UK: A computer server completely immersed in liquid could drastically cut the energy requirement of internet servers and data centres, according to scientists at the University of Leeds. Its designers calculate that the server cuts energy consumption for cooling by between 80 and 97%.
UK company Iceotope designed and built its new server working with team of researchers led by Dr Jon Summers from the University of Leeds' School of Mechanical Engineering. The first production system has now been installed at the University after two years of testing prototypes.

The non-flammable coolant, a zero-ODP, GWP of 1 liquid called 3M Novec, can be in direct contact with electronics because it does not conduct electricity. A fluoroketone, the liquid's unusual properties have found ready acceptance in fire suppression systems.

Dr Jon Summers, whose team used computational fluid dynamics to model how the coolant flows through the new server's components, said: 'The liquid we are using is extraordinary stuff. You could throw your mobile phone in a tub of it and the phone would work perfectly. But the important thing for the future of computing and the internet is that it is more than 1,000 times more effective at carrying heat than air.

A simple low energy pump is located at the bottom of the cabinet, pumping a secondary coolant (water) to the top where it cascades down throughout all 48 modules due to gravity.

The secondary coolant terminates at heat exchangers within the cabinet for transfer of heat to a third and final coolant, on an external loop, taking the heat away for external cooling or reuse.

The high efficiency of the system means that the output water can reach temperatures of up to 50 deg C, which can be used for heating and other uses.

The Iceotope system uses just 80W of power to harvest the heat from up to 20kW of ICT use. The server also does away with the need for ancillary data centre facilities such as computer room air conditioning units, humidity control systems and air purification.