Experimental Validation and Design Simulations of a Passive Two-Phase Cooling System for Datacenters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackson B. Marcinichen ◽  
John R. Thome ◽  
Raffaele L. Amalfi ◽  
Filippo Cataldo
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Experimental Validation ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Electronics Cooling ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Pressure Drops ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Important Challenge

Abstract Thermosyphon cooling systems represent the future of datacenter cooling, and electronics cooling in general, as they provide high thermal performance, reliability and energy efficiency, as well as capture the heat at high temperatures suitable for many heat reuse applications. On the other hand, the design of passive two-phase thermosyphons is extremely challenging because of the complex physics involved in the boiling and condensation processes; in particular, the most important challenge is to accurately predict the flow rate in the thermosyphon and thus the thermal performance. This paper presents an experimental validation to assess the predictive capabilities of JJ Cooling Innovation’s thermosyphon simulator against one independent data set that includes a wide range of operating conditions and system sizes, i.e. thermosyphon data for server-level cooling gathered at Nokia Bell Labs. Comparison between test data and simulated results show good agreement, confirming that the simulator accurately predicts heat transfer performance and pressure drops in each individual component of a thermosyphon cooling system (cold plate, riser, evaporator, downcomer (with no fitting parameters), and eventually a liquid accumulator) coupled with operational characteristics and flow regimes. In addition, the simulator is able to design a single loop thermosyphon (e.g. for cooling a single server’s processor), as shown in this study, but also able to model more complex cooling architectures, where many thermosyphons at server-level and rack-level have to operate in parallel (e.g. for cooling an entire server rack). This task will be performed as future work.

Machine Learning-Based Model for Optimal Operating Conditions of Thermosyphons for Electronic Cooling Applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kim ◽  
Raffaele L. Amalfi
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Electronic Cooling ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
System Control ◽  
Optimal Operating ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Two-phase cooling systems based on the thermosyphon operating principle exhibit excellent heat transfer performance, reliability, and flexibility, therefore can be applied to overcome thermal challenges in a wide range of electronic cooling applications and deployment scenarios. However, extremely complex nature of two-phase flow physics involving flow patterns and phase transitions has been the major challenge for technology adoption in industry. This paper demonstrates a machine learning (ML) based model for evaluating the thermal performance and refrigerant mass flow rate, of a thermosyphon cooling system for telecom equipment. Unlike conventional laboratory approach that requires numerous sensors attached to a cooling system to capture their thermal performance, the new model requires a minimum number of sensors to monitor the health of a thermal management solution. Using the proposed model, a system control module can be further developed which could identify optimal operating parameters in real-time under dynamically changing heat load conditions and actively maintain safety and thermal requirements.

Two Phase Pressure Drops for Refrigerants: A Statistical Comparison Among Experimental Data and Correlations

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Greco ◽  
Rita Mastrullo ◽  
Alfonso W. Mauro ◽  
Giuseppe P. Vanoli
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Horizontal Tube ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Prediction Methods ◽  
Two Phase Flows ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Pressure Drops ◽  
Statistical Comparison ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Phase Pressure

A 962 points database for refrigerants two-phase flows by Greco A. and Vanoli G.P. was statistically compared to four widely used prediction methods by Lockhart and Martinelli, Chawla, Theissing and Mu¨ller-Steinhagen and Heck in order to determine the best one. The experimental points are in a wide range of operating conditions for six pure or mixed refrigerants (R134a, R22, R407C, R507A, R410A and R404A) during evaporation in a smooth horizontal tube of 6 m length and 6 mm ID.

Role of a Liquid Accumulator in a Passive Two-Phase Liquid Cooling System for Electronics: Experimental Analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Lamaison ◽  
Raffaele L. Amalfi ◽  
Jackson B. Marcinichen ◽  
John R. Thome ◽  
Todd Salamon
Keyword(s):  
Cooling System ◽  
Flow Boiling ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Electronics Cooling ◽  
Filling Ratio ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Phase Liquid ◽  
Liquid Cooling System

Gravity-driven two-phase liquid cooling systems using flow boiling within micro-scale evaporators are becoming a game-changing solution for electronics cooling. The optimization of the system’s filling ratio can however become a challenging problem for a system operating over a wide range of cooling capacities and temperature ranges. The benefits of a liquid accumulator to overcome this difficulty are evaluated in the present paper. An experimental thermosyphon cooling system was built to cool multiple electronic components up to a power dissipation of 1800 W. A double-ended cylinder with a volume of 150 cm3 is evaluated as the liquid accumulator for two different system volumes (associated to two different condensers). Results demonstrated that the liquid accumulator provided robust thermal performance as a function of filling ratio for the entire range of heat loads tested. In addition, the present liquid accumulator was more effective for a small volume system, 599 cm3, than for a large volume system, 1169 cm3, in which the relative size of the liquid accumulator increased from 12.8 % to 25% of the total system’s volume.

