{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","research_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_light_screen_20260805","cell_id":"inversion_of_control__computer_science","search_lanes":{"direct_problem_and_intervention":{"queries":["wax actuator valve cold plate coolant flow temperature passive computer cooling","thermostatic valve liquid cooled electronics cold plate branch flow","passive self regulating coolant flow valve cold plate wax actuator","patent thermally actuated valve cold plate coolant electronics"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC3"],"no_result_note":null},"synonyms_and_historical_terms":{"queries":["NASA passive thermostatic valve wax avionics cooling flow rate coolant temperature","cooled panel thermostats passages transient nonuniform heating coolant"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2"],"no_result_note":null},"products_practices_and_standards":{"queries":["ASHRAE liquid cooling cold plate flow balancing branch valves data center","Open Compute Project cold plate requirements flow pressure thermal validation","data center thermostatic balancing valve direct-to-chip cold plate"],"source_ids":["SRC3","SRC4"],"no_result_note":null},"component_combination":{"queries":["temperature actuated valve independent parallel coolant channels electronic components","cold plate local heat load passive valve minimum bypass flow","data center liquid cooling branch flow imbalance cold plates research"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"],"no_result_note":null}},"sources":[{"source_id":"SRC1","title":"US9285050B2 — Thermostat-controlled coolant flow within a heat sink","publisher":"International Business Machines Corporation / Google Patents","url":"https://patents.google.com/patent/US9285050B2/en","source_type":"OTHER","claims_supported":["A 2012-priority disclosure covers liquid cooling of electronic components using cold-plate channels with independently controlled passive thermostat valves.","Component heat conducts into a thermally sensitive actuator that mechanically increases the local coolant-flow opening; cooling passively reduces or closes it.","Multiple valves can separately regulate multiple parallel coolant channels associated with different electronic components, substantially overlapping the proposal's demand-responsive allocation principle."]},{"source_id":"SRC2","title":"Cooled Panel With Thermostats In All Passages","publisher":"NASA Technical Reports Server","url":"https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19940000340","source_type":"PRIMARY_RESEARCH","claims_supported":["NASA described a thermostatic valve in each passage of a multipassage cooled panel to equalize temperatures under transient, nonuniform surface heating.","The disclosed motivation explicitly includes avoiding overheating, overcooling, and excessive coolant circulation when cooling capacity is sized for peak load.","The source establishes older terminology and an antecedent for downstream thermal state regulating parallel coolant allocation."]},{"source_id":"SRC3","title":"Balancing Liquid Cooling in Data Centers With CircuitSolver","publisher":"ThermOmegaTech, Inc.","url":"https://circuitsolver.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Balancing-Liquid-Cooling-Data-Centers-Application-Sheet.pdf","source_type":"FIRST_PARTY_PRODUCT","claims_supported":["A marketed thermostatic balancing valve dynamically modulates coolant flow as heat loads change and retains a small bypass rather than fully closing.","The vendor describes installing the valve directly into each direct-to-chip cold plate.","Higher leaving-fluid temperature proportionally opens the valve and increases flow; falling temperature closes it, closely matching the proposed passive feedback behavior while sensing coolant rather than plate metal."]},{"source_id":"SRC4","title":"Open Compute Project Liquid Cooling Cold Plate Requirements Document","publisher":"Open Compute Project Foundation","url":"https://www.opencompute.org/documents/ocp-acs-liquid-cooling-cold-plate-requirements-pdf","source_type":"OFFICIAL_STANDARD","claims_supported":["Cold-plate systems must be evaluated for heat-transfer performance, operating pressure, pressure drop, flow, component temperatures, and cooling-subsystem power.","Rack manifolds must deliver required flow at the targeted pressure drop and provide uniform flow distribution.","The document requires attention to wetted-material compatibility, corrosion, leakage detection and intervention, containment, pump failure, commissioning, and qualified expertise.","Its telemetry tables include CPU, GPU, accelerator, flow, pressure, liquid-temperature, and power observations relevant to the proposed bench measurements."]}],"problem_evidence":{"status":"SUPPORTED","finding":"The allocation problem is visible. NASA identifies overheating coexisting with overcooling and excessive circulation under transient nonuniform heating, while the CircuitSolver product literature says changing data-center heat loads require dynamic rather than manual flow balancing to prevent hotspots. OCP separately treats manifold flow distribution, component temperatures, flow, pressure drop, and pump power as consequential cold-plate-system parameters.","source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"closest_prior_art":[{"name":"IBM thermostat-controlled coolant flow within a heat sink (US9285050B2)","source_ids":["SRC1"],"overlap":"Very high overlap: electronic-component heat is conducted through a cold plate to an autonomous thermally sensitive actuator; independent passive valves in parallel coolant paths enlarge their openings as associated components heat and reduce flow as they cool.","remaining_difference":"The proposal specifies a sealed wax-expansion cartridge, conductive plate boss, spring-return inlet spool, minimum-flow bypass, maximum-opening stop, and separate heterogeneous-node branches. IBM specifies an integrated rotating disk driven principally by a high-CTE coiled actuator. These are implementation differences, not a distinct passive demand-allocation principle."