The application of AI technology, pread widely from smartphones to autonomous driving cars, from smart homes to industrial automation. High-performance AI chips generate a large amount of heat during operation. If the heat cannot be dissipated timely and efficiently, it will not only affect the stable operation of the AI server, but may also reducing the computing power.
Data center cooling technologies include air cooling and liquid cooling. When server power density generally exceeds 20kW, liquid cooling has to be considered.
Liquid cooling technology takes away the heat of heating components through the circulation of liquid, which can more effectively reduce the temperature of the AI chip.
Liquid cooling mainly includes cold plate liquid cooling and immersion liquid cooling technologies.
Cold plate liquid cooling
Currently, cold plate liquid cooling has been widely in the industry.
Cold plate liquid cooling is a method in which the heat of high-heating components such as server chips is indirectly transferred to the liquid through a cold plate for heat dissipation.
The characteristic of cold plate liquid cooling is that the coolant does not directly contact the heating equipment, but transfers heat through the cold plate.
The cold plate system mainly consists of cooling tower, CDU, liquid cooling pipeline, cooling medium and liquid cooling cabinet.
The liquid-cooling also includes key components such as liquid-cooled plates, liquid-cooled pipelines in the equipment, fluid connectors, and dispensers.
Immersion liquid cooling
Immersion liquid cooling is a method in which the server is completely immersed in the coolant, and the heat from the chip is directly transferred to the coolant.The heat is dissipated through the circulation of the coolant or the phase change of evaporation and condensation.
Immersed liquid cooling equipment is simpler in structure. It removes refrigeration components such as compressors and consists only of coolant and circulation pumps.
Depending on whether a phase change occurs during the cooling process, immersion liquid cooling is divided into single-phase and two-phase.
Two-phase immersed liquid cooling system: It can provide better cooling effect and has higher heat transfer coefficient and heat dissipation limit; however, the design is challenging and the cost is relatively expensive, so the research and development of immersed liquid cooling has been relatively slow.
The immersion liquid cooling method has high technical requirements and involves multiple modifications such as server shell design, motherboard modification, cooling system upgrade and sealing, etc., and is mainly produced by server manufacturers.
From a short-term phrase, cold plate liquid cooling is very suitable for the current transformation period of data centers from air cooling to liquid cooling due to its high maturity and low difficulty in operation and maintenance.
From a long-term phrase, immersion liquid cooling has more obvious advantages over cold plate liquid cooling in terms of heat dissipation efficiency, single cabinet power and space utilization, and can be adapted to cabinets and data centers with higher power density.
Rubber seals in AI liquid cooling systems require excellent chemical resistance, low-temperature flexibility, and long-term durability under continuous operation. OBT offers customized sealing solutions with rubber materials optimized for resistance to coolants,refrigerant and thermal stability. These rubber o-rings or gaskets could be used in the connector, hose or other components.