Role of a Liquid Accumulator in a Passive Two-Phase Liquid Cooling System for Electronics: Experimental Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Lamaison ◽  
Raffaele L. Amalfi ◽  
Todd Salamon ◽  
Jackson B. Marcinichen ◽  
John R. Thome
Keyword(s):  
Cooling System ◽  
Flow Boiling ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Electronics Cooling ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Gravity Driven ◽  
Phase Liquid ◽  
Liquid Cooling System

Gravity-driven two-phase liquid cooling systems using flow boiling within microscale evaporators are becoming a game-changing solution for electronics cooling. The optimization of the system's filling ratio (FR) can however become a challenging problem for a system operating over a wide range of cooling capacities and temperature ranges. The benefits of a liquid accumulator (LA) to overcome this difficulty are evaluated in the present paper. An experimental thermosyphon cooling system was built to cool multiple electronic components up to a power dissipation of 1800 W. A double-ended cylinder with a volume of 150 cm3 is evaluated as the LA for two different system volumes (associated with two different condensers). Results demonstrated that the LA provided robust thermal performance as a function of FR for the entire range of heat loads tested. In addition, the present LA was more effective for a small volume system, 599 cm3, than for a large volume system, 1169 cm3, in which the relative size of the LA increased from 12.8% to 25% of the total system's volume.

Operational Map and Thermal Performance of a Thermosyphon Cooling System for Compact Servers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele L. Amalfi ◽  
Cong H. Hoang ◽  
Ryan Enright ◽  
Filippo Cataldo ◽  
Jackson B. Marcinichen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Heat Removal ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Maximum Heat ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Experimental Apparatus ◽  
Secondary Side

Abstract This paper advances the state-of-the-art in novel passive two-phase systems for more efficient cooling of datacenters and telecom central offices compared to the traditional air-based cooling solutions (e.g. aisle-based containment systems). The proposed passive two-phase technology uses numerous server-level thermosyphons to dissipate the heat generated by critical components, such as central processing units, accelerators, etc., with the flexibility of selecting the rack-level and room-level cooling elements depending on the deployment scenarios. The main goal of this paper is to experimentally investigate the thermal performance and maximum heat removal capability of a server-level thermosyphon for cooling compact servers. The experimental apparatus, built at Nokia Bell Labs, incorporates a single 7-cm high liquid-cooled thermosyphon that fits within a 2U server (smaller form factors can be achieved by a proper design that would further reduce the thermosyphon’s height). The heat source is represented by a pseudo-chip, composed of six parallel cartridge heaters installed in a copper block that incorporates local temperature measurements and is able of dissipating a total power of ≈ 500 W over a footprint area of 3.5 cm × 3.5 cm (corresponding heat flux of ≈ 41 W/cm2). Steady-state experiments were carried out at various heat loads up to 240 W (corresponding heat flux of ≈ 20 W/cm2), filling ratios and secondary side inlet conditions (coolant temperatures and mass flow rates), using R1234ze(E) and deionized water as the working fluids on the primary and secondary side, respectively. Test results demonstrate high heat transfer performance of the server-level thermosyphon over a wide range of conditions, and operating points are identified and classified into an operational map. Thermosyphon-based cooling systems across multiple length scales can significantly improve operation in terms of lowering energy consumption, allowing for higher hardware density, increased processing speed and reliability.

