Liquid cooling
Cooling challenges in data center white spaces continue to grow more complex. Society’s explosive need for larger amounts of data, delivered at faster speeds, is driving an exponential increase in power consumption, and a subsequent demand for more effective cooling. At the same time, IT businesses face increasing pressure to improve energy efficiency and operate more sustainably.
To meet these demands, liquid cooling systems are already replacing traditional white space cooling technologies in many data centers around the world, a trend that is expected to continue. Alfa Laval has extensive experience providing space-saving, highly efficient and innovative solutions for liquid cooling, including a comprehensive portfolio of compact brazed and fusion-bonded plate heat exchangers. Contact us today to learn how we can support data centers of all sizes, in a wide range of climates, to meet your liquid cooling needs!
Single-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling
In a direct-to-chip system, liquid coolant directly cools hot components, via a cold plate on the chip. The plate heat exchanger, placed outside the server rack, cools the liquid media that is heated by the Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) during operation. The heat exchanger functions as a circuit breaker between the media in the systems, minimizing the volume of coolant required, and thus providing improved cost-efficiency.
Single-phase immersive IT chassi
In single-phase immersive IT chassi, dielectric liquid cools the equipment. This can take place passively, via conduction and natural convection, or by actively pumping the liquid within the servers. Here, the heated liquid flows through the heat exchanger in a water loop where it is cooled again. The heat exchanger and pumps can either be installed inside the server or outside in a side-arrangement.
Single-phase immersive tub
Single-phase immersive tub, also called open bath cooling, entails completely immersing the IT components inside the rack, where a dielectric liquid, or coolant, absorbs the heat. The heat is then transferred to a single or two-phase fluid via an IT chassis or open bath. There are two main categories of cooling liquids: hydrocarbons and fluorocarbons.
Two-phase immersive tub
Two-phase immersive tub uses heat from the components to warm a low-boiling-point liquid. The liquid becomes vapour, rising until it contacts a condenser in the top of the tank. The vapour cools, changing phase into liquid again, and then falls as rain back onto the component, and the process begins again. In this type of system, plate heat exchangers can be used as either evaporators or condensers.
The benefits of brazed plate heat exchangers in white space liquid cooling:
- Offer a highly energy-efficient solution for ensuring maximum sustainability
- An ideal solution for use with low-GWP, natural refrigerants, thanks to the compact footprint, optimized plate design, and high design pressure
- Alfa Laval’s patented, flexible DynaStatic distribution system enables higher efficiency with any refrigerant
- Alfa Laval’s FlexFlow plate design provides channel asymmetry that can be tailored to fit the application
- Fully recyclable equipment ensures strong supply chain circularity
- All fittings can be customized, to ensure a reliable interface with their counterpart
Learn more about Alfa Laval’s brazed heat exchanger portfolio
Discover the future of green IT with Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval has supplied solutions for server cooling rooms since the earliest days of the internet. Today, we offer a wide range of solutions for data center cooling, all backed by a worldwide service network of experts who understand your business. If you partner with us as you begin planning your data center project, we can help you design a system that ensures you get maximum cooling efficiency and reliability.