Supercomputer gets super water-cooleda

@CrazyBoy • Oct 26, 2024

Oct 26, 2024

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I was just reading news on Web, came across the following news and thought would generate interest in CEan's to do something as innovative as this is. Posting the same:

Reference: #-Link-Snipped-#

Water as a coolant has the ability to capture heat about 4,000 times more efficiently than air, and its heat-transporting properties are also far superior. Chip-level cooling with a water temperature of approximately 60Â°C is sufficient to keep the chip at operating temperatures well below the maximally allowed 85Â°C. The high input temperature of the coolant results in an even higher-grade heat as an output, which in this case will be about 65Â°C.

The pipelines from the individual blades link to the larger network of the server rack, which in turn are connected to the main water transportation network. The water-cooled supercomputer will require about 10 litres of water for cooling, and a pump ensures a flow rate of roughly 30 litres per minute. The entire cooling system is a closed circuit: the cooling water is heated constantly by the chips and consequently cooled to the required temperature as it passes through a passive heat exchanger, thus delivering the removed heat directly to the heating system of the university in this experimental phase. This eliminates the need for today's energy-hungry chillers.

"Heat is a valuable commodity that we rely on and pay dearly for in our everyday lives. If we capture and transport the waste heat from the active components in a computer system as efficiently as possible, we can reuse it as a resource, thus saving energy and lowering carbon emissions. This project is a significant step towards energy-aware, emission-free computing and data centres," explained Bruno Michel, manager advanced thermal packaging at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory.

-CB

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ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 25, 2009

@CB: [FONT=&quot]preeminent [/FONT] article !

IBM is a Giant in IT Field. No other can beat it for the next decades I think

It is really an innovative idea to use the heat energy from the super computer. But I dont get an Idea how they can use that heat energy ..Because to cool the super computer , the observant water is used..then how they use that heat energy?
silverscorpion

@silverscorpion-iJKtdQ • Jun 26, 2009

Cool.. I especially liked the idea of reusing the stray heat to useful purposes.

Way to go, green computing!! 😁😁
shalini_goel14

@shalini-goel14-ASmC2J • Jun 26, 2009

Hey Good read!

I cannot see the link you gave - it is only for registered users 😔

Anyways as you mentioned, what mechanism they are using to cool that heated water ? Why they need water as a coolant ? I guess to be more eco-friendly - saving of water is also required .
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Jun 26, 2009

Water cooling is common among computer enthusiasts (might be some here on CE!), since its a lot better than air cooling when one wants to overclock the system. Good to see its being applied at large scale.

@ Shalini
try this link: #-Link-Snipped-#

@ ms_cs
The use of the heat is mentioned very briefly:

The entire cooling system is a closed circuit: the cooling water is heated constantly by the chips and consequently cooled to the required temperature as it passes through a passive heat exchanger, thus delivering the removed heat directly to the heating system of the university in this experimental phase. This eliminates the need for today's energy-hungry chillers.
haha, such a short mention! Also, as strong as IBM is.. HP is still quite formidable. In addition, they'll have very tough competition from Oracle's purchase of Sun, as well as Cisco recently joining the server game. Cisco has embarked on very ambitious plans (check out their CRS-1), so it'll be interesting to see what they can churn out.
silverscorpion

@silverscorpion-iJKtdQ • Jun 26, 2009

The link is working fine. You dont have to be registered.. Anyhow, the link's text is fully reproduced here. So, no probs.

And, You are not getting the point here..

Water as a coolant has more desirable properties than air. it's more efficient that air coolant. And, we are not wasting water by using it as a coolant. It's just going to be in the system only, na?

To cool the heated water, as mentioned, heat exchanger is used.The water takes heat from the computer chips and gives the heat to some other appliances..
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Jun 26, 2009

Actually.. theres 2 pages of the article 😛 I'll reproduce it here for convenience sake:

Long term team-up
The project is part of IBM's First-of-a-Kind program, which engages IBM's scientists with clients to explore and pilot emerging technologies that address real world business problems. It was made possible by the support of IBM Switzerland and the IBM Research and Development Laboratory in Boeblingen, Germany.

