The trend towards increasing heat flux at the chip and module level in computers is continuing. This trend coupled with the desire to increase performance by reducing chip operating temperatures presents a further challenge to thermal engineers. This paper will provide an assessment of the potential for module cooling enhancement with thermoelectric coolers. A brief background discussion of thermoelectric cooling is provided citing some of the early history of thermoelectrics as well as more recent developments from the literature. An example analyzing cooling enhancement of a multichip module package with a thermoelectric cooler is discussed. The analysis utilizes closed form equations incorporating both thermoelectric cooler parameters and package level thermal resistances to relate allowable module power to chip temperature. Comparisons are made of allowable module power with and without thermoelectric coolers based upon either air or water module level cooling. These results show that conventional thermoelectric coolers are inadequate to meet the requirements. Consideration is then given to improvements in allowable module power that might be obtained through increases in the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT or miniaturization of the thermoelectric elements.
The heat dissipated by electronic equipment continues to increase at a alarming rate. This has occurred for products covering a wide range of applications. Manufacturers of this equipment require that the equipment be maintained within an environmental envelope in order to guarantee proper operation. Achievement of these environmental conditions are becoming increasingly difficult given the increases in rack heat loads and the desire for customers of such equipment to cluster racks in a small region for increased performance. And with the increased heat load of the racks and correspondingly increased air flowrate the chilled air flow supplied either through data center raised floor perforated tiles or diffusers for non raised floors is not sufficient to match the air flow required by the datacom racks. In this case some of the hot air exhausting the rear of a rack can return to the front of the rack and be ingested into the air intake thereby reducing the reliability of the electronic equipment. This paper describes a method to reduce the effect of the hot air recirculation with a water cooled heat exchanger attached to the rear door of the rack. This heat exchanger removes a large portion of the heat from the rack as well as significantly lowering the air temperature exhausting the rear of the rack. This paper describes the hardware and presents the test results showing that a large portion of the heat is removed from the rack and the temperature exhausting the rear of the rack is significantly reduced. Finally the effectiveness of the solution is shown in modeling of this water cooled solution in a data center application.
In 2008 IBM reintroduced water cooling technology into its high performance computing platform, the Power 575 Supercomputing node/system. Water cooled cold plates were used to cool the processor modules which represented about half of the total system (rack) heat load. An air-to-liquid heat exchanger was also mounted in the rear door of the rack to remove a significant fraction of the other half of the rack heat load: the heat load to air. The next generation of this platform, the Power 775 Supercomputing node/system, is a monumental leap forward in computing performance and energy efficiency. The computer node and system were designed from the start with water cooling in mind. The result, a system with greater than 96% of its heat load conducted directly to water, is a system that, together with a rear door heat exchanger, removes 100% of its heat load to water with no requirement for room air conditioning. In addition to the processor, the memory, power conversion, and I/O electronics conduct their heat to water. Included within the framework of the system is a disk storage unit (disc enclosure) containing an interboard air-to-water heat exchanger. This paper will give an overview of the water cooling system featuring the water conditioning unit and rack manifolds. Advances in technology over this system’s predecessor will be highlighted. An overview of the cooling assemblies within the server drawer (i.e., central electronics complex,) the disc enclosure, and the centralized (bulk) power conversion system will also be given. Furthermore, techniques to enhance performance and energy efficiency will also be described.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.