[Beowulf] bring back 2012?

[Stu Midgley]

I think direct contact liquid cooling (DCLC)solutions from Asetek and
> CoolIT are much more practical, as are immersion cooling systems using 3M
> Novec engineered fluid. Novec is really appealing because of the heat
> transfer efficiency of the change of state. I believe it was originally
> designed as an electronic parts cleaner, too. It evaporates at room temp
> like other electronic cleaners, so when you pull hardware out the liquid,
> it's dry in a matter of seconds, and very clean, too! Much more practical
> than mineral oil in that regard. 3M claims it has a very low global warming
> factor, too.
>
> Personally, I think DCLC since any leaks in the data center should be
> smaller than if a tank-like chassis springs a leak, and there one is scared
> of the environmental impact of water, even when antifreeze and other water
> treatment chemicals are added to it, as would be needed in this use case.
>


2 phase solutions are sexy but ultimately impractical.

 * what happens when your recondensing loop fails? and you've evaporated
all the fluid off...

 * try and get a permit to hold large volumes of it in a computer room
 * try and find a computer room that will allow it in
 * the above two are mostly due to the low boiling point of the fluid

 * expensive (~ an order of magnitude)

AND you don't actually need a 2 phase solution to get the heat off the
cpu's etc.  A single phase solution works just fine.

-- 
Dr Stuart Midgley
sdm900 at sdm900.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.beowulf.org/pipermail/beowulf/attachments/20160820/6f9657d9/attachment.html>