The future of heat management in data centres: is it liquid cooling solutions?
Executive Summary
● With the rapid growth of AI, the demand for high-performance computing has skyrocketed and with it, the need for improved cooling solutions for servers.
● Air cooling is no longer sustainable as the primary method for regulating server temperatures, and the shift to implement liquid cooling solutions has begun.
● One in five data centres already use liquid cooling methods, but what does the future hold?
The demand for high-performing computing, processing large datasets, complex algorithms and data analytics, has energy consumption in data centres rising at an alarming rate; the Energy Agency projects data centres reaching 1000TWh by 2030, over double today’s levels.
In the UK, there are 477 data centres, and is set to increase by a fifth according to Barbour ABI. A more robust and sustainable computing infrastructure is required, as this processing power generates a huge amount of heat. This puts pressure on already overworked cooling systems that can’t keep up with the demand.
Air Cooling Is No Longer Sustainable as the Primary Method
Air cooling uses Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units or Computer Room Air Handlers (CRAHs). They are designed to carry away heat from the racks using airflow, heat sinks and chillers. They work by circulating chilled air through the server rooms to regulate temperature. However, air cooling systems have limited capability and efficiency.
Liquid Cooling Systems have Enthralled the Data Centre Industry
Liquid cooling uses water, dielectric fluids or refrigerants to absorb heat from hardware directly. This provides a more efficient alternative to air cooling. Data centres can reduce energy consumption, lower costs and minimise their environmental footprint.
There are two main categories of liquid cooling
● Direct-to-chip (DTC) cooling uses cold plates attached to IT components such as GPUs and CPUs., The coolant flows through the plates, absorbs the heat and removes it to heat exchangers or cooling towers; this reduces energy consumption by 30-50%.
● Immersion Cooling involves fully submerging servers in a non-conductive dielectric liquid. The liquid absorbs the heat, transports it to a heat exchange, and is cooled before returning to the tank. As a result, components remain at stable temperatures and reduce hotspots.
Liquid cooling solutions are highly efficient and sustainable in comparison to air cooling. Liquids have a far greater heat absorption capacity, allowing for a more effective heat dissipation and reducing energy consumption for cooling systems.
By 2026, we are expecting more than a third of enterprises to utilise some form of liquid cooling system; this is an almost 20% increase from the early 2024 statistics.
However, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The trend emerging seems to be a hybrid cooling approach: employing the use of several cooling methods that enhance energy efficiency and utilise targeted cooling while providing operational flexibility.
