WP#70 - Liquid Cooling Technology Update

Overview

The Green Grid's WP#70 is dated 28 November 2016, and its editors include Julius Neudorfer, Michael Ellsworth (IBM) and Dev Kulkarni (Intel). The paper provides a high-level overview of IT and facility considerations for liquid cooling and a guide to the technology landscape. It is available as a free download that requires registration; this summary relies only on information from the public page.

An important contribution of the paper is that it builds a common vocabulary: it defines liquid cooling terms, system boundaries, topologies and heat-transfer technologies. This shared language reduces the problem of IT equipment makers and facility designers describing liquid cooling with different concepts. The paper refers to the ASHRAE TC 9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines (2016) and to newer technologies.

The paper also covers the benefits of liquid cooling and examines connection to existing facility infrastructure or the need for supplemental heat rejection. This matters to designers who want to understand how a liquid-cooled IT load can be integrated into an existing hall and how the captured heat is to be rejected. The limit of the paper is that it is an overview, and this record rests only on the abstract; detailed design calculations need other sources. The paper also forms the foundation for a follow-up on standardising interfaces for liquid-cooled IT that can serve across multiple refresh cycles.

Key points

1. Dated 28 November 2016; editors include Julius Neudorfer, Michael Ellsworth (IBM) and Dev Kulkarni (Intel).
2. Defines liquid cooling terms, system boundaries, topologies and heat-transfer technologies.
3. References the ASHRAE TC 9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines (2016).
4. Addresses connection to existing facility infrastructure or the need for supplemental heat rejection.
5. A high-level overview and technology guide for IT and facility aspects.
6. Foundation for a follow-up on standardising interfaces for multi-refresh liquid-cooled IT.
7. Related document: ASHRAE TC 9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines.

Using it in design

• In the liquid cooling module, use consistent boundary terms (FWS/TCS loops, CDU).
• Define topology types (cold plate, immersion, rear door) as enumerations.
• Show whether a supplemental heat-rejection system is needed.
• State the connection points to existing facility infrastructure explicitly in the design output.

Who should read it

Mechanical designers, IT infrastructure architects and operations engineers who want to integrate liquid cooling into a facility.

Related standards

• ASHRAE TC9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines

Publication details

Authors

Julius Neudorfer; Michael J. Ellsworth; Devdatta P. Kulkarni; Herb Zien; Larry Vertal; Phil Hughes

Publisher

The Green Grid

Year

2016

Document number

WP 70

Document language

English

Source type

Industry body

Access

Citation only

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation