, with the partition plate 11E that divides the inside of the cabinet 11 into two parts up and down is described. The upper evaporation unit 22 and the lower evaporation unit 23 may be further divided into a plurality of evaporation units, and an expansion valve may be connected to each of these evaporation units. According to this configuration, it is possible to perform finer refrigerant flow control in accordance with the operating state of the electronic device 3 housed in the cabinet 11, and to reduce energy consumption in the heat source unit 30. Can do.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the electronic device 3 housed in the cabinet 11 is horizontally long, the configuration in which the partition plate 11E is arranged horizontally and the inside of the cabinet 11 is divided in the vertical direction has been described. When a vertically long electronic device (not shown) is housed in a cabinet, the partition plate may be arranged vertically and the inside of the cabinet may be divided in the left-right direction. In this case, it is desirable that the evaporator is divided in the left-right direction with a partition plate arranged vertically.

Moreover, although this embodiment demonstrated the case where the air-cooling type heat source machine 30 was used, you may use not only this but a water-cooled type heat source machine. In the case of using a water-cooled heat source machine, since the heat source machine is connected to the water pipe extending from the cooling tower, a plurality of heat source machines can be stacked and the arrangement space of the heat source machine is reduced. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which connects an air conditioning apparatus to the main refrigerant | coolant piping 31 extended from the heat source machine 30, and performs the air conditioning in the computer room 2 by this air conditioning apparatus.
Further, the heat source device 30 described above may be configured as a dedicated cooling (cooling) cycle machine that does not have the four-way valve 34. In addition, the compressor 32 included in the heat source device 30 is of a type driven by an electric motor, that is, a so-called EHP (electric heat pump) type, but is not limited thereto, and the compressor is driven by a gas engine. A GHP (gas heat pump) type heat source machine to be driven may be used.
In the present embodiment, the rear door 12 and the front door 14 included in the server rack 10 are one-sided doors. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a double-sided door may be used. According to this configuration, for example, even if the width of the cabinet is increased as the width of the electronic device is increased, the movable range of the door can be reduced as compared with that of the single-open type. Can be easily performed.

It is a figure which shows the electronic device cooling system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows a server rack. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure of an electronic device cooling device. It is an external appearance perspective view of a server rack. It is a perspective view of the server rack of the state which opened the front door. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the cover material of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of an evaporator. It is a figure which shows the server rack concerning another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic device cooling system 2 Computer room 2A Upper floor 2B Lower floor 2C Opening hole 3 Electronic device 4 Fan 10 Server rack 11 Cabinet 12 Rear door 14 Front door 20 Electronic device cooling unit 21 Evaporator (1st evaporator)
28A, 28B Expansion valve 30 Heat source machine 40 Electronic equipment cooling device 51 Electrical unit (electrical box)
64 Front opening 65 Rear opening 66 Hinge 121 Evaporator (second evaporator)

Claims (4)

A cabinet having front and rear surfaces opened to accommodate a plurality of electronic devices with fans is provided, and a rear door that can be ventilated is provided at the rear surface opening of the cabinet, so that the heat exhausted by the fans is exhausted. In the electronic device cooling apparatus that returns the air containing it to the room through the rear door,
The ventable front door provided on a front face of the opening of the cabinet, comprising a first evaporator constituting a refrigeration cycle for the front door, and the expansion valve, and an electrical component box for controlling the expansion valve integrally, the The front door is provided with a breathable cover member arranged so as to cover the first evaporator, sucks indoor air through the front door, and cools the air with the first evaporator of the front door. An electronic apparatus cooling apparatus, wherein the electronic apparatus cooling apparatus is sent to the electronic apparatus. Disposing the first evaporator over substantially the entire front door;
The refrigerant pipe and the expansion valve connected to the first evaporator are arranged together on the hinge side of the front door, and the electrical box is arranged in a lower area of the front door. Electronic equipment cooling device.   The electronic device cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the first evaporator is divided into a plurality of evaporation units, and is formed so that a refrigerant can selectively flow through each of the evaporation units.   A second evaporator connected in parallel with the first evaporator and constituting the refrigeration cycle is disposed in the rear door, and air containing exhaust heat of the electronic device is cooled by the second evaporator and returned to the room. The electronic device cooling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

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