TY - JOUR
T1 - Phase change cooling in data centers: A review
AU - Yuan, Xiaolei
AU - Zhou, Xuetao
AU - Pan, Yiqun
AU - Kosonen, Risto
AU - Cai, Hao
AU - Gao, Yang
AU - Wang, Yu
PY - 2021/4/1
Y1 - 2021/4/1
N2 - With the advent of big data era, data centers (DCs) related energy use accounts for approximately 3% of the global electric power consumption. As the augmentation of data-processing performance and thermal density in DCs, its energy use will undoubtedly continuously burst. Meanwhile, the potential safety hazards, caused by IT equipment local overheating, threaten the safe operation and restrict the further development of DCs. Thus, efficient cooling approaches should be applied in DCs to ensure its safe operation and optimize its thermal environment and cooling efficiency. Phase change cooling (PCC) technology is regarded as one of the effective and widely-used cooling methods, which have been applied in DCs for several years. In this paper, the up-to-date PCC technologies are reviewed and summarized, as well as the latest progress in DC cooling field. Four main PCC technologies are discussed in this paper, namely independent heat pipe cooling, integrated heat pipe cooling, two-phase immersion cooling, and cold storage systems. Finally, the shortcomings of the current researches on the PCC methods are summarized, while some suggestions for future researches are provided to promote the application of PCC technologies and achieve safe operations and energy savings in data centers.
AB - With the advent of big data era, data centers (DCs) related energy use accounts for approximately 3% of the global electric power consumption. As the augmentation of data-processing performance and thermal density in DCs, its energy use will undoubtedly continuously burst. Meanwhile, the potential safety hazards, caused by IT equipment local overheating, threaten the safe operation and restrict the further development of DCs. Thus, efficient cooling approaches should be applied in DCs to ensure its safe operation and optimize its thermal environment and cooling efficiency. Phase change cooling (PCC) technology is regarded as one of the effective and widely-used cooling methods, which have been applied in DCs for several years. In this paper, the up-to-date PCC technologies are reviewed and summarized, as well as the latest progress in DC cooling field. Four main PCC technologies are discussed in this paper, namely independent heat pipe cooling, integrated heat pipe cooling, two-phase immersion cooling, and cold storage systems. Finally, the shortcomings of the current researches on the PCC methods are summarized, while some suggestions for future researches are provided to promote the application of PCC technologies and achieve safe operations and energy savings in data centers.
KW - data center
KW - phase change cooling
KW - heat pipe system
KW - operation safety
KW - heat transfer enhancement
KW - energy saving
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100677861&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.110764
DO - 10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.110764
M3 - Review Article
SN - 0378-7788
VL - 236
JO - Energy and Buildings
JF - Energy and Buildings
M1 - 110764
ER -