Introduction The thermal resistance of a heat sink is a convenient way of describing its performance but, unlike its electrical counterpart, the thermal resistance of a heat sink is not a constant: it changes significantly with air flow. How we "understand" heat sinks is revealed by the models we use to describe their thermal resistance. Most thermal engineers use a single-term … [Read more...]
Advanced Cooling Using Meso-Scale Evaporative Cold Plates
Introduction Thermal management of servers and communications equipment has become significantly more challenging over the past several years. As is well known, processor powers have increased to 150 W or more and are projected to continue to rise, despite the move to multi-core designs (and the huge investment in software that this entails) [1]. Rack-level functional density … [Read more...]
Estimating the effect of intercoolers for computer rack cooling
Figure 1. Four board high rack with serial air flow configuration. Figure 2. Rack with intercoolers cooled by water flowing parallel to air flow direction. In the February 2007 issue of ElectronicsCooling the Calculation Corner article addressed the use of a water-cooled air-to-liquid heat exchanger to reduce computer rack air exhaust temperatures and mitigate the effect of … [Read more...]
Liquid Cooling Of A High-Density Computer Cluster
Introduction Recent advances in computer clusters have resulted in the introduction of higher density server equipment that consumes significant amounts of electrical power and produces an extraordinary amount of heat. Due to this latter attribute, which has alarming consequences with regard to thermal management, the installation of modern computer clusters will require … [Read more...]
Liquid Cooling is Back
Introduction IBM announced its return to water cooling on April 19, 2005 with the introduction of a water cooled heat exchanger mounted to the back cover of a 19 inch rack. This is the first of the major datacom equipment manufacturers to employ water cooling for a rack of CMOS processors, using a cooling distribution unit supplying the water and rejecting the heat load to … [Read more...]
