Due to the increase in energy prices and spiralling consumption, there is a need to greatly reduce the cost of electricity within data centers, where it makes up to 50% of the total cost of the IT infrastructure. A technological solution to this is using on-chip cooling with a single-phase or evaporating liquid to replace energy intensive air-cooling. The energy carried away by the liquid or vapor can also potentially be used in district heating, as an example. Thus, the important issue here is “what is the most energy efficient heat removal process?” As an answer, this paper presents a direct comparison of single-phase water, a 50% water–ethylene glycol mixture and several two-phase refrigerants, including the new fourth generation refrigerants HFO1234yf and HFO1234ze. Two-phase cooling using HFC134a had an average junction temperature from 9 to 15 °C lower than for single-phase cooling, while the required pumping power for the central processing unit cooling element for single-phase cooling was on the order of 20–130 times higher to achieve the same junction temperature uniformity. Hot-spot simulations also showed that two-phase refrigerant cooling was able to adjust to local hot-spots because of flow boiling’s dependency on the local heat flux, with junction temperatures being 20 to 30 °C lower when compared to water and the 50% water–ethylene glycol mixture, respectively. An exergy analysis was developed considering a cooling cycle composed by a pump, a condenser, and a multimicrochannel cooler. The focus was to show the exergetic efficiency of each component and of the entire cycle when the subject energy recovery is considered. Water and HFC134a were the working fluids evaluated in such analysis. The overall exergetic efficiency was higher when using HFC134a (about 2%), and the exergy destroyed, i.e., irreversibilities, showed that the cooling cycle proposed still have a huge potential to increase the thermodynamic performance.
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December 2011
Research Papers
Green Cooling of High Performance Microprocessors: Parametric Study Between Flow Boiling and Water Cooling
Jonathan A. Olivier,
Jonathan A. Olivier
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
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Jackson B. Marcinichen,
Jackson B. Marcinichen
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
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Arnaud Bruch,
Arnaud Bruch
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
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John Thome
John Thome
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
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Jonathan A. Olivier
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
Jackson B. Marcinichen
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
Arnaud Bruch
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
John Thome
e-mail: Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Mass, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015,
Switzerland
J. Thermal Sci. Eng. Appl. Dec 2011, 3(4): 041003 (12 pages)
Published Online: October 24, 2011
Article history
Received:
September 21, 2010
Accepted:
May 16, 2011
Online:
October 24, 2011
Published:
October 24, 2011
Citation
Olivier, J. A., Marcinichen, J. B., Bruch, A., and Thome, J. (October 24, 2011). "Green Cooling of High Performance Microprocessors: Parametric Study Between Flow Boiling and Water Cooling." ASME. J. Thermal Sci. Eng. Appl. December 2011; 3(4): 041003. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4004435
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