Iceotope, specialists in immersion cooling, study In the wake of a series of tests completed on one of Meta’s (Facebook), we share the results. data centerThis study carefully examined the pros and cons of precision single-phase immersion cooling in companies with high-density data storage servers. Iceotope says the results are “conclusive” and that this cooling method is a superior solution compared to air cooling and other forms of liquid cooling such as cold plates, tank immersion or two-stage immersion. claim to have proven it.
HDDs are still in high demand in data centers, and Seagate says 90% of cloud storage uses this mechanical magnetic storage technology. At the same time, consumer demand for higher bitrate content and the creation of new storage-hungry content (photos, videos, etc.) will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. Therefore, optimizing storage facilities with respect to reliability, efficiency, and total cost of ownership (TCO) is critical for companies like Meta, which he partnered with Iceotope for this study.
In our tests, a standard air-cooled commercial storage system with 72 HDDs and supporting components was redesigned and operated with Iceotope’s precision single-phase immersion cooling. Specifically, the modified system used a dedicated dielectric loop connected to a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger and pump. Single-phase cooling is much simpler than two-phase cooling, where the coolant boils from a liquid to a gas, travels to the condenser, and then returns to the system (hence two-phase cooling). Instead of being single-phase, the coolant simply flows through the hot and cold regions of the loop, doing its job without phase change.
Iceotope’s test team made four main observations. First, the 72 HDDs exhibit very little temperature variation (only 3°C) no matter where they are placed in the server array. It’s important to emphasize that the storage array used sealed helium-filled HDDs. Second, liquid temperatures can rise to a manageable 40°C without impacting reliability. Third, the power consumption of the cooling system was less than 5% of his total system. Finally, I noticed that single-phase precision cooling is virtually silent and vibration-free.
Collectively, these benefits result in improved TCO figures and increased reliability of storage hardware. Thanks to its obvious advantages, Iceotope’s solutions also help companies in their environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulatory assessments.
Of course, this is a study conducted by the company that sells this service. So take it with a few grains of salt. And let big companies like Meta shoulder the costs of conversion and cooling for at least a few years before you decide it’s worth liquid cooling your media collection currently stored on NAS drives.
