www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I April 2024 19
Business
THE COLD PLATE CONUNDRUM
( PART 1 )
Compiled by Eamonn Ryan based on a panel discussion from Vertiv ’ s website
This panel discussion hosted on the Vertiv website explored the topic ‘ The cold plate conundrum – how sustainable is it really ?’ and delved into the sustainability trends in cooling . This is part one of a two-part series .
Moderated by Alex Dickens , channel management team leader of Datacentre Dynamics , it looked at the realm of high-performance computing ( HPC ), where the question of sustainability takes centre stage , especially when it comes to cooling technologies .
The panel featured insights from three experts :
• Austin Shellnut , president and principal engineer at Strategic Thermal Labs
• Imran Latif , chief operations officer at Brookhaven National Laboratories
• Bharath Ramakrishnan , senior mechanical engineer at Microsoft
THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE : AIR VS LIQUID The pursuit of computing performance improvement comes at a cost — increased energy consumption at data centres . To address this , the integration of liquid components emerges as a pivotal solution .
Given an ongoing debate between air and liquid cooling , Latif provided a comprehensive overview of the current sustainability trends . According to Latif , the future of digital workloads leans heavily towards liquid cooling . The shift is driven by the escalating demands of AI workloads , where direct-to-chip cooling using cold plates is gaining prominence . Latif emphasised the need to minimise water usage for evaporative cooling , as increased data centre power consumption remains a concern .
The next generation GPU ( graphics processing unit ) -based hardware platforms , catering to AI ( artificial intelligence ), metaverse and exascale computing , are designed with enhanced memory bandwidth . This design evolution inevitably results in higher power consumption , making liquid cooling a compelling solution . Latif highlighted that liquid cooling not only reduces CPU ( central processing unit ) temperature but also contributes to the overall efficiency of data centres by minimising CPU and fan power .
Shellnut emphasised that as power levels and thermal design power ( TDP ) increase , advanced liquid cooling technologies become imperative . He underscored that liquid
Image by DC Studio on Freepik cooling technologies are already in use and contribute to achieving higher software performance .
A critical aspect of the sustainability equation , as noted by the panellists , involves considering the entire lifecycle of delivering compute power . This includes evaluating energy consumption across manufacturing supply chains , infrastructure and daily compute resource consumption . Liquid cooling emerges as a champion in promoting energy efficiency throughout this lifecycle .
Shellnut shed light on the energy consumed in manufacturing , highlighting that the energy required to manufacture cold plates is significantly less compared to traditional air-cooled heat sinks . This reduction in energy consumption is a notable stride in the pursuit of sustainable computing practices . The panel emphasised that liquid cooling facilitates densification of power within individual nodes , pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved from each computing unit .
In essence , liquid cooling not only addresses immediate concerns within the server and data centre but also contributes to a broader reduction in material resource consumption across the entire computing ecosystem . As technology advances and power demands surge , liquid cooling emerges not just as
A design evolution inevitably results in higher power consumption .
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I April 2024 19