Patents by Inventor Timothy J. Chainer

Timothy J. Chainer has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10199309
    Abstract: A method of forming metallic pillars between a fluid inlet and outlet for two-phase fluid cooling. The method may include; forming an arrangement of metallic pillars between two structures, the metallic pillars are electrically connected to metallic connecting lines that run through each of the two structures, the arrangement of metallic pillars located between a fluid inlet and a fluid channel, the fluid channel having channel walls running between arrangements of the metallic pillars and a fluid outlet, whereby a fluid passes through the arrangement of metallic pillars to flow into the fluid channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Fanghao Yang
  • Patent number: 10194522
    Abstract: A method comprises applying an adhesive to a first substrate and a second substrate to secure the first substrate to the second substrate. The adhesive extends in a plane on one side of an interposer that also extends in the plane, and is contiguous with the adhesive. The interposer comprises openings to enable flow of adhesive through the openings to form adhesive bond areas on one of the substrates where the areas substantially conform to the openings and lie adjacent to adhesive free areas. The adhesive substantially covers the other of the substrates so that the bond areas produce regions of reduced adhesive strength to the one substrate compared to the bond strength of the adhesive to the other substrate. Adjusting opening sizes adjusts area bond strengths. One substrate may comprise a VTM, the other a heat spreader, and the adhesive, a TIM. An article of manufacture comprises the substrate-adhesive-interposer-adhesive-substrate layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Michael Gaynes
  • Publication number: 20180323132
    Abstract: A method of forming metallic pillars between a fluid inlet and outlet for two-phase fluid cooling. The method may include; forming an arrangement of metallic pillars between two structures, the metallic pillars are electrically connected to metallic connecting lines that run through each of the two structures, the arrangement of metallic pillars located between a fluid inlet and a fluid channel, the fluid channel having channel walls running between arrangements of the metallic pillars and a fluid outlet, whereby a fluid passes through the arrangement of metallic pillars to flow into the fluid channel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2018
    Publication date: November 8, 2018
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Fanghao Yang
  • Publication number: 20180303006
    Abstract: A cooling system includes a device to be cooled and a cooling device integrated with the device to be cooled. A cooling volume has cavities and active coolant flow controls configured to adjust coolant flow through the cavities. A reservoir is in fluid communication with the cavities and has a liquid outlet and an inlet for a gas or gas-liquid mixture. A two-phase coolant is in the reservoir and cavities. The two-phase coolant has a phase transition temperature between an ambient temperature and an expected device temperature. A capacitance sensor is configured to determine a coolant capacitance in the cavities. A control module is configured to determine a vapor quality and void fraction of the coolant based on the measured capacitance and to increase coolant flow if the determined vapor quality and void fraction indicate a dry-out condition. A secondary cooling line removes heat from the cooling device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Joel A. Silberman
  • Patent number: 10098258
    Abstract: An apparatus for minimizing the volume of coolant leaked in liquid cooled electronic equipment, the apparatus including a server rack, a plurality of closed liquid cooling loops, a plurality of liquid to liquid heat exchangers, and a plurality of pumps. The closed liquid cooling loops are coupled to at least one of the servers in the server rack. Each of the closed liquid cooling loops restricts coolant flow entirely within the server rack. The closed liquid cooling loops may provide the entire volume of coolant provided to each server in the server rack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida
  • Patent number: 10090226
    Abstract: A method of forming metallic pillars between a fluid inlet and outlet for two-phase fluid cooling. The method may include; forming an arrangement of metallic pillars between two structures, the metallic pillars are electrically connected to metallic connecting lines that run through each of the two structures, the arrangement of metallic pillars located between a fluid inlet and a fluid channel, the fluid channel having channel walls running between arrangements of the metallic pillars and a fluid outlet, whereby a fluid passes through the arrangement of metallic pillars to flow into the fluid channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Fanghao Yang
  • Patent number: 10085367
    Abstract: A method of minimizing the volume of coolant leaked in a liquid cooled electronic system. The method includes detecting a coolant leak in a closed liquid cooling loop from a plurality of closed liquid cooling loops in the server rack. The closed liquid cooling loop may be coupled to at least one server in the server rack. The method may further include identifying the location of the coolant leak in the closed liquid cooling loop of an affected server in the server rack, and powering off a pump, from a plurality of pumps in the server rack, pumping coolant in the closed liquid cooling loop having the coolant leak.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida
  • Patent number: 10082849
