On 12/28/2011 11:17 AM, Lux, Jim (337C) wrote: > > On 12/28/11 7:40 AM, "Prentice Bisbal"<prent...@ias.edu> wrote: > >> There has been a company at the SC conferences for the past 3 years >> trying to sell exactly that (server cooling by submersion in mineral >> oil) for the past 3 years. >> >> In my opinion it, suffers from a few major problems: >> >> 1. It's messy. If you every have to take hardware out of the oil to >> repair/replace, it's messy. The oil could drip all over, creating safety >> hazards. And if you need to remove a hardware component from a server, >> good luck! Now that everything is oily and slippery, there definitely >> will be a problem with that hard drive once it flies out of your hands, >> even if there wasn't a problem with it before! >> >> 2. The weight of the mineral oil. Despite the density of current 1-U and >> blade systems, I still think that air makes up a not-significant >> percentage of volume of the full rack. Fill that space with a liquid >> like mineral oil, and I'm sure you double, triple, or maybe even >> quadruple the weight load on your datacenter's raised floor. >> >> > I've worked quite a lot with oil insulation in the high voltage world. > Prentice's comments (particularly #1) are spot on. > > ALL oil filled equipment that is designed for servicing leaks. ALL. > Maybe it's just a fine oil film on the outside, maybe it's a puddle on the > floor, but it all leaks. (Exception.. Things that are welded closed with > oil inside, but that's not serviceable) > > When you do remove the equipment from the tank, yes, it drips, and it's a > mess. Slipperyness isn't as big a problem.. You lift the stuff out of > the tank, and let is sit for a long while while it drips back into the > tank. Pick a real low viscosity oil (good for other reasons) and it's > not too bad. The problem is that there is some nook or cranny that retains > oil because of its orientation or capillary effects, and that oil comes > oozing/spilling out later. > > Fluorinert is a different story (albeit hideously more expensive than > oil). It's very low viscosity, has low capillary attraction, etc. and > will (if chosen properly) evaporate. Equipment that cools by ebullient > (boiling) Fluorinert cleans up very nicely, because the boiling point is > chosen to be quite low. > > > I'm not sure I'd be plunging a disk drive into oil. Most drive cases I've > seen have a vent plug. Maybe the holes are small enough so that the oil > molecules don't make it through, but air does, but temperature cycling is > going to force oil into the case eventually.
Jim would you plunge an SSD in there? So you wouldnt advise using mineral oil like the video shows? > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
