Cooling technologies in data centers

Data centers have become the central nervous system of a modern corporation. They do a huge amount of work. For example, Google's data center processes about a billion search operations every day, which requires gigantic amounts of energy. The daily power consumption of this world's largest search engine is 260 million watts. Approximately the same amount of energy is used by 200 thousand individual residential buildings.

The cost of electricity (namely energy, not physical devices and network connections) is the largest expense of any data center. Up to half of this amount is spent on powering huge air conditioning systems that cool the temperature inside the data center to a level of 16-23 degrees Celsius, which is considered optimal for the normal operation of computing devices at a humidity of 40-55 percent.

To reduce energy costs, cutting-edge companies are experiencing new cooling methods. The savings achieved can be very significant, and such projects can also provide the company with a reputation as an environmentalist. Most modern data centers use atmospheric air for cooling, which is additionally cooled in the data center premises. Companies are striving to ensure that the maximum atmospheric air temperature does not exceed 25 degrees Celsius, because air cooling by only one degree leads to a 4 percent increase in energy costs.

2024

New data center cooling technology developed that reduces power consumption by 13%

At the end of October 2024, a team of scientists and engineers at the University of Texas introduced a new technology for cooling data centers. The new "thermal interface material," made of a mixture of liquid metal and aluminum nitride, conducts heat much better than existing commercial materials, thereby being able to organically remove heat from powerful electronic devices.

The researchers created a new cooling material through a special process called mechanochemistry. This process allows liquid metal and aluminum nitride to mix under controlled conditions, creating gradient interfaces and facilitating heat transport. The researchers tested the new materials on small laboratory devices with impressive results: the thermal interface is capable of removing 2,760 watts of heat from a small area of ​ ​ 16 square meters. cm. Now the engineers intend to scale the new technology for testing and application in data centers.

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Cooling accounts for about 40% of data center power consumption, or 8 terawatt hours per year. The researchers estimated that the new technology could reduce cooling requirements by 13%, which is 5% of the total data center power consumption. Across the industry, this provides significant savings, and heat dissipation can significantly increase processing power.

The explosive growth of AI along with the proliferation of technology is expected to lead to a significant increase in demand for data centers. Goldman Sachs analysts estimated that electricity demand for data centers will grow by 160% by 2030. It is assumed that only AI technologies will increase electricity consumption at the data center by 200 terawatt-hours per year between 2023 and 2030. New thermal interface materials can partially solve the problem of electricity costs.^[1]

Metal foam released that reduces data centers' cooling energy consumption by 90%

At the end of August 2024, Apheros introduced a new metal foam that improves data center cooling, which accounts for almost 40% of total data center energy consumption. This technology can improve the heat exchange of cooling systems by 90%, thereby significantly reducing energy consumption. Read more here

2023: Global Data Center Cooling Systems Market Size Grows to $3.87 Billion for the Year

At the end of 2023, the global market for liquid cooling systems (LJC) for data centers reached $3.87 billion. For comparison, a year earlier, the costs in this segment were estimated at $3.32 billion. Thus, growth was recorded at 17%. The main drivers of the industry are the introduction of high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence and cloud services. This is stated in the Market Research Future review, published in early September 2024.

Against the background of the rapid development of AI and an increase in the volume of information generated, the load on data centers is constantly growing. This requires the installation of more powerful equipment, which requires efficient cooling systems to remove heat from. Liquid solutions allow you to maintain optimal temperatures while reducing power consumption compared to traditional air circuits.

New standards and government initiatives are another factor driving sales of LJM. The work of the data center is influenced by numerous regulations that will determine the level of energy efficiency and emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere. Liquid systems allow you to comply with these requirements, while helping hyperscalers and cloud operators develop their computing infrastructure. In addition, FGMs provide much less noise than air cooling. This is especially true for companies located in industrial areas or other places with a high population density. From this point of view, liquid cooling can help data center owners reduce side risks.

Market Research Future analysts divide the FGM market into solutions using water, specialty refrigerants, and dielectric fluid. In 2023, the largest was the water-based segment: it accounted for more than 60% of total revenue. It is noted that such a cooling medium is economical, easily accessible and provides a sufficiently high efficiency. The refrigerant-based segment shows moderate growth as there are strict environmental regulations regarding the use of similar substances.

In terms of application, the LJC industry is segmented into hyperscale data centers, corporate data centers and combination sites. Hyperscaler platforms are estimated to dominate the market, generating more than 40% of revenue in 2024. Growing demand for cloud and big data services is driving the development of hyperscale objects that require highly efficient cooling solutions. At the same time, the authors of the study believe that corporate data centers will demonstrate stable growth rates.

