Heat exchanger assembly and method for operating a heat exchanger assembly

Abstract

A heat exchanger assembly is disclosed. The heat exchanger assembly comprises at least one passive cooling circuit, the passive cooling circuit including an evaporator connectable to a device to be cooled for conducting heat from the device to be cooled to the cooling fluid within the evaporator, thereby evaporating the cooling fluid, and a condenser interconnected with the evaporator for receiving the evaporated cooling fluid from the evaporator, releasing heat from the cooling fluid to an environment of the condenser, thereby condensing the cooling fluid, and for returning the condensed cooling fluid to the evaporator; and an active partial circuit comprising a compressor and an auxiliary condenser, the active partial circuit being activatable and deactivatable and being connected to the passive cooling circuit for receiving, in an activated state of the active partial circuit, the cooling fluid from the evaporator, for compressing the received cooling fluid by the compressor, for releasing heat, by the auxiliary condenser, from the compressed cooling fluid to an environment of the auxiliary condenser, and for returning the condensed cooling fluid to the evaporator. Furthermore, the passive cooling circuit is a base-to-air type thermosiphon or an air-to-air type thermosiphon.