权利要求：
CLAIMS
‘What 1s claimed 1s:
1. A cold plate apparatus comprising;
walls that surround an active volume adjacent to an inlet plenum, wherein the walls include an inlet opening at one end of a top side of the inlet plenum and a plenum opening between the inlet plenum and the active volume; and
a blocker that partially separates the inlet plenum from the active volume, wherein the blocker is structurally configured to preferentially redirect flow from the inlet plenum into the active volume.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the blocker blocks more of the plenum opening near a bottom side of the plenum opening opposite the inlet opening than is blocked near a top side of the plenum opening near the inlet opening.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the blocker comprises a plurality of N fingers extending from the inlet opening along the inlet plenum, a lowest finger being longest and an uppermost finger being shortest.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the lowest finger is a length L, the uppermost finger is a length L/N, and each finger ascending from lowest to uppermost is L/N shorter than a next lower finger.
S. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the blocker blocks more of the plenum opening near the one end of the inlet plenum than is blocked further from the inlet opening along the inlet plenum.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the blocker blocks more of the plenum opening near a bottom side of the plenum opening opposite the inlet opening than is blocked near a top side of the plenum opening near the inlet opening.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the blocker comprises a plurality of fingers extending from a bottom side of the plenum opening toward a top side of the plenum opening, a finger closest to the inlet opening being longest and a finger furthest from the inlet opening being shortest.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein each finger is separated from a neighboring finger by a gap.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the blocker separates the inlet plenum from the active volume across at least ten percent of a segment of the plenum opening, wherein the segment is at least ten percent of the area of the plenum opening.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a deflector that protrudes from an outer wall of the inlet plenum toward the active volume.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the deflector near a bottom surface of the inlet plenum protrudes further toward the active volume than does the deflector near a top surface of the inlet plenum.
12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:
the inlet plenum in normal operation encloses a first region immediately adjacent to the inlet opening, a second region downstream from the first region, and a third region downstream from the second region, and
the deflector is in the second region.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the walls comprise a top plate, a bottom plate, and a stack of intermediate plates between the top plate and the bottom plate, wherein each intermediate plate is between 0.2 and 0.5 millimeter (mm) thick and the interior volume is between 1.5 and 3.0 mm deep.
14. A cold plate apparatus comprising;
a top portion that has an inlet opening through it;
a bottom portion that surrounds an active volume and an inlet plenum at one side of the active volume, wherein the inlet plenum overlaps the inlet opening; and
a deflector that protrudes from an outer wall of the inlet plenum toward the active volume.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the deflector near a bottom surface of the inlet plenum protrudes closer to the inlet opening than does the deflector near a top surface of the inlet plenum.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the deflector near the bottom surface protrudes further toward the active volume than does the deflector near the top surface.
17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:
a blocker that partially separates the inlet plenum from the active volume, wherein the blocker blocks a diminishing portion of the height of the plenum opening proceeding away from the inlet opening along the plenum opening, or wherein the blocker blocks more of the plenum opening near a bottom side of the plenum opening than is blocked near a top side of the plenum opening.
18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:
the inlet plenum in normal operation encloses a first region immediately adjacent to the inlet opening, a second region downstream from the first region, and a third region downstream from the second region, and
the deflector is in the second region.
19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the bottom portion comprises a bottom plate opposite the top portion and at least one intermediate plate attached between the bottom plate and the top portion, wherein each intermediate plate is between 0.2 and 0.5 millimeter (mm) thick and the interior volume is between 1.5 and 3.0 mm deep.
20. A cold plate apparatus comprising:
a top plate that has an inlet opening through it;
a bottom plate;
a stack of N intermediate plates that are sandwiched between the top and bottom plates and attached to each other and to the top and bottom plates, each intermediate plate having a central opening, the central openings of the stack of intermediate plates overlapping to define an interior volume that is enclosed by the top plate, the bottom plate, and the intermediate plates, wherein the interior volume includes an active volume, an inlet plenum at one side of the active volume, and an inlet opening overlapping the inlet plenum; and
a deflector that protrudes from an outer wall of the inlet plenum toward the active volume, wherein the deflector near the bottom plate protrudes further toward the active volume than does the deflector near the top plate, wherein at a lowest intermediate plate the deflector protrudes a distance P from the outer wall of the inlet plenum and at an uppermost intermediate plate the deflector protrudes a second distance P/N from the outer wall of the inlet plenum, wherein at each intermediate plate ascending from the lowest plate to the uppermost plate, the deflector protrudes P/N less far.
al. A cold plate apparatus constructed by a process comprising:
obtaining an initial cold plate design that includes an active volume, an inlet plenum adjacent to the active volume and connected to the active volume through a plenum opening, and an inlet opening that overlaps the inlet plenum;
performing computational fluid dynamics analysis of the initial cold plate design;
identifying simulated flow in a first segment of the active volume, proximate the inlet opening, that is greater than simulated flow in a second segment of the active volume, distal from the inlet opening;
generating a revised cold plate design by introducing into the initial cold plate design a blocker that partially separates the inlet plenum from the active volume, wherein the blocker blocks the full height of the plenum opening adjacent the inlet opening and blocks a diminishing portion of the height of the plenum opening proceeding away from
the inlet opening along the plenum opening, wherein the blocker blocks more of the plenum opening near a bottom side of the plenum opening than is blocked near a top side of the plenum opening;
performing computational fluid dynamics analysis of the revised cold plate design;
identifying that simulated flow in the first segment and simulated flow in the second segment are within ten percent of a mean flow across the plenum opening; and
fabricating the cold plate apparatus according to the revised cold plate design.
22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein fabricating the cold plate apparatus comprises building up intermediate layers on top of a bottom plate by additive manufacturing.
23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein fabricating the cold plate apparatus comprises bonding intermediate plates onto the bottom plate.
24. A method of enhancing flow uniformity through an active volume of a cold plate apparatus, the method comprising:
introducing coolant into an inlet plenum of the cold plate apparatus through an inlet opening of the cold plate apparatus;
blocking a portion of the coolant from flowing into a first segment of the active volume from the inlet plenum, wherein the first segment is proximate to the inlet opening; and
deflecting a portion of the coolant to flow into a second segment of the active volume from the inlet plenum, wherein the second segment is downstream from the first segment along the inlet plenum.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the coolant is blocked and deflected more near a bottom surface of the inlet plenum that near a top surface of the inlet plenum.