Intel tests oil-based system for cooling computer servers
SEP 07, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026321
New York Times : Intel has just completed a one-year-long trial of an alternative server cooling system that involved submerging the computers in a specially designed oil bath. The oil, which does not conduct electricity, can conduct heat more efficiently than air does, and Intel’s test revealed that the oil didn’t damage the computer hardware either. Fans and other standard computer cooling systems account for approximately 50% of the electricity needed to run large-scale data centers. And data centers, which use an estimated 1.5% of all the electricity produced worldwide, generate 188 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Green Revolution Cooling, the company Intel worked with for its testing, estimates that oil cooling systems can reduce the electrical usage data centers 10â20%.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
