Containerized liquid-cooling data center and control method therefor
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Data centers face challenges in heat dissipation due to increasing computational power density, with traditional air cooling systems becoming overburdened, and there is a lack of mature liquid-cooling data center solutions on the market.
Innovation Solution
A containerized liquid-cooling data center system using water as a cooling medium, incorporating a computational power server cabinet system, pump station control system, plate heat exchanger unit, and power distribution cabinet unit, with a liquid cooling system outside the container, enabling efficient heat dissipation and waste heat recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If air cooling systems are used in data centers, then the cooling system is simple and easy to implement, but the system becomes overburdened and cannot handle high computational power density and heat dissipation requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the air cooling mechanical system with a liquid cooling system. Specifically, it uses liquid cooling plates installed in server cabinets to conduct heat away from high-power computational components, and employs liquid circulation pumps and heat exchangers to transfer and dissipate heat more efficiently than air cooling can achieve.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a hydraulic cooling system where liquid coolant circulates through closed-loop piping and cooling plates. The system uses liquid flow to transfer heat from server components to heat exchangers, leveraging the high specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of liquids to achieve superior heat dissipation compared to air cooling.
2Productivity
If liquid cooling technology is adopted to increase computational power density, then heat dissipation efficiency is improved, but the system complexity increases and there are no mature solutions available
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the liquid cooling system into modular components: server cabinet-level cooling plates, rack-level liquid cooling units, and facility-level heat exchanger systems. Each module can be independently configured and maintained, reducing overall system complexity while achieving high heat dissipation efficiency at the server level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces liquid coolant as an intermediary medium to transfer heat from computational components to heat exchangers. This intermediary approach allows decoupling of heat generation and heat dissipation locations, enabling flexible system design and reducing direct thermal management complexity at the server level.
3Productivity
If more servers are arranged in unit cabinet space to increase density, then computational power per cabinet is improved, but heat dissipation becomes more challenging and energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the thermal management parameters by transitioning from air cooling to liquid cooling, which has superior heat capacity and thermal conductivity. This parameter change enables higher server density in each cabinet while maintaining or reducing cooling energy consumption due to the efficiency of liquid-phase heat transfer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple cooling functions into an integrated liquid cooling system that handles heat dissipation for multiple servers simultaneously. By consolidating cooling resources and using liquid circulation to serve multiple computational nodes, the system achieves better energy efficiency compared to individual air cooling units for each server.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves higher efficiency, lower energy consumption, improved server stability, and noise reduction, allowing for increased server density and reduced operational costs through efficient cooling and waste heat recovery.
Implementation Method 1
The liquid cooling system cools and dissipates heat of the computational power server cabinet system through circulation of a medium
Implementation Method 2
The plate heat exchanger unit, as a bypass branch of the liquid cooling system, is configured to undertake part or all of a heat exchange function of the liquid cooling system, and is further configured for waste heat recovery and utilization
Data Source
AI summary
A containerized liquid-cooling data center includes a computational power server cabinet system, a pump station control system, a plate heat exchanger unit and a power distribution cabinet unit that are disposed within a container, and a liquid cooling system disposed outside the container. The computational power server cabinet system includes a plurality of modules operating independently, each of which includes a plurality of server cabinets each corresponding to a power distribution branch. A plurality of power distribution branches in a same module are converged to a same power distribution bus, and a plurality of power distribution buses in the plurality of modules are converged into a same main power distribution bus, and a current switch is disposed on the main power distribution bus to control the main power distribution bus. The liquid cooling system cools and dissipates heat of the computational power server cabinet system through circulation of a medium.