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Immersion cooling to offset data centers’ massive power demands gains a big booster in Microsoft
LiquidStack does it. So does Submer. They’re both dropping servers carrying sensitive data into goop in an effort to save the planet. Now they’re joined by one of the biggest tech companies in the world in their efforts to improve the energy efficiency of data centers, because Microsoft is getting into the liquid-immersion cooling market.
Microsoft is using a liquid it developed in-house that’s engineered to boil at 122 degrees Fahrenheit (lower than the boiling point of water) to act as a heat sink, reducing the temperature inside the servers so they can operate at full power without any risks from overheating.
Microsoft is using boiling liquid to cool one of its Azure data centers
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Microsoft Corp. revealed today that it has been experimenting with what it calls a “two-phase immersion cooling technology” using a liquid that boils at extremely low temperatures to keep its data centers cool.
The company explained in a post today on its Innovation blog that it has already implemented the technology in production at its Quincy, Washington-based Azure data center.
Today, Microsoft primarily relies on air-based cooling systems in order to keep the temperature of the processors running in its data centers down to a manageable level. But it said liquid-based cooling systems have much more potential as they use less energy. Heat transfer in liquids is “orders of magnitude more efficient than air,” the company said, which means liquid cooling systems are a lot more environmentally friendly.
Microsoft stirs up server soup in effort to be cool
Microsoft stirs up server soup in effort to be cool
Adopts technology developed by the likes of LiquidStack to keep data centres cool. Credit: Photo by Gene Twedt for Microsoft.
The thought of plunging a server rack into a vat of boiling liquid is likely to send most IT professionals into a fit of discomfort, yet this is exactly what Microsoft has been doing as it works to find new ways of keeping hardware cool.
The vendor is in the midst of developing a two-phase immersion cooling system for servers as part of its long-term plan to keep up with demand for faster, more powerful data centre computers at a time when reliable advances in air-cooled computer chip technology have slowed.
ExtremeTech
Microsoft Dunks Servers Into Boiling Fluid to Cool Them Off By Joel Hruska on April 6, 2021 at 2:24 pm
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Microsoft has been exploring innovative ways to cool its data center servers for some years now. In the past, the company has previously made waves for its offshore data center cooling using seawater via its Project Natick. Now, it’s showing off a two-phase liquid cooling solution it says enables even higher server densities.
The new system uses a non-conductive cooling fluid. Microsoft doesn’t precisely identify it, but it sounds similar to 3M’s Novec 1230, with a very low boiling point around 122F (Novec 1230 boils at 120.6F). Boiling off the coolant creates a vapor cloud, which rises and contacts a cooled condenser at the top of the tank lid. The liquid then rains back down into the closed-loop server chassis, resupplying the systems with freshly cooled coo