Among the leading players named, Liebert (Emerson Electric) Green Revolution Cooling, CoolIT Systems,,, Schneider Electric Huawei Fujitsuneutral, Asetek, Allied Control, Systemair IBM,,,,,,. Geographically, Vertiv GEA Rittal Danfoss Dell Technologies the leader in the implementation of SJO in 2023 is: this is North America due to the high demand for data processing services due to the growing introduction cloud computing and distribution of AI applications. The Asia-Pacific region has seen steady growth, linked to increased investment in infrastructure. data centers

Analysts believe that in the future, the CAGR (average annual growth rate in complex percentages) in the market under consideration will be 16.5%. As a result, by 2032, the cost of SJO for data centers will rise to $15.3 billion.^[2]

2020: Green data centers can only afford IT giants for now

The British journal Nature provided data in the summer of 2020 that the annual demand for data centers is approximately 200 TWh - a value comparable to the national energy consumption of some countries. The energy that data centers receive is not always extracted from clean sources . China, the second largest data center market, receives more than 70% of electricity for the needs of data centers from thermal power plants using coal. Every year, the number of technology companies whose business relies on data centers^[3].

The problem has become so serious that a stable phrase "green data centers" has appeared. If ten years ago difficulties with cooling were solved along the way, now data centers are already being designed, combining the features of technology and environmental conservation conditions. The symbiosis of digital technologies and environmental protection is developing in two directions. One of them involves the construction of data centers using recycled materials, as well as environmentally friendly structural materials. The second implies the creation of energy efficient engineering systems.

The selection of the data center construction site testifies to the company's intentions. The main emphasis in the design of Verne Global was on the condition that its energy consumption would be provided by geothermal energy. Therefore, they built a data center near the geyser. In Frankfurt, the Citigroup data center project includes the ability to use rainwater as a refrigerant.

The main power consumption of data centers comes down to two components: IT load and cooling systems. Freon air conditioners and chiller fancoyles are displaced by systems with direct or indirect friculation. Data centers Amazon, Google, Facebook use direct technology for free cooling of server rooms. This means that the outside air is pre-cleaned before being fed for cooling. Indirect friculation implies a closed cooling cycle.

Microsoft pays attention to research in various fields. The company is experimenting, among other things, with cooling systems. Leads the search for an alternative to meatballing. One of these attempts can be considered the placement of a waterproof data center in the ocean. The inaccessibility of the server in the event of a failure of its elements invalidates the benefits of natural cooling.

Microsoft and other IT giants promise to reduce the carbon footprint. In particular, Microsoft announced a phased elimination of the effects of carbon dioxide emissions. The company is set to achieve carbon neutral status by 2030. Ideally, European data centers should also become carbon neutral by 2030. One of the Danish companies designed and launched a system for transferring heat from the data center to the city heating networks. The heat generated by the data center is 70% used. Danish authorities plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Heat transfer technology partially delays the fulfillment of this quota. Finland, England and other countries also receive: excess heat from some data centers is used to heat houses. IBM's data center in Switzerland gives away some of its excess heat to heat the neighboring pool. Such examples are enough, their number will grow.

For data centers, the use of solar and wind energy is relevant. An example is the data center of an Internet company in Illinois that provides power for its servers using a wind generator.

Practice shows that the development of green data centers is a matter of time. So far, a complete transition to clean energy is possible only for data centers of giant companies. Today they are more environmentally responsible. Changes in energy efficiency policies are inevitable. The risks associated with change scare many. But it is with great concern to treat competition, where energy costs and environmental compliance will play a significant role.

2017

A decommissioned United States Air Force bunker in the Demoyne area (Iowa), capable of withstanding a nuclear strike; an abandoned limestone quarry in a remote area of Pennsylvania; three buildings with an area of ​ ​ about 28 thousand square meters each, being built near the Arctic Circle - so different, at first glance, the objects have already become or will soon become the most modern data centersBased ^[4]

Of great interest are fundamentally new cooling projects. For example, in Frankfurt, plants were planted on its roof for additional cooling of the data center (but even this data center did not abandon air conditioning systems). The new Google data center, located in the Finnish city of Hamina, uses old granite tunnels for cooling, through which water was supplied to the now defunct pulp and paper mill. Now that water cools the data center and then returns to the Gulf of Finland. And Facebook, in a bid to build a reputation as an environmentally responsible company, has released plans for a server farm in the Arctic Circle region where equipment will cool naturally.

Computing and networking technologies do not attract as much attention as the state-of-the-art design of some data centers, but they can also make a significant contribution to energy savings. For example, a data center Cisco in Allen, Texas, uses a converged infrastructure that transmits data and storage traffic over a single network. As a result, the number of switches, adapters and cables is reduced and power consumption is significantly reduced: the fewer cables, the freer natural air flows flow around the equipment, reducing the need for fans. servers These compact analogues of rack-based server devices also make it easier to cool down. Further reduces the energy requirements of server virtualization by allowing fewer physical servers to process the same amount of information. As a result, air conditioning in this data center is turned on only when the air temperature in the premises exceeds 25 degrees Celsius. Solar panels are used to power office space. All this allows Cisco to reduce the cost of cooling the data center by 600 thousand dollars US dollars per year.

According to some forecasts, greenhouse gas emissions in data centers will amount to 4 percent of the global level by 2020. Currently, national and international organizations use the "carrot" policy to combat emissions, but if companies do not take decisive measures to reduce emissions, the "carrot" can quickly be replaced by "whip." Without waiting for this, advanced companies solve the problem in various ways, including environmentally competent building design and the use of smarter computing and networking technologies.

See also

• Cooling systems

Notes