Modern data infrastructures work harder than ever, pushing billions of bits of information every second. It’s not at all surprising that keeping data centers cool is more important than ever. Keeping chips cool is crucial to sustaining productivity and optimizing energy use. Without the right techniques for keeping chips from overheating, data centers waste energy and shorten the lifespan of crucial components. The traditional air-cooling techniques using fans is no longer sufficient for server equipment at this scale, which means data centers have to find effective alternatives.
Liquid cooling has emerged as the preferred way to keep chips from heating up too much, and there are two main versions currently in use throughout the industry. Choosing between direct-to-chip and immersion cooling can be a difficult choice for data center operators, as each method comes with its own distinct set of advantages and disadvantages.
Direct-to-Chip Cooling
This process involves installing what’s known as a cold plate directly onto the chip, much in the same way a passive heat sink would be. Unlike a heat sink, however, the cold plate has chambers inside it through which coolant flows. As it passes over the chip, the fluid draws heat away before it is carried to a heat exchanger to be cooled down again.
Immersion Cooling
In immersion cooling systems, the components that generate heat are submerged in a tank filled with a dielectric fluid — typically a synthetic hydrocarbon compound. As the fluid absorbs heat generated by the chips or other components, it is circulated into a heat exchanger where it is cooled by water before it is pumped back into the tank to continue the process.
Comparing Direct-to-Chip vs. Immersion Cooling
Understanding the differences between each method is essential for data centers, as their needs and limitations may make one a better choice than the other. For example, immersion cooling offers more-effective heat capture because the components are fully submerged in the coolant. Direct-to-chip, on the other hand, only makes contact with the chip on one surface, leaving some areas hotter than others.
Where direct-to-chip becomes more attractive to data centers is its ease of integration, however. These systems are much easier to install in an existing setup because they can fit right into existing infrastructure. This contrasts with immersion cooling systems, which often require entirely new installations to accommodate the tanks. Direct-to-chip also offers simplified maintenance requirements, because the flow of coolant can be turned off and hoses disconnected before work can be performed on the hardware. With immersion cooling, maintenance becomes much more involved as components have to be removed from the tank and cleaned before servicing them.
Whichever liquid cooling solution is utilized, it still provides significant improvements over traditional air cooling. Liquid absorbs more heat than air, and the systems consume less energy than fans. With increasing demands placed on data centers due to AI and other advanced computing tasks, it’s critical that they choose cooling solutions that are equally state-of-the-art.
Steel & O’Brien Keeps Computers Cool
Liquid cooling systems call for dependable, high-quality components to deliver the highest levels of performance. Steel & O’Brien is a leading supplier of stainless-steel fittings used in direct-to-chip and immersion data center cooling systems, all designed and manufactured to maximize their efficacy and efficiency. If you want to know more about how Steel & O’Brien can enhance the liquid cooling technology for your data center, reach out and speak with a member of our team today to learn about our solutions.
