Innovation

It is a well-known fact that data centers consume electricity and emit heat. Beyond a certain temperature, they cease to function. They must therefore be cooled at all times.

The only cooling system used to date is air conditioning. Data centers are installed in racks through which a continuous stream of air flows to absorb the heat emitted by the electronic components. The air is subsequently cooled in cooling units.

These conventional data centers are complex and consume large amounts of energy because they involve several thermodynamic systems. The idea underpinning Immersion 4 is to directly trap the heat emitted by electronic components.

How does the technology work?

Electronic boards are submerged in sealed compartments containing a special dielectric fluid. Because heat exchange via this fluid is more efficient than heat exchange via air, its temperature rises only slightly. It is itself cooled by a tiny compressor the size of a household refrigerator.

The system keeps servers at 37° while consuming only a few tens of Watts. Its electricity cost is only 2% of that of a conventional cooling system involving an air conditioning rack and fans.

Immersion4 has now gone beyond the prototype stage; it has signed a partnership agreement with Hewlett Packard that guarantees the operation of the servers when using the Immersion4 system.

Click here to watch the Immersion4 video.