We hear more stories about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the economy. This pandemic has changed the socio-economic equation and propels the businesses to reinvent a post-COVID model. Irrespective of the business vertical, a profound change in the operating model is imminent. The new normal has forced the technology-agnostic businesses to think once more about their philosophies and adapt new technologies for their survival. The time has come for companies to create a technology blueprint to deliver contactless services and stay competitive in the game. A recent technology adopter or a mature technology-centered business have challenges alike in the road ahead.
The grown companies with higher technical prowess are ready for new challenges. They are continuously working to bring innovation to the table and seize the opportunity or stand unimpacted by the COVID adversity. When the world talks about AI, AR/VR, and other progressive technologies, the data centers stand as the heart of all the operations. This challenge to maintain the status quo of data center operations irrespective of manifold augmented load.
When the world is reeling in economic crisis, Google has veered to develop new technologies to handle the data-center thermal challenges due to excess load.
Tandem cold-plate heat exchange arrangement for forced cooling: The data centers houses electronic devices such as servers, processors, networking devices, mounted in the racks that stores and retrieves the data. A pair of microprocessors fitted on a single motherboard would draw 200 watts or more power. A data center houses thousands of such equipment that emits heat energy continuously. It is comparable to the heat generated in old bakeries that operate mega-size ovens. The expense bill of running a data center has a sizeable contribution from the heat removing unit comprises of chillers, condensers, pumps, and fans.
The design of the server rack in Google’s innovation mimics the sliding tray in the cafeteria rack. Each motherboard and processor sets are enclosed in a modular cabinet, slid in the rack trays, and fitted perfectly. A novel design change is incorporated to mount a cold plate on the upper surface of the cabinet module, where the heat-generating devices are housed. The standard heat removing fan setup is intact in this configuration. Cold plates are heat exchanging device that utilizes conductive heat transfer method to remove heat by physical contact between the cold plate and the heat-generating surface.
The complexity of the system is due to the design configuration of cold plate heat-exchangers catering for every kernel device. Think about a few million kernels cooled by orchestrating the coolant flow to the cold plates with smooth signal characterization from the sensor networks. The system is susceptibility to fail if a false measurement due to the malfunction of one sensor in the myriad or sub-optimal sensor placement.
The innovation components of this cooling system are as follows:
This method harnesses both the forced convection and conduction heat transfer methodologies to maintain the temperature of the hot body.
The cold plate or the plate and frame heat exchanging device mounting on the heat source is novel and complicated due to the space paucity. Also, the tandem arrangement of the server equipment with the continuous conduit arrangement adds woe to the existing complexity.
The temperature sensors placement is critical to get the right temperature for triggering the cooling response. A well-oiled or tuned controller system is utilized for the system to operate efficiently.
The energy utilisation pattern, control system operations and the heat dissipation profiling are the aspect of interest in this innovation. Let me study that in the future and write the next article.
Note: Leave a note in the comment box if you need the detailed documentation of the innovation from Google.
Reference: Various legal disclosures by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Easter Prince James is an Engineer, Researcher and entrepreneur with exposure to wide variety of real-world technical challenges. His result-oriented and forward-thinking acumen has solved multiple, complex industrial problems and delivered laudable results.
Google’s Latest Innovation: The Data Center Magic
We hear more stories about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the economy. This pandemic has changed the socio-economic equation and propels the businesses to reinvent a post-COVID model. Irrespective of the business vertical, a profound change in the operating model is imminent. The new normal has forced the technology-agnostic businesses to think once more about their philosophies and adapt new technologies for their survival. The time has come for companies to create a technology blueprint to deliver contactless services and stay competitive in the game. A recent technology adopter or a mature technology-centered business have challenges alike in the road ahead.
The grown companies with higher technical prowess are ready for new challenges. They are continuously working to bring innovation to the table and seize the opportunity or stand unimpacted by the COVID adversity. When the world talks about AI, AR/VR, and other progressive technologies, the data centers stand as the heart of all the operations. This challenge to maintain the status quo of data center operations irrespective of manifold augmented load.
Tandem cold-plate heat exchange arrangement for forced cooling: The data centers houses electronic devices such as servers, processors, networking devices, mounted in the racks that stores and retrieves the data. A pair of microprocessors fitted on a single motherboard would draw 200 watts or more power. A data center houses thousands of such equipment that emits heat energy continuously. It is comparable to the heat generated in old bakeries that operate mega-size ovens. The expense bill of running a data center has a sizeable contribution from the heat removing unit comprises of chillers, condensers, pumps, and fans.
The design of the server rack in Google’s innovation mimics the sliding tray in the cafeteria rack. Each motherboard and processor sets are enclosed in a modular cabinet, slid in the rack trays, and fitted perfectly. A novel design change is incorporated to mount a cold plate on the upper surface of the cabinet module, where the heat-generating devices are housed. The standard heat removing fan setup is intact in this configuration. Cold plates are heat exchanging device that utilizes conductive heat transfer method to remove heat by physical contact between the cold plate and the heat-generating surface.
The complexity of the system is due to the design configuration of cold plate heat-exchangers catering for every kernel device. Think about a few million kernels cooled by orchestrating the coolant flow to the cold plates with smooth signal characterization from the sensor networks. The system is susceptibility to fail if a false measurement due to the malfunction of one sensor in the myriad or sub-optimal sensor placement.
The innovation components of this cooling system are as follows:
Note: Leave a note in the comment box if you need the detailed documentation of the innovation from Google.
Reference: Various legal disclosures by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
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Easter Prince
Easter Prince James is an Engineer, Researcher and entrepreneur with exposure to wide variety of real-world technical challenges. His result-oriented and forward-thinking acumen has solved multiple, complex industrial problems and delivered laudable results.
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