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.
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