    Abstract: A computing system includes a first pool of collocated high heat density computing components; a second pool of collocated low heat density computing components; and a reconfigurable switching fabric electrically interconnecting the pools. A first cooling structure is in thermal communication with the first pool; a second cooling structure is in thermal communication with the second pool; and at least one heat rejection unit is in thermal communication with the first cooling structure, the second cooling structure, and at least one heat sink. A controller is configured to obtain a specification of a computing workload; electrically configure at least a portion of the first pool and at least a portion of the second pool to handle the computing workload, by reconfiguring the switching fabric; and select operating parameters for the first and second cooling structures and the at least one heat rejection unit to handle the computing workload.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida
  • Patent number: 10083892
    Abstract: A method of forming metallic pillars between a fluid inlet and outlet for two-phase fluid cooling. The method may include; forming an arrangement of metallic pillars between two structures, the metallic pillars are electrically connected to metallic connecting lines that run through each of the two structures, the arrangement of metallic pillars located between a fluid inlet and a fluid channel, the fluid channel having channel walls running between arrangements of the metallic pillars and a fluid outlet, whereby a fluid passes through the arrangement of metallic pillars to flow into the fluid channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Fanghao Yang
  • Patent number: 10045463
    Abstract: Methods are provided for facilitating cooling of an electronic component. The method includes providing a liquid-cooled cold plate and a thermal spreader associated with the cold plate. The cold plate includes multiple coolant-carrying channel sections extending within the cold plate, and a thermal conduction surface with a larger surface area than a surface area of the component to be cooled. The thermal spreader includes one or more heat pipes including multiple heat pipe sections. One or more heat pipe sections are partially aligned to a first region of the cold plate, that is, where aligned to the surface to be cooled, and partially aligned to a second region of the cold plate, which is outside the first region. The one or more heat pipes facilitate distribution of heat from the electronic component to coolant-carrying channel sections of the cold plate located in the second region of the cold plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, David P. Graybill, Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Vinod Kamath, Bejoy J. Kochuparambil, Roger R. Schmidt, Mark E. Steinke
  • Publication number: 20180213685
    Abstract: Systems and methods for cooling include one or more computing structures, a heat rejection system configured to cool coolant, and one or more heat exchangers configured to selectively transfer heat from coolant in the intra-structure cooling system to coolant in the heat rejection system. Each computing structure includes one or more cooled servers and an intra-structure cooling system configured to selectively provide coolant to the one or more cooled servers. A controller is configured to adjust cooling of the coolant in accordance with ambient temperature information, to decrease cooling of the coolant if the coolant temperature falls below a first coolant threshold temperature by disengaging one or more heat exchangers, and to turn on additional servers if the coolant temperature is below the first cool and threshold and all heat exchangers have been disengaged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Publication date: July 26, 2018
    Inventors: TIMOTHY J. CHAINER, PRITISH R. PARIDA
  • Publication number: 20180182686
    Abstract: A structure for cooling an integrated circuit. The structure may include; an interposer cold plate having at least two expanding channels, each expanding channel having a flow direction from a channel inlet to a channel outlet, the flow direction having different directions for at least two of the at least two expanding channels, the channel inlet having an inlet width and the channel outlet having an outlet width, wherein the inlet width is less than the outlet width.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Publication date: June 28, 2018
    Inventors: Thomas J. Brunschwiler, Timothy J. Chainer, Evan G. Colgan, Arvind Raj Mahankali Sridhar, Chin Lee Ong, Pritish R. Parida, Gerd Schlottig, Mark D. Schultz, Joel A. Silberman
  • Patent number: 9986662
    Abstract: A cooling system includes a device to be cooled and a cooling device integrated with the device to be cooled. A cooling volume has cavities and active coolant flow controls configured to adjust coolant flow through the cavities. A reservoir is in fluid communication with the cavities and has a liquid outlet and an inlet for a gas or gas-liquid mixture. A two-phase coolant is in the reservoir and cavities. The two-phase coolant has a phase transition temperature between an ambient temperature and an expected device temperature. A capacitance sensor is configured to determine a coolant capacitance in the cavities. A control module is configured to determine a vapor quality and void fraction of the coolant based on the measured capacitance and to increase coolant flow if the determined vapor quality and void fraction indicate a dry-out condition. A secondary cooling line removes heat from the cooling device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Joel A. Silberman
  • Patent number: 9974213
    Abstract: Systems and methods for cooling include one or more computing structure, an inter-structure liquid cooling system that includes valves configured to selectively provide liquid coolant to the one or more computing structures; a heat rejection system that includes one or more heat rejection units configured to cool liquid coolant; and one or more liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers that include valves configured to selectively transfer heat from liquid coolant in the inter-structure liquid cooling system to liquid coolant in the heat rejection system. Each computing structure further includes one or more liquid-cooled servers; and an intra-structure liquid cooling system that has valves configured to selectively provide liquid coolant to the one or more liquid-cooled servers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida
