A Review of On-Chip Micro-Evaporation: Experimental Evaluation of Liquid Pumping and Vapor Compression Driven Cooling Systems and Control

Thermal designers of data centers and server manufacturers are showing a greater concern regarding the cooling of the new generation data centers, which consume considerably more electricity and dissipate much more waste heat, a situation that is creating a re-thinking about the most effective cooling systems for the future beyond conventional air cooling of the chips/servers. A potential significantly better solution is to make use of on-chip two-phase cooling, which, besides improving the cooling performance at the chip level, also adds the capability to reuse the waste heat in a convenient manner, since higher evaporating and condensing temperatures of the two-phase cooling system (from 60-95°C) are possible with such a new “green” cooling technology. In the present project, two such two-phase cooling cycles using micro-evaporation technology were experimentally evaluated with specific attention being paid to (i) controllability of the two-phase cooling system, (ii) energy consumption and (iii) overall exergetic efficiency. The controllers were evaluated by tracking and disturbance rejection tests, which were shown to be efficient and effective. The average temperatures of the chips were maintained below the limit of 85°C for all tests evaluated in steady state and transient conditions. In general, simple SISO strategies were sufficient to attain the requirements of control. Regarding energy and exergy analyses, the experimental results showed that both systems can be thermodynamically improved since only about 10% of the exergy supplied is in fact recovered in the condenser in the present setup.

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John Richard Thome, Jackson Braz Marcinichen, Jonathan Olivier
2011
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Abstract

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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/170444?ln=en

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Related concepts (5)

Vapor-compression refrigeration

Vapour-compression refrigeration or vapor-compression refrigeration system (VCRS), in which the refrigerant undergoes phase changes, is one of the many refrigeration cycles and is the most widely used method for air conditioning of buildings and automobiles. It is also used in domestic and commercial refrigerators, large-scale warehouses for chilled or frozen storage of foods and meats, refrigerated trucks and railroad cars, and a host of other commercial and industrial services.

Energy

In physics, energy () is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat and light. Energy is a conserved quantity—the law of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed. The unit of measurement for energy in the International System of Units (SI) is the joule (J).

Computer cooling

Computer cooling is required to remove the waste heat produced by computer components, to keep components within permissible operating temperature limits. Components that are susceptible to temporary malfunction or permanent failure if overheated include integrated circuits such as central processing units (CPUs), chipsets, graphics cards, and hard disk drives. Components are often designed to generate as little heat as possible, and computers and operating systems may be designed to reduce power consumption and consequent heating according to workload, but more heat may still be produced than can be removed without attention to cooling.