Efficient reduction of energy costs in a data center cooling system

所有组织都主要依靠其信息技术基础设施。信息技术系统的性能在很大程度上取决于其冷却系统。此Engage项目侧重于数据中心冷却。数据中心冷却系统面临的主要挑战是：适应性、生命周期成本和维护。在这个Engage项目中，将对选定的数据中心作为案例研究来调查这些挑战，并将新技术引入并应用于其现有的冷却系统。新技术包括：（1）新风冷却;（2）间接空气-空气热交换器冷却;（3）热存储（相变）;和（4）液体冷却。对于每一种情况，将调查和讨论主要的挑战。我们将特别关注液体冷却，这是一种高效的技术，在不久的将来有可能被广泛应用于高密度数据中心。纳米流体的应用是 该项目采用液体冷却技术，旨在通过纳米颗粒在主体流体中的均匀分散和稳定悬浮，以尽可能小的浓度实现尽可能高的热性能（导热率）。该研究项目的成功对于数据中心冷却技术的发展和加拿大经济都具有重要意义。

All organizations rely predominantly on their information technology infrastructures. The performance of the information technology systems depends largely on their cooling systems. This Engage project focuses on the data center cooling. The main challenges in the data center cooling systems are: adaptability, lifecycle costs, and maintenance. In this Engage project, these challenges will be investigated for the selected data center as a case study, and new technologies will be introduced and applied to its existing cooling system. The new technologies include: (1) Fresh air cooling; (2) Indirect air-air heat exchanger cooling; (3) Thermal storage (phase change); and (4) Liquid cooling. For each case, the main challenges will be investigated and discussed. Our specific attention will be paid to the liquid cooling, which is an efficient technology with high potential to be widely employed for high-density data centers in the near future. Application of nanofluid is the core of the liquid cooling technology for this project, aiming at the highest possible thermal properties (thermal conductivity) with the smallest possible concentrations by uniform dispersion and stable suspension of nanoparticles in the host fluids. Success of this proposed research project is important for the data center cooling technology development and for the Canadian economy.