The liquid cooled supercomputer research is planned as a three-year collaborative research program called Direct Re-Use of Waste Heat from Liquid-Cooled Supercomputers: Towards Low Power, High Performance, Zero-Emission Computing and Datacenters, which is funded jointly mainly by IBM, ETH Zurich and the Swiss Competence Center for Energy and Mobility. Part of the system will be devoted to further research into cooling technologies and efficiencies by scientists of ETH Zurich, ETH Lausanne, the Swiss Competence Center for Energy and Mobility, and the IBM Zurich Research Lab.

The computational performance of Aquasar is a very important part of the research. Aquasar will be employed by the Computational Science and Engineering Lab of the Computer Science Department at ETH Zurich, for multiscale flow simulations pertaining to problems encountered at the interface of nanotechnology and fluid dynamics. Researchers from this laboratory will also optimize the efficiency with which the respective algorithms perform within the system, in collaboration with the IBM Zurich Lab. These activities will be supplemented with algorithms of other research labs participating in the project. With this supercomputer system, scientists intend to demonstrate that the ability to solve important scientific problems efficiently, does not need to have an adverse effect on the energy and environmental challenges facing humanity.
raj87verma88

@raj87verma88-ZpL2Wn • Jun 26, 2009

shalini_goel14
Hey Good read!

I cannot see the link you gave - it is only for registered users 😔

Anyways as you mentioned, what mechanism they are using to cool that heated water ? Why they need water as a coolant ? I guess to be more eco-friendly - saving of water is also required .
ms_cs
@CB: [FONT=&quot]preeminent [/FONT] article !

IBM is a Giant in IT Field. No other can beat it for the next decades I think

It is really an innovative idea to use the heat energy from the super computer. But I dont get an Idea how they can use that heat energy ..Because to cool the super computer , the observant water is used..then how they use that heat energy?

The water will be flowing in a closed circuit so there won't be any wastage. The water is just a medium to transfer heat energy from one point to other via a heat exchanger system. As the water gives up its heat via the heat exchanger, it will become cool and then will be heated again by the chips and the process continues.
silverscorpion

@silverscorpion-iJKtdQ • Jun 26, 2009

Yep. In simple words, it's just like a refrigerator. It uses a liquid coolant.
Same way, these super computers use water. It'll be circulating inside the circuit continuously and transfers heat from computer parts to the heat exchanger.
shalini_goel14

@shalini-goel14-ASmC2J • Jun 26, 2009

I don't how it was working for you people. I was getting following page on click of link.

Anyways Thanks Mr Ash for the full information and highlighting the line which I missed to read because of my habit of carelessness. Now cleared.

Thanks !
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 26, 2009

Thanks ash for the explanation.
I am still in confusion, how they use that heat for any other useful purposes
skipper

@skipper-wJtaxo • Jun 26, 2009

This is a good connection between thermodynamics as exchanges in a system and the "computational flow" improvements, the extension into algebraic space in time, as a lattice of switching nodes.
The architecture is the boundary of discrete states in the machine (M), or the structure's inner function has a heat boundary equivalent to the C-efficiency, an algorithmic "power output" at some level, distributed over the lattice.

Translate that into: build better "brains" in a more compact, thermodynamically efficient space = a "cortex"
kashish0711

@kashish0711-H4bbxV • Jun 27, 2009

Great article
but what will they be using the heat for, its not gonna be a huge amount of heat energy there.
It's like refrigerator in a closed vessel so no steam power involved(it wouldn't have been made anyway, at least not on a usable scale)
So what exactly are they attaching to extract the heat
the only thing that comes to my mind is may be they use it to keep a constant temperature at one end of a thermostat that can create electricity but again there will be not much amount of it so no real usage of that.
IDK what do you think?
or should we wait for their final product.
It's gonna be great if they do complete it. 😀
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 27, 2009

IDK means what?

Even after [FONT=&quot]Revealing[/FONT] any product, the company may kept the core workings as secret. You have to do reverse engineering 😉
kashish0711

@kashish0711-H4bbxV • Jun 27, 2009

ms_cs
IDK means what?

