Future Innovations in Data Center Cooling Technologies

A new paper in Device by Qiang Li & co-workers demonstrates how excess heat from high performance computing components can be captured as electricity using microfluidics, enabling a synergistic "Charging and Cooling" process! Chill and charge: A synergistic integration for future compact electronics by Qiang Li & co-workers Link (OA): https://lnkd.in/gHimuNka The bigger picture: The pursuit of smaller, more powerful electronics necessitates effective thermal management. Traditional liquid cooling consumes substantial energy and volume, restricting higher computational density. Innovations in synergistic cooling and powering, as explored in our study for the first time, offer transformative possibilities for modern electronics. Streamlined integration of cooling and powering in a single, compact fluidic network proved embedded microfluidic cooling and waste heat harvesting with electrolyte coolant to be practical, extracting a high heat flux of 236 W/cm2 and generating an additional net power of 180.14 mW/cm2. Implementing this strategy in a real gallium nitride (GaN) device improved its performance by 20.8%, and an 8 mL reservoir of coolant could sustain liquid crystal display operation for up to 2,500 s. From mobile devices to data centers, this technology benefits far beyond individual chips, envisioning advancements in heat recovery, flexible electronics, and high-performance computing.

Headline: China Sinks Data Centers into the Ocean to Tackle AI Cooling Crisis ⸻ Introduction: To support its aggressive push into artificial intelligence and cloud computing, China is rapidly expanding its data center infrastructure. But this expansion poses a growing challenge: how to cool vast server farms without depleting precious water supplies. In a bold and innovative move, China is deploying data centers underwater, turning to the ocean as a sustainable cooling solution—and in doing so, it may be outpacing the rest of the world. ⸻ Key Details: 1. AI Demands Fuel Data Center Growth • China’s economic strategy prioritizes AI, digital infrastructure, and cloud computing as critical engines of future growth. • These technologies depend on high-performance data centers, which consume massive energy and water resources for cooling. 2. Water Scarcity vs. Data Center Demand • Traditional land-based data centers use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day to dissipate heat. • Many are located in arid regions like Arizona, Spain, and parts of the Middle East due to their low humidity, despite water scarcity in these areas. • As these centers proliferate, they compete directly with agriculture and human consumption, prompting sustainability concerns. 3. China’s Ocean-Based Solution • In response to the growing water challenge, China is leading the deployment of underwater data centers, placing them offshore to utilize natural ocean cooling. • This method drastically reduces water usage and energy costs while avoiding the land-use conflicts associated with traditional facilities. • China’s efforts appear to be ahead of other nations, which have only experimented with submerged servers on a limited scale. 4. Environmental and Strategic Implications • Underwater data centers may reduce carbon footprints and eliminate the need for massive evaporative cooling systems. • However, there are questions about long-term maintenance, ecological impact, and geopolitical access to maritime infrastructure. • The shift could reinforce China’s position in the global AI arms race by improving data center efficiency and reducing operational constraints. ⸻ Why It Matters: As AI continues to drive demand for computing power, the environmental costs of data centers—especially water usage—are becoming unsustainable. China’s underwater strategy not only offers a bold path to sustainability but also serves as a geopolitical differentiator in the digital era. If successful at scale, ocean-based data centers could reshape the future of computing infrastructure worldwide, offering a cleaner, cooler alternative to traditional server farms on land. https://lnkd.in/gEmHdXZy

Fresh research out of my team, & open access! Here, Muhammad Ghufran has synthesized sub-micron sized particles that can passively absorb heat through phase transformation within a silica shell. This enables a delivering mechanism for dispersing #PCMs within a variety of materials and applications, without concerns of leaking! Potential applications include #electronicscooling to alleviate transient temperature changes. Be on the lookout for an applied demonstration of this technology in future paper announcements ;) University of Arkansas Power Group, University of Arkansas College of Engineering EPS - IEEE Electronics Packaging Society https://lnkd.in/giQKdymF

Polymer Heat Pumps: The Coolest Thing in Clean Tech? 🧊🔥 Imagine a heat pump that literally moves itself to dump excess heat. No fluids. No emissions. Just pure, energy-slashing cooling power. 🤯 Thanks to a wild new polymer breakthrough from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, that fantasy might soon be reality. Why is this such a BFD? Three words: Efficiency, Sustainability, Performance. 💪 These self-oscillating polymers could make heat pumps even more energy-efficient by ditching the fluids used to transfer heat. 🌍 Current refrigerants are often nasty greenhouse gases. But these polymers? Zero emissions, baby. ❄️ In tests, the solid-state system ran circles around traditional cooling fans. Data centers, are you seeing this? Now, this tech is still in the early innings. Researchers need to dial in the heat transfer and prove it can scale cost-effectively. But with the IRA dropping fat stacks on electrification, the race is on to get these bad boys to market. The heat pump titans of tomorrow could be the ones who harness this polymer power today. So, clean energy fam, what's your take? Could solid-state heat pumps be the secret sauce that accelerates electrification? Hit me with your hot takes below! 👇 #HeatPumpHype #ElectrifyEverything #CoolingRevolution #CleanTechRising https://lnkd.in/dZeBDVBC

At Open Compute Project Foundation there's a very large community solving problems with advanced cooling for the ITC ecosystem. At the beginning of 2023 I was presenting at some datacenter industry events, the upcoming advanced, likely liquid, cooled future the servers would have and the non hyper scale operators weren't there yet. Less than a year at hyper speed this industry travels at and at any/all related conferences and shows today, IEEE/SC, DCD, OFC, whatnot, it's absolutely everywhere. So I'm letting you know now, liquid cooling is an arrow in the quiver and there are potentially some other very interesting arrows- in development. Today I want to introduce you to the AirJet by Frore. Note my point is not about the commercial opportunity for Frore, but the technology step here. What they are bringing to market is an ultrasonic enclosure (direct to chip) that creates chaotic flows of (air) coolant and through design, creates a back pressure that moves this heat in a flow. A more efficient and quiet fan is the lowest common denominator. It's at its infancy but it's a different way to solve a common problem and I'm here for that. I see that at OCP where a first idea will yield to a better one and so on- innovation. Check it out. It's interesting. There are other interesting approaches in the hopper. Time will tell if these break out and scale to datacenter wide cooling solutions. #aircooler #advancedcooling #ocp #directtochip #heatremoval