Computational Form Factor Study of a 3rd Generation Open Compute Server for Single-Phase Immersion Cooling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimil M. Shah ◽  
Chinmay Bhatt ◽  
Pranavi Rachamreddy ◽  
Ravya Dandamudi ◽  
Satyam Saini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Form Factor ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Computational Study ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Management Technique ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Immersion Cooling

Abstract Networking and computing dependency has been increasing in the modern world, thus, boosting the growth of data centers in leading business domains like banking, education, transportation, social media etc. Data center is a facility that incorporates an organization’s IT operations and equipment, as well as where it stores, processes and manages the data. To fulfill the increasing demands of data storage and data processing, a corresponding increase in server performance is needed. This causes a subsequent increment in power consumption and heat generation in the servers due to high performance processing units. Currently, air cooling is the most widely used thermal management technique in data centers, but it has started to reach its limitations in cooling high packaging densities. Therefore, industries are looking for single-phase immersion cooling using various dielectric fluids to reduce the operational and cooling costs by enhancing the thermal management of servers. This research work aims at increasing the rack density by reducing the form factor of a 3rd Generation Open Compute Server using single-phase immersion cooling. A computational study is conducted in the operational range of temperatures and the thermal efficiency is optimized. A parametric study is conducted by changing the inlet velocities and inlet temperatures of cooling liquid for different heights of the open compute 3rd generation server. A comparative study is then carried out for white mineral oil and synthetic fluid (EC100).

CFD Analysis of Thermal Shadowing and Optimization of Heatsinks in 3rd Generation Open Compute Server for Single-Phase Immersion Cooling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimil M. Shah ◽  
Ravya Dandamudi ◽  
Chinmay Bhatt ◽  
Pranavi Rachamreddy ◽  
Pratik Bansode ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Management ◽  
Power Density ◽  
Heat Sink ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Dielectric Fluids ◽  
Immersion Cooling ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In today’s networking world, utilization of servers and data centers has been increasing significantly. Increasing demand of processing and storage of data causes a corresponding increase in power density of servers. The data center energy efficiency largely depends on thermal management of servers. Currently, air cooling is the most widely used thermal management technology in data centers. However, air cooling has started to reach its limits due to high-powered processors. To overcome these limitations of air cooling in data centers, liquid immersion cooling methods using different dielectric fluids can be a viable option. Thermal shadowing is an effect in which temperature of a cooling medium increases by carrying heat from one source and results in decreasing its heat carrying capacity due to reduction in the temperature difference between the maximum junction temperature of successive heat sink and incoming fluid. Thermal Shadowing is a challenge for both air and low velocity oil flow cooling. In this study, the impact of thermal shadowing in a third-generation open compute server using different dielectric fluids is compared. The heat sink is a critical part for cooling effectiveness at server level. This work also provides an efficient range of heat sinks with computational modelling of third generation open compute server. Optimization of heat sink can allow to cool high-power density servers effectively for single-phase immersion cooling applications. A parametric study is conducted, and significant savings in the volume of a heat sink have been reported.

Computational Analysis for Thermal Optimization of Server for Single Phase Immersion Cooling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhruvkumar Gandhi ◽  
Uschas Chowdhury ◽  
Tushar Chauhan ◽  
Pratik Bansode ◽  
Satyam Saini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Dielectric Fluid ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Processing Unit ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Dielectric Fluids ◽  
Immersion Cooling ◽  
Oil Immersion

Abstract Complete immersion of servers in synthetic dielectric fluids is rapidly becoming a popular technique to minimize the energy consumed by data centers for cooling purposes. In general, immersion cooling offers noteworthy advantages over conventional air-cooling methods as synthetic dielectric fluids have high heat dissipation capacities which are roughly about 1200 times greater than air. Other advantages of dielectric fluid immersion cooling include even thermal profile on chips, reduction in noise and addressing reliability and operational enhancements like whisker formation and electrochemical migration. Nevertheless, lack of data published and availability of long-term reliability data on immersion cooling is insufficient which makes most of data centers operators reluctant to implement this technique. The first part of this paper will compare thermal performance of single-phase oil immersion cooled HP ProLiant DL160 G6 server against air cooled server using computational fluid dynamics on 6SigmaET®. Focus of the study are major components of the server like Central Processing Unit (CPU), Dual in Line Memory Module (DIMM), Input/output Hub (IOH) chip and Input/output controller Hub (ICH). The second part of this paper focuses on thermal performance optimization of oil immersion cooled servers by varying inlet oil temperature, flow rate and using different fluid.

