A novel data center free radiating system driven by waste heat and wind energy system (DCFRWWs) and its operation performance analysis

Abstract

Refrigeration equipment for data centers consumes a significant portion of global electricity, resulting in high Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) values and increased entropy of the data center. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel data center free radiating system driven by waste heat and wind energy (DCFRWWs). This approach recovers low-grade heat energy from the hot air heated by the central processing units (CPUs) and transform it into work. Unlike conventional cooling systems, the DCFRWWs do not require additional energy to meet CPU cooling demands and can effectively suppress the entropy increase of the data center. The Bernoulli equation was used to establish the mathematical model for DCFRWWs, which explained the underlying mechanisms of pipeline wind speed and the influence of ambient wind speed and pipeline inlet temperature on system operating characteristics. In addition, this study employed pipeline height and diameter as decision variables, while maximizing exergy efficiency served as the optimization objective. To obtain the optimal pipeline size (height and diameter) that is effective under real-world experimental conditions, the optimization calculations were conducted using weather data from Qinhuangdao. To verify the reliability and accuracy of the model, an experimental system was constructed, and the simulation results indicated that the relative error rates for the three key parameters are as follows: pipeline wind speed (33.09%), pipeline inlet temperature (0.59%), and CPU temperature (3.85%). A single factor analysis was performed on 14 different operating conditions to analyze the operating characteristics of the DCFRWWs. Moreover, the applicability verification conducted in three distinct cities across different regions suggest that the system is indeed suitable for diverse settings. The DCFRWW system, utilizing the dual forces of the chimney effect of waste hot air in pipelines and the extraction force generated by unpowered roof ventilator, achieves the objective of free heat dissipation. Furthermore, the DCFRWWs can not only be applied in the field of data center cooling but also serves as a thermodynamic reference for low-grade waste heat recovery in other sectors, thereby further expanding the scope of direct utilization of wind energy.