},{"name":"CircuitSolver Cold Water thermostatic balancing valve for direct-to-chip cooling","source_ids":["SRC3"],"overlap":"A first-party product is described as being installed directly into each cold plate, proportionally opening with rising temperature to increase flow, closing as temperature falls, and retaining a small bypass.","remaining_difference":"The product senses leaving coolant temperature and is described at cold-plate or rack scale; the proposal senses cold-plate metal through a conductive boss, places the cartridge at the inlet, specifies wax actuation and physical stops, and tests allocation under an explicitly fixed shared node-flow budget."},{"name":"NASA cooled panel with thermostats in all passages","source_ids":["SRC2"],"overlap":"Thermostatic valves in every coolant passage redistribute flow to equalize temperatures under transient nonuniform heating while avoiding both overheating and unnecessary coolant circulation.","remaining_difference":"The NASA concept concerns a cooled aerospace panel and identifies shape-memory-alloy or bimaterial valves rather than wax-driven inlet cartridges on heterogeneous computing cold plates."}],"prior_art_disposition":"SUBSTANTIAL_COLLISION","contrastive_claim_remaining":"The broad claim that branch-local heat can passively open a coolant path and reallocate shared flow does not remain contrastive. A narrower falsifiable claim remains: in a three-branch compute-node surrogate, plate-conducted wax-expansion inlet cartridges with spring return, fixed bypasses, and maximum stops will exhibit a local temperature-to-stroke-to-flow response and reduce worst-plate thermal exposure versus those same cartridges locked at nominal aperture, at matched coolant conditions and with total flow and pump energy accounted for. This is an implementation-performance claim, not a novelty claim.","contrastive_claim_falsifier":"The remaining claim is falsified if local plate heating does not precede a branch-specific stroke and flow increase beyond measurement uncertainty; if lag, hysteresis, stiction, or hydraulic interaction makes peak or time-above-target temperature no better than the locked-aperture baseline at the same flow and pump-energy envelope; or if any active configuration violates minimum flow, pressure, leakage, stability, or material-compatibility limits.","gates":{"adequate_source_search":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The bounded screen covered the proposed phrasing, passive-thermostat and older cooled-panel terminology, a directly relevant marketed product, an official cold-plate requirements document, and combinations of electronic heat loads, parallel coolant paths, thermal actuators, and bypass flow. Four opened sources from four publishing entities were retained. This is adequate for a coarse collision screen, not an exhaustive patent or literature search.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"supported_problem":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"Independent sources directly identify nonuniform transient heating, overheating alongside overcooling or excessive circulation, changing data-center heat loads, hotspot prevention, and the need to manage manifold flow distribution.","source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"distinct_testable_claim":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"Although the central intervention substantially collides with prior art, the wax-cartridge, plate-metal-sensing, inlet-placement implementation retains a narrow measurable claim against a locked-aperture control. It has explicit temporal, hydraulic, thermal, and energy outcomes and clear falsifiers.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC3"]},"bounded_next_test":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The proposed 12-run dummy-load crossover is finite, reversible, excludes live silicon, disconnects logging from actuation, and measures temperature, stroke, branch flow, pressure, and pump power. Those measurements address the remaining implementation claim and parameters emphasized by OCP.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC3","SRC4"]},"no_obvious_safety_or_authority_stop":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"No categorical stop is apparent for a qualified-engineer-authorized, low-pressure dummy-load experiment. Mechanical relief, hardwired thermal cutoff, minimum-flow bypasses, containment, leak-triggered shutdown, and fixed-restrictor rollback address the principal hazards. OCP guidance reinforces the need for material compatibility, leak detection and intervention, containment, pressure limits, commissioning, and qualified expertise; satisfying those controls remains a prerequisite.","source_ids":["SRC4"]}},"screen_survival":false,"world_novelty_boundary":"This bounded public-web screen found substantial conceptual and implementation-level prior art, so the proposal does not survive the specified contrastive screen. The result does not establish the scope or validity of any patent claim, patentability of the narrower wax-cartridge design, freedom to operate, exhaustive world novelty, market size, expert acceptance, deployment prevalence, or realized thermal and energy value."}