Oil baths: A better way to keep computers cool?

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By Greg Crowe
 

Connecting state and local government leaders

By Greg Crowe

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Intel test finds dunking servers in mineral oil can cut power consumption.

In the 1977 movie “Star Wars,” the droid C3P0 is lowered into a vat of oil for maintenance. In fact, one of the few non-complaint opinions he expresses in all of the movies was how good that oil bath was going to feel. Well, he may have been on to something.

Intel has been looking into new ways to keep computers cool, and one of them seems to have paid off after a year-long test. The company recruited Green Revolution Cooling, based in Austin, Texas, to make a rack that would submerge servers in mineral oil. Since the oil doesn’t conduct electricity, it makes for a good coolant.

But several modifications need to be done before you can go around dunking an off-the-shelf rack-mounted computer. The fans need to be removed, hard drives need to be either solid state or completely encased, and the processor’s heat sink should be designed for liquid, rather than air, cooling.

Also, you can’t just add a memory module or replace a component on a whim. The server needs to be pulled out of the tank and the oil drained first. And you have to be super-clean when working with the oil, because enough foreign particles could start to conduct electricity, shorting out everything. After a while, these precautions should become second-nature, though.

And the result — cutting power consumption for servers by 10 percent to 15 percent and for cooling equipment by about 90 percent — could be worth the effort.

NEXT STORY: Panasonic soups up the Toughbook 19

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