Mainstream Engineering Corporation

Joshua C Dominico

Robert P Scaringe

Gregory S Cole

David M Sykes

Daniel A Staples

A flow control cartridge is used with a cold plate to form a cold plate assembly within which a refrigerant circulates for cooling at least one heat generating device. The cartridge includes a thermal expansion valve and a sensing portion that with a bellows-type actuator within the cartridge. The bellows-type actuator is located directly in a stream of the refrigerant exiting the cold plate. The thermal expansion valve is comprised of a main body having an inlet orifice arranged to receive refrigerant that has been subcooled from a condenser of a vapor compression system or a recuperative heat exchanger, and a needle arranged in an expanded section of the main body in association with discharge ports in the expanded section for discharging the refrigerant in a two-phase state into the cold plate.

Integrated cold plate with expansion device and uniform cooling method achieved therewith

A method is disclosed for uniformly cooling a cooling plate of a heat generating device. Sub-cooled refrigerant is flowed through a thermal expansion valve and then into the cooling plate as a two-phase refrigerant where the refrigerant is superheated. Any refrigerant remaining in a fluid state before reaching a sensing portion associated with the thermal expansion valve and exiting the cooling plate can be completely vaporized by a recuperative heat exchanger. The superheated refrigerant is then passed to the sensing portion so that the superheated refrigerant directly transfers heat to a fluid within the sensing portion and causes a pressure change that is communicated to a needle of the thermal expansion valve.

An apparatus for uniform cooling of a single power electronics device, an array of discrete power electronics devices or types of other heat-generating by integrating discrete thermostatic expansion devices (TXVs) and their control directly into each discrete cold plate. The thermostatic expansion device is positioned such that a sensing element is located directly within the exit refrigerant stream.

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Clemmons, NC, United States of America

Joshua C Dominico