Swedish data centre offers rack-scale dielectric immersion cooling
- Reference: 1589524626
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/15/rackscale_dielectric_immersion_cooling/
- Source link:
But they’re seldom used to cool servers at scale because even though dielectrics won’t harm the machines, the mere idea of lots of liquids inside a data centre provokes entirely justifiable fear.
So why and how did Sweden’s EcoDataCenter this week launch full cabinets cooled by dielectrics?
The answer comes from Yorkshire outfit Iceotope, which has created what it calls a “cool sink”. Described to The Register by CEO David Craig as “a little bathtub that we fill with dielectrics” that is placed on the hottest bits of a server.
“You replace fans with pumps, and boxes with holes with sealed boxes,” Craig explained.
Your future data-centre: servers immersed in box full of oil, in a field [1]READ MORE
Iceotope's kit doesn't work alone: Schneider Electric and Avnet have worked to get cool sinks working inside a Schneider liquid-cooled cabinet. But the dual use of liquid cooling is said to be more efficient that air cooling.
Craig said his company’s approach came about because he recognises its hard to scale dielectrics if they require non-standard server housings or full immersion tanks.
EcoDataCenter came into the picture because its unique selling point is running on renewable energy and dielectric cooling at scale both helps it to achieve a better power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating and increase density.
CEO Lars Schedin explained that the typical rack in an air-cooled data centre houses kit that consuming four or five kilowatts. Anything more is just too hot, hence the presence of blanking plates that let more air circulate in many racks.
Data centres are essentially real estate outfits. Rack-scale dielectrics therefore means that tenants can put more servers in the same space. They’ll pay less for fewer racks. And their power bill should remain the same, because if you need the kit you need the kit.
If this stuff takes off, it could therefore obviate the need for some data centre builds because existing facilities could house more kit – if they can source power. EcoDataCenter’s Schedin has 500 megawatts on tap, so knows his facility can accommodate denser racks. And he says customers want them, with some already asking for 80kw or more. Schedin thinks he could hit 140kw per rack or higher under the right circumstances.
While EcoDataCenter is now offering dielectric-cooled racks, it’s not yet a mainstream option because Iceotope’s kit only currently fits only one particular server. But Craig said the technology can be adapted to “the vast majority of heavy lift servers” and doesn't change anything sysadmins need to do when maintaining machines, other than take care not to bump the extra bits associated with dielectric cooling. ®
[1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/06/your_future_datacentre_servers_immersed_in_box_full_of_oil_in_a_field/
Re: Interesting but .....
IIRC, only on the fire part, these fluids are not flamible. Might be toxic though. :(
These are not sub ambient, so no water condensation.
Re: Interesting but .....
Dielectrics for rack cooling currently come in two main types
; single phase and two phase, the single-phase that I have read about is non toxic, has a high flash point and is comparatively long lived, because it is single-phase and doesn't boil off it ca be used in the form of a coolant and consequently open to easier maintenance than a system using sealed containers.
Still a bit more effort than a fully open rack though.
With 500MW
worth of servers, build a power plant next door to take advantage of the extra heat and generate electricity. Yes, yes, entropy and all, but that can be legislated against.
Re: With 500MW
It is in the Nordics. They probably have existing hydro electric capacity next door.
For the UK, I have often said that why is there not a green data centre in Kinlochleven?
There was a hydeoelectric plant there for an aluminium smelter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinlochleven
I guess the hydro plant may no longer be active, and not worth reviving.
Re: With 500MW
You got me all excited there for a second.
From Wikipedia:
> The associated hydro-electric plant was converted into a general purpose power station connected to the National Grid
Re: With 500MW
There is a photograph in the Kinlochleven museum showing what happened when they had a pipe burst in the power station. Not the kind of Dielectric Cooling most data centre owners would be keen on.
Re: With 500MW
I suppose you might get to 70-80 C in the outgoing coolant, may be not even as much , which is pretty low grade heat . There are methods to generate electricity from that but not economically even with a free heat source. More practical - data centre + tomato growing etc..
Re: With 500MW
"entropy... can be legislated against "
.... but not to any effect.
Re: With 500MW
To generate electricity, you need pretty steep heat gradients (think superheated steam vs ambient).
The waste heat from data centres is likely to raise temperatures by no more than a few tens of degrees above ambient, far too little of a gradient to effectively extract work. In order to get hotter, the heat source would need to be at a higher temperature, which is the thing you're cooling your servers to avoid in the first place.
The waste heat could effectively be used (and may well be) for local heating, in much the way that waste heat from geothermal energy production in Iceland is used to keep the streets of Reykjavík ice-free in winter.
Liquid cooling is better than air cooling?
GASP! Whodathunkit?
In other news: water is wet, air is dry, birds fly, cats pur, dogs bark, and pigs might fly out my arse...
*FacePalmSigh*
In days of yore
In the distant past -- say two or three decades ago -- some folks cooled REALLY high performance PCs by dumping the whole device into a container of oil and cooling the oil with a heat exchanger. I never tried that. But I was told that it worked fine as far as cooling went. The problem that limited the utility was that the oil eventually found its way out into the environment through every minute opening. Like between the gaps between the insulation and conductors in the wiring leading to the power switch and indicator lights. Things got quite messy after a few hours I was told.
Re: In days of yore
I have seen it done a couple of years ago for a highly overclocked system. The circulation was by convection only.
It worked well, but needed an oil change on a regular basis
Re: In days of yore
You can still find YouTube videos of guys doing that - and at least one is only a few weeks old.
I used to do watercooling when it was DIY. I still have a massive finned heatsink and two pumps that I cannot bear to get rid of.
These days, watercooling is practically the default solution. The range of CPU coolers that use it is impressive, and motherboards use nothing else.
You
can have liquid cooling without putting your computer in a bath. You have to design for it but it's not too hard. ICL's SX mainframe range were all liquid cooled even though it wasn't much talked about as it was deemed it might scare off customers given the not so good experiences with IBM's attempts at liquid cooling.
If you would like a trip down memory lane: [1]link (pdf)
[1] https://www.fujitsu.com/ie/Images/ICL-Technical-Journal-v07i02.pdf
Interesting but .....
Coolants -- what exactly are they using. The PCBs they used to use in transformers were incredibly toxic.
Fire risk -- oil leak, lots of electrical wires gotta be a risk.
And worst of all-
Condensation -- water condenses on cold surfaces, water dripping on to your expensive electrical toys cannot be good.