Even after [FONT=&quot]Revealing[/FONT] any product, the company may kept the core workings as secret. You have to do reverse engineering 😉
IDK - I don't know. It's an internet phrase lolz
yeah that's true, I would love to do that. 😁
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Jun 27, 2009

The temperature of the output water will be around 65[sup]o[/sup], so whatever uses will be based on that level. Other than using it for the university's heating system, what other methods could you guys think of?

Perhaps, it can be used for incubation purposes? or maintaining food in the canteen so they will always be warm?

or would you go to the more sophisticated means like heat engines?
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 27, 2009

ash
The temperature of the output water will be around 65[sup]o[/sup], so whatever uses will be based on that level. Other than using it for the university's heating system, what other methods could you guys think of?

Perhaps, it can be used for incubation purposes? or maintaining food in the canteen so they will always be warm?

or would you go to the more sophisticated means like heat engines?

Does it means that the temperature emitted from the super computer, is 65[sup]o[/sup]?
Rohan_sK

@rohan-sk-7ZbDkK • Jun 27, 2009

The idea is quite nice, but Reusing waste heat energy is quite common practice.

The heat can be used for preheating the water in boilers for steam production in laundries in the university, in the college kitchen, or warm water in restrooms, etc.

But the key will be the tempreature of the water leaving the supercomputer and an effective HeatExchanger.
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Jun 27, 2009

ms_cs
Does it means that the temperature emitted from the super computer, is 65[sup]o[/sup]?
Nope, actual temperatures are a lot higher.. and depends on load I suppose. Only water flowing out is estimated to be 65. They must have already set a certain speed of water already to come out with that value.

Its like blowing the hot tea to cool it down. If you put your hand on the opposite side of the cup, you can feel the heated vapour.. but the temperature is still lower than the actual temperature of the hot tea. (alright, admittedly bad example.. but similar concept 😉 )
kashish0711

@kashish0711-H4bbxV • Jun 28, 2009

ash
(alright, admittedly bad example.. but similar concept 😉 )
lolz good you said that coz I did understand the concept you explained but didn't understand even one word of the example lol 😁 haha

jk
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 28, 2009

...one seminar conducted by IBM, One student from tamilnadu, asked this question. They simply replied as, " It is now underresearch " and they presented a T-Shirt for him for "Good Questions"😁 . They did not leaked a single word about that project.😡

Certainly, they will not generate electricity😉
kashish0711

@kashish0711-H4bbxV • Jun 28, 2009

ms_cs
...one seminar conducted by IBM, One student from tamilnadu, asked this question. They simply replied as, " It is now underresearch " and they presented a T-Shirt for him for "Good Questions"😁 . They did not leaked a single word about that project.😡

Certainly, they will not generate electricity😉
what were the questions??
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 28, 2009

The seminar was about the super computing. The question is about the reusage of waste heat energy. "How can we reuse that heat energy", "How much amount of heat.."
kashish0711

@kashish0711-H4bbxV • Jun 28, 2009

ms_cs
The seminar was about the super computing. The question is about the reusage of waste heat energy. "How can we reuse that heat energy", "How much amount of heat.."
great minds with great questions. 😀
Thanks for the info ;-)
gohm

@gohm-F3UUpP • Jun 28, 2009

How about upgrading to chemical cooling?
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 28, 2009

kashish0711
great minds with great questions. 😀
Thanks for the info ;-)
If you were that faculty,what will be your answer for the questions
ms_cs

@ms-cs-Ab8svl • Jun 28, 2009

gohm
How about upgrading to chemical cooling?
I don;t know much about that...chemical ice packs can be used, Correct me If I am wrong...
kashish0711

@kashish0711-H4bbxV • Jun 28, 2009

ms_cs
If you were that faculty,what will be your answer for the questions
If I were
hm.. then he would have got a better prize rofl
Ok, IDK may be I don't have the experience required to answer those questions 😉
jhbalaji

@jhbalaji-AH60JJ • Jul 25, 2009

Yeah it may be since it may produce large amount of heat...