Characterization of Light Weight Heat Sink Materials for Thermal Management of Electronics

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tunc Icoz ◽  
Mehmet Arik ◽  
John T. Dardis
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Management ◽  
Heat Sink ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Computational Study ◽  
Heat Sinks ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Thermal Management Of Electronics ◽  
Thermal Solution

Thermal management of electronics is a critical part of maintaining high efficiency and reliability. Adequate cooling must be balanced with weight and volumetric requirements, especially for passive air-cooling solutions in electronics applications where space and weight are at a premium. It should be noted that there are systems where thermal solution takes more than 95% of the total weight of the system. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate and utilize advanced materials to design low weight and compact systems. Many of the advanced materials have anisotropic thermal properties and their performances depend strongly on taking advantage of superior properties in the desired directions. Therefore, control of thermal conductivity plays an important role in utilization of such materials for cooling applications. Because of the complexity introduced by anisotropic properties, thermal performances of advanced materials are yet to be fully understood. Present study is an experimental and computational study on characterization of thermal performances of advanced materials for heat sink applications. Numerical simulations and experiments are performed to characterize thermal performances of four different materials. An estimated weight savings in excess of 75% with lightweight materials are observed compared to the traditionally used heat sinks.

New Thermal Management Systems for Data Centers

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayumi Ouchi ◽  
Yoshiyuki Abe ◽  
Masato Fukagaya ◽  
Takashi Kitagawa ◽  
Haruhiko Ohta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Heat Pipes ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Cooling Jacket ◽  
Cooling Methods

Energy consumption in data centers has seen a drastic increase in recent years. In data centers, server racks are cooled down in an indirect way by air-conditioning systems installed to cool the entire server room. This air cooling method is inefficient as information technology (IT) equipment is insufficiently cooled down, whereas the room is overcooled. The development of countermeasures for heat generated by IT equipment is one of the urgent tasks to be accomplished. We, therefore, proposed new liquid cooling systems in which IT equipment is cooled down directly and exhaust heat is not radiated into the server room. Three cooling methods have been developed simultaneously. Two of them involve direct cooling; a cooling jacket is directly attached to the heat source (or CPU in this case) and a single-phase heat exchanger or a two-phase heat exchanger is used as the cooling jacket. The other method involves indirect cooling; heat generated by CPU is transported to the outside of the chassis through flat heat pipes and the condensation sections of the heat pipes are cooled down by coolant with liquid manifold. Verification tests have been conducted by using commercial server racks to which these cooling methods are applied while investigating five R&D components that constitute our liquid cooling systems: the single-phase heat exchanger, the two-phase heat exchanger, high performance flat heat pipes, nanofluid technology, and the plug-in connector. As a result, a 44–53% reduction in energy consumption of cooling facilities with the single-phase cooling system and a 42–50% reduction with the flat heat pipe cooling system were realized compared with conventional air cooling system.

Parametric Study of Hybrid Cooling Solution for Thermal Management of Data Centers

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veerendra Mulay ◽  
Saket Karajgikar ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
Roger Schmidt ◽  
Madhusudan Iyengar
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Management ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Parametric Study ◽  
Heat Load ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Hybrid Cooling

The power trend for Server systems continues to grow thereby making thermal management of Data centers a very challenging task. Although various configurations exist, the raised floor plenum with Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs) providing cold air is a popular operating strategy. The air cooling of data center however, may not address the situation where more energy is expended in cooling infrastructure than the thermal load of data center. Revised power trend projections by ASHRAE TC 9.9 predict heat load as high as 5000W per square feet of compute servers’ equipment footprint by year 2010. These trend charts also indicate that heat load per product footprint has doubled for storage servers during 2000–2004. For the same period, heat load per product footprint for compute servers has tripled. Amongst the systems that are currently available and being shipped, many racks exceed 20kW. Such high heat loads have raised concerns over limits of air cooling of data centers similar to air cooling of microprocessors. A hybrid cooling strategy that incorporates liquid cooling along with air cooling can be very efficient in these situations. A parametric study of such solution is presented in this paper. A representative data center with 40 racks is modeled using commercially available CFD code. The variation in rack inlet temperature due to tile openings, underfloor plenum depths is reported.

Evaluating the Reliability of Passive Server Components for Single-Phase Immersion Cooling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimil M. Shah ◽  
Keerthivasan Padmanaban ◽  
Hrishabh Singh ◽  
Surya Duraisamy Asokan ◽  
Satyam Saini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Cycling ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Printed Circuit Board ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Circuit Board ◽  
Dielectric Fluid ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Passive Components ◽  
Material Compatibility ◽  
Immersion Cooling

