A state-of-the-art review on the application of heat pipe system in data centers

Phase change is a phenomenon that has been extensively utilized in chemical engineering, energy, electronics, vehicle, and space exploration. From both the science and engineering perspectives, gaining a profound understanding of the intricacies of multiphase flow processes accompanied by heat and mass transfer due to phase change is of fundamental importance. Indeed, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been increasingly applied as an effective tool to give an in-depth and efficient analysis of the phase change processes, thereby enhancing our understanding and capacity to control and optimize the phase change effects in these processes. This paper seeks to provide a comprehensive review of the utilization of CFD methodologies in the simulations of phase change flows across various applications, including temperature management, drying, separation and purification, and others. First, the CFD models at various scales that are developed to elucidate the phase change processes are summarized. Second, the noteworthy advances in the recent CFD simulation work on various phase change processes are presented, respectively. Finally, the challenges and potential prospects to facilitate the application of the phase change flow are discussed. The current review aims to offer insightful guidance for the CFD modeling of phase change processes in numerous engineering application scenarios.

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Section: Phase Change For Thermal Management (Tm)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in CFD Simulations of Multiphase Flow Processes with Phase Change

Zhu

Zhang

et al. 2023

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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“…Due to the flexibility of installed split heat pipes, they are more mature than monolithic heat pipes. When fitted with a mechanical pump to increase the driving force for the flow, power-split heat pipe systems can operate in data centers with long duct lengths, large height differences, multiple branches, large heat fluxes, or limitations in installation [22,23]. In addition, compared to natural direct cooling on the air side, this system does not require the direct introduction of outside air, thereby avoiding the former problem of equipment failure due to contamination by outdoor particulate matter and uncontrolled humidity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of an Evaporative Condensation System Coupled to a Microchannel-Separated Heat Pipe for Data Centers

et al. 2022

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In the age of the digital economy, the data center is the most crucial piece of infrastructure. The issue of the excessive power consumption of a data center’s cooling system needs to be addressed as the national objective of “peak carbon and carbon neutrality” is increasingly promoted. In this study, a microchannel-separated heat pipe-cooling system with evaporative condensation is introduced. The system may switch between three modes of operation in response to changes in outdoor air quality parameters, thereby maximizing the utilization of natural cooling sources while lowering data centers’ cooling costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the energy-saving potential of the hybrid system through experimental tests. The results show that 114.4% is the ideal liquid-loading rate for the heat pipe system. Under working conditions in Xi’an, the annual operating hours of the three modes accounted for 47.2%, 6.1%, and 46.7%. The hybrid cooling system may save 62.04% of the energy used annually compared to the standard cooling system and the cooling system in the server room thanks to its yearly average COP of 9.43.

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“…Recently, the demand for thermal management in a datacenter is increasing to save the energy used for cooling (Cheng et al, 2021;Ding et al, 2021;Ling et al, 2021). By lowering the height of the JEST-type loop thermosyphon, this thermosyphon could be applied to rack-level thermal management in a datacenter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational characteristics of a JEST-type loop thermosyphon with HFE working fluid (Effect of initial liquid level)

Koito

Mäki

Suzuki

et al. 2022

JTST

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An experiment study was conducted on the operational characteristics of the JEST-type loop thermosyphon when an initial liquid level of a working fluid was lowered. This thermosyphon was invented in 2012 by one of the authors with a jet explosion stream technology (JEST) for cooling high-heat-generation and high-heatflux CPUs. The present experiment aims at lowering the height of the thermosyphon for rack-level thermal management in a datacenter. Hydrofluoroether (HFE)-7000 was used as the working fluid. In experiment, an evaporator section of the thermosyphon was heated with a heating block while a condenser section was watercooled using a thermostatic bath. Temporal changes in temperatures of the thermosyphon were obtained with thermocouples. Moreover, the circulation flow rate of the working fluid in the thermosyphon was obtained with a simple measurement method. The initial liquid level of the working fluid was changed as 166, 268, 368 mm while the height of the thermosyphon was 1200 mm. Experimental results are shown regarding the effect of the initial liquid level on the circulation flow rates of the vapor and liquid phases of the working fluid as well as the heat transfer coefficient at the evaporator section. An additional experiment was also conducted when the height of the thermosyphon was lowered from 1200 mm to 480 mm. It was confirmed that the thermal performance of the thermosyphon decreased when the initial liquid level was lowered; however, the thermal performance was recovered by lowering the height of the thermosyphon. Therefore, the JEST-type loop thermosyphon can be applied to the rack-level thermal management in a datacenter.

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A state-of-the-art review on the application of heat pipe system in data centers

Cited by 35 publications

References 89 publications

Recent Advances in CFD Simulations of Multiphase Flow Processes with Phase Change

Recent Advances in CFD Simulations of Multiphase Flow Processes with Phase Change

Analysis of an Evaporative Condensation System Coupled to a Microchannel-Separated Heat Pipe for Data Centers

Operational characteristics of a JEST-type loop thermosyphon with HFE working fluid (Effect of initial liquid level)

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