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Data center proliferation has been increasing significantly around the world attributed to growth in technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), bitcoin mining, and high-performance computing (HPC). A direct consequence of these developments is an enhancement in processing units and a corresponding rise in CPU and GPU power densities. Limitations of air cooling to dissipate increasing power densities in processors have compelled the researchers to move toward better and efficient liquid cooling solutions. In an earlier study, a custom-made mini-rack with liquid-cooled 2OU (open rack Unit) web servers were tested for comparison of centralized and distributed pumping with constant flow rates at the server level. The effect of higher inlet temperature in terms of IT power, cooling power consumption, and CPU temperature was reported along with a comparison of centralized versus distributed pumping. In this article, the same 2OU server is used to show the effect of variable flow rate on server thermal performance. The parameters monitored for performance quantification are the core temperatures, dual in-line memory modules (DIMM) temperatures, and platform controller hub (PCH) temperature. These parameters were reported by varying the CPU power consumption, coolant inlet temperatures, and coolant flow rates by controlling the distributed pumps. The server was fully enclosed with no outside air intake where the CPUs were cooled by cold plates and the rest of the components with internally recirculating air. The results obtained from the experiments were compared with the results obtained from a previous study where the effect of the variable flow rate was ignored. A full-factorial design of experiments (DoE) was designed using Minitab 19 to analyze the results statistically.

Continuous rise in cloud computing and other web-based services propelled the data center proliferation seen over the past decade. Traditional data centers use vapor-compression-based cooling units that not only reduce energy efficiency but also increase operational and initial investment costs due to involved redundancies. Free air cooling and airside economization can substantially reduce the information technology equipment (ITE) cooling power consumption, which accounts for approximately 40% of energy consumption for a typical air-cooled data center. However, this cooling approach entails an inherent risk of exposing the ITE to harmful ultrafine particulate contaminants, thus, potentially reducing the equipment and component reliability. The present investigation attempts to quantify the effects of particulate contamination inside the data center equipment and ITE room using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). An analysis of the boundary conditions to be used was done by detailed modeling of ITE and the data center white space. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations were done for detailed analysis of particle transport within the server enclosure. An analysis of the effect of the primary pressure loss obstructions like heat sinks and dual inline memory modules inside the server was done to visualize the localized particle concentrations within the server. A room-level simulation was then conducted to identify the most vulnerable locations of particle concentration within the data center space. The results show that parameters such as higher velocities, heat sink cutouts, and higher aspect ratio features within the server tend to increase the particle concentration inside the servers.

Transistor density trends till recently have been following Moore's law, doubling every generation resulting in increased power density. The computational performance gains with the breakdown of Moore's law were achieved by using multicore processors, leading to nonuniform power distribution and localized high temperatures making thermal management even more challenging. Cold plate-based liquid cooling has proven to be one of the most efficient technologies in overcoming these thermal management issues. Traditional liquid-cooled data center deployments provide a constant flow rate to servers irrespective of the workload, leading to excessive consumption of coolant pumping power. Therefore, a further enhancement in the efficiency of implementation of liquid cooling in data centers is possible. The present investigation proposes the implementation of dynamic cooling using an active flow control device to regulate the coolant flow rates at the server level. This device can aid in pumping power savings by controlling the flow rates based on server utilization. The flow control device design contains a V-cut ball valve connected to a microservo motor used for varying the device valve angle. The valve position was varied to change the flow rate through the valve by servomotor actuation based on predecided rotational angles. The device operation was characterized by quantifying the flow rates and pressure drop across the device by changing the valve position using both computational fluid dynamics and experiments. The proposed flow control device was able to vary the flow rate between 0.09 lpm and 4 lpm at different valve positions.

Over the last decade, several hyper-scale data center companies such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have demonstrated the cost-saving capabilities of airside economization with direct/indirect heat exchangers by moving to chiller-less air-cooled data centers. Under pressure from data center owners, information technology equipment OEMs like Dell and IBM are developing information technology equipment that can withstand peak excursion temperature ratings of up to 45 °C, clearly outside the recommended envelope, and into ASHRAEs A4 allowable envelope. As popular and widespread as these cooling technologies are becoming, airside economization comes with its challenges. There is a risk of premature hardware failures or reliability degradation posed by uncontrolled fine particulate and gaseous contaminants in presence of temperature and humidity transients. This paper presents an in-depth review of the particulate and gaseous contamination-related challenges faced by the modern-day data center facilities that use airside economization. This review summarizes specific experimental and computational studies to characterize the airborne contaminants and associated failure modes and mechanisms. In addition, standard lab-based and in-situ test methods for measuring the corrosive effects of the particles and the corrosive gases, as the means of testing the robustness of the equipment against these contaminants, under different temperature and relative humidity conditions are also reviewed. It also outlines the cost-sensitive mitigation techniques like improved filtration strategies and methods that can be utilized for efficient implementation of airside economization.