Study of flow and heat transfer characteristics of tandem cold plates for data center cooling

IF 6.4 2区工程技术 Q1 THERMODYNAMICS

Case Studies in Thermal Engineering Pub Date : 2025-06-27 DOI:10.1016/j.csite.2025.106590

Jinbo Li, Xue Luo, Man Wang, Chaowei Chen, Chen Yang, Zheng Zhang, Gongming Xin

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Abstract

As data center chip power densities increase, liquid-cooling cold plates have gained widespread attention for their superior thermal management performance. This study systematically analyzes the thermal-hydraulic performance of tandem cold plates with different combination modes through numerical simulations and experimental validation. Results indicate that LCP2 (cold plate with narrow channel width) reduces thermal resistance (Rt) by 29 % compared to LCP1 (cold plate with wide channel width) but increases pressure drop (ΔP) by 141 %. The LCP1+2 tandem mode combining a primary cold plate LCP1 and a secondary cold plate LCP2 achieves optimal thermal performance, which has a 3.49 °C reduction in the maximum chip temperature (Tmax), 15 % lower total thermal resistance (Rt, total), and twofold improvement in thermal performance index (TPI) compared to LCP1+1 mode (two LCP1 tandem). In addition, as inlet temperature or load rate rises, increasing the flow rate can effectively reduce the temperature difference between two CPUs and improve system temperature uniformity. The deviation between the simulated data and the experimental data is within 2.32 %, confirming the accuracy of the model. This work offers valuable insights for improving the cooling efficiency and thermal uniformity of liquid cooling systems, ensuring safe and reliable operation in high-performance data center environments.

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数据中心冷却用串联冷板的流动和传热特性研究

随着数据中心芯片功率密度的增加，液冷冷板因其优越的热管理性能而受到广泛关注。通过数值模拟和实验验证，系统分析了不同组合方式的串联冷板的热工性能。结果表明，与LCP1（宽通道宽度的冷板）相比，LCP2（窄通道宽度的冷板）减少了29%的热阻（Rt），但增加了141%的压降（ΔP）。LCP1+2串联模式结合主冷板LCP1和副冷板LCP2实现了最佳的热性能，与LCP1+1模式（两个LCP1串联）相比，最大芯片温度（Tmax）降低了3.49°C，总热阻（Rt, total）降低了15%，热性能指数（TPI）提高了两倍。此外，随着入口温度或负载率的升高，增大流量可以有效减小两个cpu之间的温差，提高系统温度均匀性。模拟数据与实验数据的偏差在2.32%以内，验证了模型的准确性。为提高液冷系统的冷却效率和热均匀性，确保高性能数据中心环境下的安全可靠运行提供了有价值的见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Case Studies in Thermal Engineering Chemical Engineering-Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

CiteScore

8.60

自引率

11.80%

发文量

812

审稿时长

76 days

期刊介绍： Case Studies in Thermal Engineering provides a forum for the rapid publication of short, structured Case Studies in Thermal Engineering and related Short Communications. It provides an essential compendium of case studies for researchers and practitioners in the field of thermal engineering and others who are interested in aspects of thermal engineering cases that could affect other engineering processes. The journal not only publishes new and novel case studies, but also provides a forum for the publication of high quality descriptions of classic thermal engineering problems. The scope of the journal includes case studies of thermal engineering problems in components, devices and systems using existing experimental and numerical techniques in the areas of mechanical, aerospace, chemical, medical, thermal management for electronics, heat exchangers, regeneration, solar thermal energy, thermal storage, building energy conservation, and power generation. Case studies of thermal problems in other areas will also be considered.