As a space heater, an IBM supercomputer is found to double its use with a technique that dramatically lowers carbon footprint and energy use for up to 40 percent.
Named as Aquasar, the liquid-cooled computer from Swiss University ETH Zurich was tested on Thursday. It started analysing fluid dynamics as it simultaneously gave heat to the building, which only used half of the energy for cooling.
IBM and ETH Zurich researchers are monitoring the system that consists of two IBM BladeCenter servers, which are capable of computing six teraflops. For the following days, they would gather data from the system’s energy performance to prove that liquid-cooled computers can exist, said an IBM representative.
The system’s core is a liquid-cooled processor and at its back are small pipelines called microchannel coolers. Each pipeline is connected to several pipes on the rack and liquid networks.
Unlike other air-cooled computers, supercomputer Aquasar does not need the common chillers to dissipate heat. The water that circulates inside the processor cools it and then flows to the under-floor radiant heating system of the building. The heat of the water is then removed by the heat exchanger and cool water flows to the servers.
The use of waste heat coming from data centres to warm buildings is now done in some places. To show the potential of processor-level liquid cooling, the IBM-ETH Zurich made the project.
IBM calculates that the liquid-cooled system uses only 60 percent of energy compared to air-cooled servers. The room heating will also decrease the carbon footprint by about 85 percent.
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That’s a decades reality in Switzerland. Using devices heating to warm offices and buildings is the future