[Beowulf] A Cooler Cloud: A Clever Conduit Cuts Data Centers? Cooling Needs by 90 Percent

[Prentice Bisbal]

You all know how much I like talking about heat transfer and server 
cooling, so I decided to do some research on this product:

Here's their website:

https://forcedphysics.com

and here's their YouTube channel with 5 videos:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClwWeahYGuNl0THWVz1Hyow/videos

This is really nothing more than an air-cooled heatsink. I'm afraid I'm 
going to have to call BS on this technology for the following reasons:

1. It still uses air as the primary cooling medium. I just don't think 
air has adequate thermal conductivity or thermal capacity to serve 
modern processor, no matter what you do to it.

2. In the videos, they present highly idealized tests with no control to 
use for comparison. How do I know I wouldn't get the same results doing 
the same experiment but using a similar duct fashioned out of sheet metal.

3. Using this technology means a complete redesign of your server 
hardware and possibly your racks.

4. None of the information in the videos or on their website really 
explains how this technology works, and what really differentiates it 
from any other air-cooled heat sink. Most people with a good invention 
are usually excited to tell you how it works. Since they brag about 30 
international patents for this, there's no need to try to protect a 
trade secret.

5. This statement:

> The fins work like teeth in a comb, neatly orienting air molecules to 
> point in the same direction and arranging them into columns. 

Based on my education, this statement seems to be completely devoid of 
science.

This statement seems to defy the laws of physics. Last time I checked, 
unless an atom or molecule is at absolute zero, it has movement, whether 
it's spinning or vibrating, or both, so how can they get air molecules 
to line up all in neat little rows, where the molecules are all pointing 
the same way?

This also implies very laminar flow.  As fluid velocity increases that 
the diameter of the channel decreases, the Reynolds Number increases. As 
the Reynold's number goes up, turbulence increases, so mathematically, I 
would expect this flow to be tubulent, and not laminar. From my classes 
on heat transfer, turbulent flow around the heat transfer surface 
increases heat transfer, so laminar flow in this case wouldn't be a good 
thing.

Until they can provide better comparisons with real servers in real data 
center environments, I'm going to classify this as "snake oil"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil

Prentice

On 1/24/19 3:54 PM, Chuck_Petras at selinc.com wrote:
> Well, this is interesting.
>
> "According to Forced Physics’ <https://forcedphysics.com/ 
> [forcedphysics.com] 
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__forcedphysics.com_&d=DwMFAw&c=-_uRSsrpJskZgEkGwdW-sXvhn_FXVaEGsm0EI46qilk&r=fawF3TRTwCqlaBkoLcxYCr4F4NRwCc64hmEgi9rHPpE&m=zr6lAlVphGxOQTXSElww9hGpqb9IZPik0_MN2v8Fqjs&s=lb4Hi9X8NKIYWe_e1RU3Cw4gr9Uz_B7n5pnCNY0ss3U&e=>> 
> chief technology officer, David Binger, the company’s conductor can 
> help a typical data center eliminate its need for water or 
> refrigerants and shrink its 22-MW load by 7.72 MW, which translates to 
> an annual reduction of 67.6 million kWh. That data center could also 
> save a total of US $45 million a year on infrastructure, operating, 
> and energy costs with the new system, according to Binger. “We are 
> solving the problem that electrons create,” he said."
>
> A Cooler Cloud: A Clever Conduit Cuts Data Centers’ Cooling Needs by 
> 90 Percent
> https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/a-cooler-cloud-a-clever-conduit-cuts-data-centers-cooling-needs-by-90-percent 
> [spectrum.ieee.org] 
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__spectrum.ieee.org_energy_environment_a-2Dcooler-2Dcloud-2Da-2Dclever-2Dconduit-2Dcuts-2Ddata-2Dcenters-2Dcooling-2Dneeds-2Dby-2D90-2Dpercent&d=DwMFAw&c=-_uRSsrpJskZgEkGwdW-sXvhn_FXVaEGsm0EI46qilk&r=fawF3TRTwCqlaBkoLcxYCr4F4NRwCc64hmEgi9rHPpE&m=zr6lAlVphGxOQTXSElww9hGpqb9IZPik0_MN2v8Fqjs&s=VuDTSuinKPMpF6NCztFZkSGOVo3LD7MLjroIj_sn0ao&e=> 
>
>
>
> Chuck Petras, PE**
> Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc
> Pullman, WA  99163  USA
> http://www.selinc.com <http://www.selinc.com/>
>
> SEL Synchrophasors - A New View of the Power System 
> <http://synchrophasor.selinc.com <http://synchrophasor.selinc.com/>>
>
> Making Electric Power Safer, More Reliable, and More Economical (R)
>
> ** Registered in Oregon.
>
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