Today, computer cooling consumes even more power than the hardware itself. Conventional cooling systems are based on fans located on heatsinks (products of high thermal conductivity) that expel the received heat to the outside. These are generally costly, ineffective and polluting, so researchers are developing alternative methods, notably the flow of water to the heart of the equipment.
The Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ), in collaboration with IBM, has developed thefirst commercial supercomputer cooled through water channels similar to the human circulatory system. This technology began to be developed in the 1960s, but it is the first time that it has been implemented in complex architectures. It is present in the largest European computer, the “SuperMUC” andit allows to maintain a temperature lower than 45º C and to spend 40 percent less.
The prototype rescued by IBM is a firm alternative to air-cooled systems and the excessive expense in electricity that involves the use of fans and low-temperature rooms. Its hot water cooling system is based on a closed circuit that circulates water at 45 degrees Celsius cooling the processors and memory modules. IBM has retaken this technology due to its advantages over other systems, sincewater absorbs heat 4,000 times better than air.
The researchers predict that this cooling system will make it possible to manufacture more powerful supercomputers and reduce their size to that of a desktop computer, and that its development will provide very valuable information in relation to human blood flow.