  • Patent number: 9941189
    Abstract: A structure for cooling an integrated circuit. The structure may include; an interposer cold plate having at least two expanding channels, each expanding channel having a flow direction from a channel inlet to a channel outlet, the flow direction having different directions for at least two of the at least two expanding channels, the channel inlet having an inlet width and the channel outlet having an outlet width, wherein the inlet width is less than the outlet width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas J. Brunschwiler, Timothy J. Chainer, Evan G. Colgan, Arvind Raj Mahankali Sridhar, Chin Lee Ong, Pritish R. Parida, Gerd Schlottig, Mark D. Schultz, Joel A. Silberman
  • Patent number: 9936607
    Abstract: Methods are provided for facilitating cooling of an electronic component. The methods include providing a liquid-cooled cold plate and a thermal spreader associated with the cold plate. The cold plate includes multiple coolant-carrying channel sections extending within the cold plate, and a thermal conduction surface with a larger surface area than a surface area of the component to be cooled. The thermal spreader includes one or more heat pipes including multiple heat pipe sections. One or more heat pipe sections are partially aligned to a first region of the cold plate, that is, where aligned to the surface to be cooled, and partially aligned to a second region of the cold plate, which is outside the first region. The one or more heat pipes facilitate distribution of heat from the electronic component to coolant-carrying channel sections of the cold plate located in the second region of the cold plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, David P. Graybill, Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Vinod Kamath, Bejoy J. Kochuparambil, Roger R. Schmidt, Mark E. Steinke
  • Patent number: 9930806
    Abstract: Apparatus and method are provided for facilitating cooling of an electronic component. The apparatus includes a liquid-cooled cold plate and a thermal spreader associated with the cold plate. The cold plate includes multiple coolant-carrying channel sections extending within the cold plate, and a thermal conduction surface with a larger surface area than a surface area of the component to be cooled. The thermal spreader includes one or more heat pipes including multiple heat pipe sections. One or more heat pipe sections are partially aligned to a first region of the cold plate, that is, where aligned to the surface to be cooled, and partially aligned to a second region of the cold plate, which is outside the first region. The one or more heat pipes facilitate distribution of heat from the electronic component to coolant-carrying channel sections of the cold plate located in the second region of the cold plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, David P. Graybill, Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Vinod Kamath, Bejoy J. Kochuparambil, Roger R. Schmidt, Mark E. Steinke
  • Patent number: 9930807
    Abstract: Methods are provided for facilitating cooling of an electronic component. The method includes providing a liquid-cooled cold plate and a thermal spreader associated with the cold plate. The cold plate includes multiple coolant-carrying channel sections extending within the cold plate, and a thermal conduction surface with a larger surface area than a surface area of the component to be cooled. The thermal spreader includes one or more heat pipes including multiple heat pipe sections. One or more heat pipe sections are partially aligned to a first region of the cold plate, that is, where aligned to the surface to be cooled, and partially aligned to a second region of the cold plate, which is outside the first region. The one or more heat pipes facilitate distribution of heat from the electronic component to coolant-carrying channel sections of the cold plate located in the second region of the cold plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, David P. Graybill, Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Vinod Kamath, Bejoy J. Kochuparambil, Roger R. Schmidt, Mark E. Steinke
  • Publication number: 20180067525
    Abstract: A data center cooling system is operated in a first mode, has an indoor portion wherein heat is absorbed from components in the data center by a heat transfer fluid, and has an outdoor heat exchanger portion and a geothermal heat exchanger portion. The first mode includes ambient air cooling of the heat transfer fluid in the outdoor heat exchanger portion and/or geothermal cooling of the heat transfer fluid in the geothermal heat exchanger portion. Based on an appropriate metric, a determination is made that a switch should be made from the first mode to a second, different, mode; and, responsive thereto, the data center cooling system is switched to the second mode. The second mode includes at least another of ambient air cooling of the heat transfer fluid in the outdoor heat exchanger portion and geothermal cooling of the heat transfer fluid in the geothermal heat exchanger portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2017
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida
  • Publication number: 20180068495
    Abstract: A method of detecting and identifying road surface defects is provided. Motion and position information is received from a plurality of vehicles. A profile is retrieved for a particular vehicle from a database of vehicle profiles by using an identifier of the particular vehicle. One or more criteria are identified for detecting a particular type of road surface defect based on the retrieved profile of the particular vehicle. Upon determining that the received motion and position data satisfies the identified criteria, a detection of a road surface defect of the particular type and a location associated with the detected road surface defect based on the received position information is reported.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2016
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Timothy J. Chainer, Pritish R. Parida, Marc A. Taubenblatt