Actually, it looks like Joule-Thompson cooling to me (Especially
given the "Joule Force" name). You've got the air intake (ambient),
then an expansion nozzle, into a low-pressure region, which is
created by the fan at the end. So the outlet velocity of the air (and
thus it's kinetic energy) is higher than the inlet velocity, which
would lower the internal energy, and thus the temperature. Instead
the fins/nozzle/heatsink transfer heat to the expanding gas, which
exits a little above ambient temperature. I imagine the drawback is
you really need to get rid of that high velocity hot air, and can't
recirculate it, or the kinetic energy would be converted back to
thermal energy, and mess it all up. The descriptions do all involve
the exhaust air being ducted to the outside. This article has the
most technical detail:
https://www.nextplatform.com/2018/12/04/the-leading-edge-of-air-cooled-servers-leads-to-the-edge/
On Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 11:33 AM Prentice Bisbal via Beowulf
<beowulf@beowulf.org <mailto:beowulf@beowulf.org>> wrote:
You all know how much I like talking about heat transfer and
server cooling, so I decided to do some research on this product:
Here's their website:
https://forcedphysics.com
and here's their YouTube channel with 5 videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClwWeahYGuNl0THWVz1Hyow/videos
This is really nothing more than an air-cooled heatsink. I'm
afraid I'm going to have to call BS on this technology for the
following reasons:
1. It still uses air as the primary cooling medium. I just don't
think air has adequate thermal conductivity or thermal capacity
to serve modern processor, no matter what you do to it.
2. In the videos, they present highly idealized tests with no
control to use for comparison. How do I know I wouldn't get the
same results doing the same experiment but using a similar duct
fashioned out of sheet metal.
3. Using this technology means a complete redesign of your server
hardware and possibly your racks.
4. None of the information in the videos or on their website
really explains how this technology works, and what really
differentiates it from any other air-cooled heat sink. Most
people with a good invention are usually excited to tell you how
it works. Since they brag about 30 international patents for
this, there's no need to try to protect a trade secret.
5. This statement:
The fins work like teeth in a comb, neatly orienting air
molecules to point in the same direction and arranging them into
columns.
Based on my education, this statement seems to be completely
devoid of science.
This statement seems to defy the laws of physics. Last time I
checked, unless an atom or molecule is at absolute zero, it has
movement, whether it's spinning or vibrating, or both, so how can
they get air molecules to line up all in neat little rows, where
the molecules are all pointing the same way?
This also implies very laminar flow. As fluid velocity increases
that the diameter of the channel decreases, the Reynolds Number
increases. As the Reynold's number goes up, turbulence increases,
so mathematically, I would expect this flow to be tubulent, and
not laminar. From my classes on heat transfer, turbulent flow
around the heat transfer surface increases heat transfer, so
laminar flow in this case wouldn't be a good thing.
Until they can provide better comparisons with real servers in
real data center environments, I'm going to classify this as
"snake oil"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil
Prentice
On 1/24/19 3:54 PM, chuck_pet...@selinc.com
<mailto:chuck_pet...@selinc.com> wrote:
Well, this is interesting.
"According to Forced Physics’ <https://forcedphysics.com/
[forcedphysics.com]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__forcedphysics.com_&d=DwMFAw&c=-_uRSsrpJskZgEkGwdW-sXvhn_FXVaEGsm0EI46qilk&r=fawF3TRTwCqlaBkoLcxYCr4F4NRwCc64hmEgi9rHPpE&m=zr6lAlVphGxOQTXSElww9hGpqb9IZPik0_MN2v8Fqjs&s=lb4Hi9X8NKIYWe_e1RU3Cw4gr9Uz_B7n5pnCNY0ss3U&e=>>
chief technology officer, David Binger, the company’s conductor
can help a typical data center eliminate its need for water or
refrigerants and shrink its 22-MW load by 7.72 MW, which
translates to an annual reduction of 67.6 million kWh. That data
center could also save a total of US $45 million a year on
infrastructure, operating, and energy costs with the new system,
according to Binger. “We are solving the problem that electrons
create,” he said."
A Cooler Cloud: A Clever Conduit Cuts Data Centers’ Cooling
Needs by 90 Percent
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/a-cooler-cloud-a-clever-conduit-cuts-data-centers-cooling-needs-by-90-percent
[spectrum.ieee.org]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__spectrum.ieee.org_energy_environment_a-2Dcooler-2Dcloud-2Da-2Dclever-2Dconduit-2Dcuts-2Ddata-2Dcenters-2Dcooling-2Dneeds-2Dby-2D90-2Dpercent&d=DwMFAw&c=-_uRSsrpJskZgEkGwdW-sXvhn_FXVaEGsm0EI46qilk&r=fawF3TRTwCqlaBkoLcxYCr4F4NRwCc64hmEgi9rHPpE&m=zr6lAlVphGxOQTXSElww9hGpqb9IZPik0_MN2v8Fqjs&s=VuDTSuinKPMpF6NCztFZkSGOVo3LD7MLjroIj_sn0ao&e=>
Chuck Petras, PE**
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc
Pullman, WA 99163 USA
http://www.selinc.com <http://www.selinc.com/>
SEL Synchrophasors - A New View of the Power System
<http://synchrophasor.selinc.com <http://synchrophasor.selinc.com/>>
Making Electric Power Safer, More Reliable, and More Economical (R)
** Registered in Oregon.
_______________________________________________
Beowulf mailing list,Beowulf@beowulf.org <mailto:Beowulf@beowulf.org>
sponsored by Penguin Computing
To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe)
visithttp://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
_______________________________________________
Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org
<mailto:Beowulf@beowulf.org> sponsored by Penguin Computing
To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit
http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