Abstract The adoption of Single-phase Liquid Immersion Cooling (Sp-LIC) for Information Technology equipment provides an excellent cooling platform coupled with significant energy savings. There are, however, very limited studies related to the reliability of such cooling technology. The Accelerated Thermal Cycling (ATC) test given ATC JEDEC is relevant just for air cooling but there is no such standard for immersion cooling. The ASTM benchmark D3455 with some appropriate adjustments was adopted to test the material compatibility because of the air and dielectric fluid differences in the heat capacitance property and corresponding ramp rate during thermal cycling. For this study, accelerated thermal degradation of the printed circuit board (PCB), passive components, and fiber optic cables submerged in air, white mineral oil, and synthetic fluid at a hoisted temperature of 45C and 35% humidity is undertaken. This paper serves multiple purposes including designing experiments, testing and evaluating material compatibility of PCB, passive components, and optical fibers in different hydrocarbon oils for single-phase immersion cooling. Samples of different materials were immersed in different hydrocarbon oils and air and kept in an environmental chamber at 45C for a total of 288 hours. Samples were then evaluated for their mechanical and electrical properties using Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA) and a multimeter, respectively. The cross-sections of some samples were also investigated for their structural integrity using SEM. The literature gathered on the subject and quantifiable data gathered by the authors provide the primary basis for this research document.

Measurement of the Thermal Performance of a Custom-Build Single-Phase Immersion Cooled Server at Various High and Low Temperatures for Prolonged Time

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pratik V. Bansode ◽  
Jimil M. Shah ◽  
Gautam Gupta ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
Harsh Patel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Junction Temperature ◽  
Dielectric Fluid ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Environmental Chamber

Abstract The next radical change in the thermal management of data centers is to shift from conventional cooling methods like air-cooling to direct liquid cooling to enable high thermal mass and corresponding superior cooling. There has been in the past few years a limited adoption of direct liquid cooling in data centers because of its simplicity and high heat dissipation capacity. Single-phase engineered fluid immersion cooling has several other benefits like better server performance, even temperature profile, and higher rack densities and the ability to cool all components in a server without the need for electrical isolation. The reliability aspect of such cooling technology has not been well addressed in the open literature. This paper presents the performance of a fully single-phase dielectric fluid immersed server over wide temperature ranges in an environmental chamber. The server was placed in an environmental chamber and applied extreme temperatures ranging from −20 °C to 10 °C at 100% relative humidity and from 20 to 55 °C at constant 50% relative humidity for extended durations. This work is a first attempt of measuring the performance of a server and other components like pump including flow rate drop, starting trouble, and other potential issues under extreme climatic conditions for a completely liquid-submerged system. Pumping power consumption is directly proportional to the operating cost of a data center. The experiment was carried out until the core temperature reached the maximum junction temperature. This experiment helps to determine the threshold capacity and the robustness of the server for its applications in extreme climatic conditions.

Steady State and Transient Experimentally Validated Analysis of Hybrid Data Centers

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyi Gao ◽  
Bahgat Sammakia ◽  
Emad Samadiani ◽  
Roger Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Air Conditioner ◽  
Density Data

Data centers consume a considerable amount of energy which is estimated to be about 2% of the total electrical energy consumed in the U.S. in the year 2010, and this number continues to increase every year. Thermal management is becoming increasingly important in the effort to improve the energy efficiency and reliability of data centers. The goal is to keep the information technologies (IT) equipment temperature within the allowable range in high power density data centers while reducing the energy used for cooling. In this regard, liquid and hybrid air/water cooling systems are alternatives to traditional air cooling. In particular, these options offer advantages for localized cooling higher power racks which may not be manageable using the room level air cooling system without requiring significantly more energy. In this paper, a hybrid cooling system in data centers is investigated. In addition to traditional raised floor, cold aisle-hot aisle configuration, a liquid–air heat exchanger attached to the back of racks is considered. First of all, the paper presents a review of literature of the study of this heat exchanger strategy in the thermal management of a data center. The discussion focus on rear door heat exchanger (RDHx) performance, both the steady state and transient impact are analyzed. The studies show that under some circumstances, this hybrid approach could be a viable alternative to meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommended inlet air temperatures, while at the same time reducing the overall energy consumption in high density data centers. The hybrid design approach can also significantly improve the dynamic performance during rack power increases or computer room air conditioner (CRAC) unit failure. And then, additional parametric steady state and dynamic analyses, are presented in detail for the different scenarios.

Liquid Cooling for Thermal Management of Data Centers

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veerendra Mulay ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
Roger Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Management ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Heat Load ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Server Systems ◽  
Heat Loads

The power trend for Server systems continues to grow thereby making thermal management of Data centers a very challenging task. Although various configurations exist, the raised floor plenum with Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs) providing cold air is a popular operating strategy. The air cooling of data center however, may not address the situation where more energy is expended in cooling infrastructure than the thermal load of data center. Revised power trend projections by ASHRAE TC 9.9 predict heat load as high as 5000W per square feet of compute servers’ equipment footprint by year 2010. These trend charts also indicate that heat load per product footprint has doubled for storage servers during 2000–2004. For the same period, heat load per product footprint for compute servers has tripled. Amongst the systems that are currently available and being shipped, many racks exceed 20kW. Such high heat loads have raised concerns over limits of air cooling of data centers similar to air cooling of microprocessors. Thermal management of such dense data center clusters using liquid cooling is presented.

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