The technology is making processors smaller but at the same time this phenomenon has also led to increasing energy densities in  data centers. This obviously means that more cooling air is required to suck out greater amounts of heat from smaller spaces which means having more sophisticated cooling arrangements.

This is not helpful in terms of energy efficiency from a higher perspective. So what is the solution to this "Catch 22" situation? According to IBM expert Roger Schmidt, the real solution to this could lie in the use of liquid cooling systems which could either minimize with the fans since he describes the fans as power-pigs.

Yet Schmidt also realizes at the same time that it would not be practical to totally get rid of fan systems as the current distributed systems have complicated cooling requirements due to a heterogenic mix of systems and requirements.

Whatever be the future of technology, room air conditioning systems for data center are here to stay at least for the foreseeable future, and the number of fans would not decrease rapidly, and their ardent fans certainly should be happy about this.

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written by HarrisonRose , January 29, 2010

This trend has been building for years. Now, the Green movement, and the cost of energy has made it essential to look beyond fans for electronic cooling. In 1992, I co-founded with John Sokol, Nisvara Inc., which developed a new approach to the problem with a combination of new materials based passive conductive path to a safe water pass-through cooling plate. The resulting 1U server with the cooling system for each unit of additional energy added to the simple pump and air exchange part of the total system actually saved bout 4.3 units of energy consumption from the total system (the server running a 100% capacity and the fluid transport with exchange). The company has ceased operations, but the technology is available for a next generation with help. BTW, the resulting servers were sealed, silent and dustless.

Harrison Rose
Silicon Valley

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