Ultra-Compact Micro-Scale Heat Exchanger for Advanced Thermal Management in Data Centers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele L. Amalfi ◽  
Todd Salamon ◽  
Filippo Cataldo ◽  
Jackson B. Marcinichen ◽  
John R. Thome
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Heat Transfer Performance ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Transfer Performance ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Maximum Heat ◽  
Pressure Drops

Abstract The present study is focused on the experimental characterization of two-phase heat transfer performance and pressure drops within an ultra-compact heat exchanger (UCHE) suitable for electronics cooling applications. The UCHE is composed of a double-side-copper finned plate with an optimized geometry that enhances the heat transfer performance and flow stability, while minimizing the pressure drops. These features make the UCHE the ideal component for thermosyphon cooling systems, where low pressure drops are required to achieve high passive flow circulation rates and thus achieve high critical heat flux values. The UCHE's thermal-hydraulic performance is first evaluated in a pump-driven system at the Laboratory of Heat and Mass Transfer (LTCM-EPFL), where experiments include many configurations and operating conditions. Then, the UCHE is installed and tested as the condenser of a thermosyphon loop that rejects heat to a pumped refrigerant system at Nokia Bell Labs, in which both sides operate with refrigerants in phase change (condensation-to-boiling). Experimental results demonstrate high thermal performance with a maximum heat dissipation density of 5455 (kW/m3/K), which is significantly larger than conventional air-cooled heat exchangers and liquid-cooled small pressing depth brazed plate heat exchangers. Finally, a thermal performance analysis is presented that provides guidelines in terms of heat density dissipations at the server- and rack-level when using passive two-phase cooling.

Experimental Validation and Design Simulations of a Passive Two-Phase Cooling System for Datacenters

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackson Braz Marcinichen ◽  
Raffaele Luca Amalfi ◽  
Filippo Cataldo ◽  
John Richard Thome
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Validation ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Two Phase Cooling

Numerical Study of Aerodynamic Losses of Effusion Cooling Holes in Aero-Engine Combustor Liners

2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Andreini ◽  
A. Bonini ◽  
G. Caciolli ◽  
B. Facchini ◽  
S. Taddei
Keyword(s):  
Mass Flow ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Good Reliability ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Discharge Coefficients ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Aero Engine

Due to the stringent cooling requirements of novel aero-engines combustor liners, a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena concerning the interaction of hot gases with typical coolant jets plays a major role in the design of efficient cooling systems. In this work, an aerodynamic analysis of the effusion cooling system of an aero-engine combustor liner was performed; the aim was the definition of a correlation for the discharge coefficient (CD) of the single effusion hole. The data were taken from a set of CFD RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) simulations, in which the behavior of the effusion cooling system was investigated over a wide range of thermo/fluid-dynamics conditions. In some of these tests, the influence on the effusion flow of an additional air bleeding port was taken into account, making it possible to analyze its effects on effusion holes CD. An in depth analysis of the numerical data set has pointed out the opportunity of an efficient reduction through the ratio of the annulus and the hole Reynolds numbers: The dependence of the discharge coefficients from this parameter is roughly linear. The correlation was included in an in-house one-dimensional thermo/fluid network solver, and its results were compared with CFD data. An overall good agreement of pressure and mass flow rate distributions was observed. The main source of inaccuracy was observed in the case of relevant air bleed mass flow rates due to the inherent three-dimensional behavior of the flow close to bleed opening. An additional comparison with experimental data was performed in order to improve the confidence in the accuracy of the correlation: Within the validity range of pressure ratios in which the correlation is defined (>1.02), this comparison pointed out a good reliability in the prediction of discharge coefficients. An approach to model air bleeding was then proposed, with the assessment of its impact on liner wall temperature prediction.

scholarly journals Cooling Performance of Arrays of Vibrating Cantilevers

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Kimber ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Vibration Amplitude ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Resonant Mode ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Infrared Thermal Imaging ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Piezoelectric Fans

Piezoelectric fans are vibrating cantilevers actuated by a piezoelectric material and can provide heat transfer enhancement while consuming little power. Past research has focused on feasibility and performance characterization of a single fan, while arrays of such fans, which have important practical applications, have not been widely studied. This paper investigates the heat transfer achieved using arrays of cantilevers vibrating in their first resonant mode. This is accomplished by determining the local convection coefficients due to the two piezoelectric fans mounted near a constant heat flux surface using infrared thermal imaging. The heat transfer performance is quantified over a wide range of operating conditions, including vibration amplitude (7.5–10 mm), distance from heat source (0.01–2 times the fan amplitude), and pitch between fans (0.5–4 times the amplitude). The convection patterns observed are strongly dependent on the fan pitch, with the behavior resembling a single fan for small fan pitch and two isolated fans at a large pitch. The area-averaged thermal performance of the fan array is superior to that of a single fan, and correlations are developed to describe this enhancement in terms of the governing parameters. The best thermal performance is obtained when the fan pitch is 1.5 times its vibration amplitude.

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