Is Liquid Cooling the Future of Data Centers?
Tech giants like Meta, Google, NVIDIA, Intel, and Equinix are already embracing this innovative technology, but learn why air-cooled systems still have their place in the data center industry. Besides being tech giants, what do Meta, Google, NVIDIA, Intel, and Equinix have in common? Every company is liquid cooling their hardware now or will soon. […]
Tech giants like Meta, Google, NVIDIA, Intel, and Equinix are already embracing this innovative technology, but learn why air-cooled systems still have their place in the data center industry. Besides being tech giants, what do Meta, Google, NVIDIA, Intel, and Equinix have in common?
Every company is liquid cooling their hardware now or will soon. Do they know something you don’t? Should your data center go liquid-cooled too? Maybe. Or maybe not. Generative AI is driving nearly insatiable demand for data center capacity. The powerful hardware designed to handle today’s AI-intensive workloads generates a lot of heat. Add to this robust hardware a higher overall rack density and you have a formula for next-level cooling requirements.
But not for everyone. At least not yet.
While large-scale data centers will see significant growth in rack density, smaller enterprise and colocation data centers are expected to remain at 12 to 17.5 KW levels for the next several years1. This suggests that there will be a transition period during which many operators can and will continue to use traditional chillers for cooling. Each method has its pros and cons.
Air-Cooled Systems
The good thing is that air cooling is cheap, simple, and reliable. It circulates cool air in and around the hardware, causing heat to dissipate and lower the temperature inside the server. Air-cooled systems are designed in three basic configurations.
- Room: The data center HVAC system introduces cool air throughout the room or through vents on the raised floors beneath the servers. • Row: Airflow is controlled by a dedicated overhead cooling unit for each row of equipment. This is more efficient than cooling the entire room because less energy is required to move air between servers. • Rack: An even more targeted approach: Rack-based air cooling systems focus on specific racks that have their own cooling unit.
Another positive is that many data centers can help increase the cooling capacity of the HVAC system by simply adding chillers or replacing the existing chiller with a more powerful one. Typically, HVAC technicians are familiar with chiller technology and understand how it works and how to maintain the systems.
The downsides? While air cooling is sufficient for many data centers today, it may not be sufficient in the long term due to:
- Growing demand for data
- Rising energy costs
- Water issues (especially challenging for large cooling tower systems)
Rising water rates
The possibility of water shortages
In addition to AI’s voracious appetite for computing power, rising energy costs (and even water costs for large cooling tower systems) can present a daunting challenge to data center operators with air-cooled systems.
Liquid Cooling
Instead of providing cooling at the room or row level, liquid cooling directs heat to the source: the servers. This technology can work in a variety of ways.
- Single-phase direct-to-chip: This method delivers a liquid (usually water) to the CPU or GPU, with a cold plate in the center so that the electronics never come into contact with the fluid. The fans then bring in cold air to push the hot air away from the servers. The data center chiller still plays an important role with this type of liquid cooling. • Rear door heat exchanger: In this case, a coolant-filled heat exchanger is mounted on the back of the server. An internal fan exhausts heat from the server and passes it through the heat exchanger, cooling it before it is released into the internal data center environment. Because it can be implemented without major modifications to existing servers, it can be a cost-effective solution for data centers looking to improve cooling.
- Immersion Cooling: With this technology, all server components are immersed in a reservoir of non-conductive liquid coolant. This dielectric fluid absorbs and dissipates heat, moving the heated fluid away from the components and into a cooling system, where the heat is either expelled or further dissipated through other cooling methods. Immersion cooling offers high cooling efficiency compared to other liquid technologies. It is also quieter, more energy efficient, and more compact, allowing for smaller hardware configurations. While each type of liquid cooling system has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages.
- Initial costs are high due to the need for specialized equipment such as coolant tanks, pumps, and heat exchangers. Retrofitting existing equipment can also require additional investment.
- There is always a risk of leaks that can damage equipment and cause power outages. • Liquid cooling components require regular maintenance, including periodic fluid replacement.
- Some hardware components cannot be used with liquid cooling systems due to their design or materials.
- The systems are complex and require careful design, installation and maintenance, with special attention to proper sealing, plumbing and monitoring.
- Because this is a new technology, employees accustomed to maintaining air-cooled HVAC systems will experience a learning curve.
Whether you choose to stick with an air-cooled system or switch to liquid cooling (or implement a hybrid system built around it), Trane can help you develop, design and manage the cooling system that keeps your data centers.
Source: https://www.trane.com/commercial/north-america/us/en/about-us/newsroom/blogs/go-with-the-flow-is-it-time-for-liquid-cooling.html
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