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Low-PUE Data Center Thermal Management

Efficient edge computing also needs efficient heat removal. In CAPE, the Embedded Micro Data Center (EMDC) is designed for a thermal load of about 4 kW in a compact footprint. CAPE therefore looks not only at cooling inside the system, but also at how heat can be removed or reused at building level.

 

Why cooling matters

  • Cooling can represent a significant part of the total energy demand of an edge computing system.
  • Even when heat is removed efficiently from components and modules, it still has to be transported out of the rack and out of the building.
  • CAPE explores solutions that can reduce cooling energy and improve overall system efficiency.

 

CAPE’s approach

Our concept is to integrate an evaporative & radiative cooling panel and heat reuse to reduce the chiller heat load and energy consumption.
The figure below shows our concept of a dual-loop cooling system in a data center.

  • Equipment-level loop: liquid cooling removes heat from high-power chips and modules inside the EMDC.

  • Building-level loop: heat is transferred to the facility side, where it can be rejected more efficiently by evaporative&radiative cooling panel or potentially reused.

1. Self-charging Evaporative-Radiative Cooling (SERaC)

SERaC is a passive cooling panel concept for the building-level loop:

  • Radiative cooling on the top side rejects heat to the cold space
  • Evaporative cooling on the bottom side increases cooling power
  • A hygroscopic hydrogel absorb moisture from the air and recharge the panel during nighttime
  • Aims for high cooling efficiency with net zero water consumption

2. Long-distance heat transfer for waste heat recovery

CAPE also studies how heat can be moved over longer distance in order to be reused instead of simple rejecting it to the ambient.

Benefits:

  • Lower cooling energy demand
  • Better use of waste heat
  • Improved overall energy efficiency at building level

 

Pulsating heat pipes (PHP) are promising because they:

  • Transfer heat efficiently using phase change
  • Can reduce temperature losses during heat transport
  • May support long-distance heat transfer with low auxiliary energy demand

Outlook

By combining efficient equipment cooling with improved building-level heat dissipation, CAPE aims to reduce cooling energy consumption and support more sustainable edge computing infrastructure.