Experimental Assessment of Rack-Level Dynamic Direct to Chip Liquid Cooling for Data Center and IT Equipment Reliability

Author

Amith Mathew

Graduation Semester and Year

2020

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Dereje Agonafer

Abstract

Data centers are used by organizations for storing, processing and distribution of data. These data centers are run through-out the year due to which their thermal management is a growing concern. A popular way of eliminating such thermal cooling issues is Liquid cooling. Conventionally Liquid cooling involves the supply of constant liquid flow (water or refrigerant) through the IT rack irrespective of the IT load, which in a Multi-chip module causes hotspots and temperature gradients across the module due to non-uniform heating. A dynamic cold-plate and a regulatory flow control device (FCD) is incorporated in this experimental set-up to assist targeted delivery of coolant to the servers based on their IT load. A single high-power thermal test vehicle is used in each of the IT rack (simulating a processor). Dynamic cold plate is placed on the thermal vehicle accompanied by pressure, temperature, and flow sensors. The Flow control device is placed in the downstream of the manifold for regulation of the flow based on temperature of the coolant leaving from each server. The flow of each of the IT racks are monitored and varied based on the pressure of the system and the IT load on the server. This reduces the pumping power consumed by systemically varying the flow towards servers which withstand high IT load instead of constantly dispensing coolant to all the racks. Also due to the varying flow rates, the servers sustaining higher loads are provided with higher flowrates, hence increasing the reliability of the servers.

Keywords

Dynamic liquid cooling

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Recommended Citation

Mathew, Amith, "Experimental Assessment of Rack-Level Dynamic Direct to Chip Liquid Cooling for Data Center and IT Equipment Reliability" (2020). Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses. 997.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/mechaerospace_theses/997