Cooling of data centers

As technology advances, the demand for computational power in data centers is increasing. The use of more powerful microprocessors, which require substantial energy to operate and generate significant heat, poses a challenge to the efficiency and operation of servers.

Recent IT developments highlight the need for advanced heat management solutions. Liquid cooling is emerging as an effective response to this challenge, offering significant advantages over traditional air-cooling systems. Liquid cooling systems are highly efficient at capturing and dissipating heat from critical production areas within the server (such as CPUs and GPUs), ensuring optimal data center operation and reducing the energy required to maintain the optimal temperature of the coolant (which is higher than that of chilled water in air cooling systems).

Furthermore, liquid cooling systems can be integrated with heat recovery systems, allowing excess thermal energy to be utilised for other applications, such as district or industrial heating. This approach enhances cooling efficiency and sustainability, while eliminating waste within the data center.

Liquid Cooling: types and advantages

There are two main strategies for liquid cooling, the D2C (Direct-to-Chip) and immersion cooling.

Direct-to-Chip (D2C) Liquid Cooling

The Direct-to-Chip (D2C) liquid cooling system closely resembles a standard rack conditioning system. D2C allows for precise cooling of specific components within the server using an internal piping system that directs coolant to components generating heat, such as chipsets and GPUs. The heat is then transferred via heat exchanger placed directly on the microprocessor.

This approach, by capturing heat directly as its source, ensures very high cooling efficiency and is easy to implement without significant structural modifications to existing data centers. In addition, it uses simple and less polluting liquids to cool system components, although it may require more frequent and careful maintenance
to prevent leaks and malfunctions in the piping.

Immersion Liquid Cooling

Immersion liquid cooling involves submerging all server components in a dielectric liquid that offers high electrical resistivity and good thermal conductivity. This specialised liquid absorbs and transfers heat away from critical components, which is then cooled by an external heat exchanger.

While this cooling system may be more complex from an operational management perspective, requiring infrastructural modification and implementations, it offers extremely efficient and uniform thermal dissipation, and can handle very high heat loads effectively.

From an environmental sustainability perspective, this technology offsets the use of specialized liquids (which may be less eco-friendly than those used in direct-to-chip cooling) while also reducing noise and vibrations, thereby improving component reliability.

Liquid cooling in both its versions represents an advanced solution to address the thermal challenges of modern data centers, especially in the face of AI advancements and high-computation-intensity contexts. For more information about liquid cooling technologies and systems for your data center, whether direct-to-chip or immersion, please contact HiRef.

With over 20 years of experience, we are a leading company in the IT infrastructure cooling industry. We offer our customers comprehensive and tailored solutions from design to production and installation.