Performance of a hybrid thermosyphon condenser for cooling a typical data center under various climatic constraints

Abstract

• Hybrid thermosyphon condenser is investigated for cooling data center. • Cooling capacity of the passive loop is 2900 W at ambient temperature of 10 °C. • Cooling capacity is 3000 W with thermosyphon condenser cooled by sea water at 23 °C. • Annual energy saving could be reach 54% using hybrid thermosyphon condenser. This article presents experimental and analytical studies of thermosyphon loop with hybrid condenser for cooling data center under various climatic constraints. Two cooling modes are investigated: the passive cooling mode using only the thermosyphon loop without electrical consumption and the hybrid cooling mode using the pumped sea water to cool the condenser of the thermosyphon. Experiments are conducted under various operating conditions to show the influence of the selected parameters on the cooling capacity. Several cooling systems are compared: two different condensers, phase change materials are added in the form of internal plates fixed on the interior walls of the data center and finally the cooling mode of the condenser is also changed. The results show that the passive thermosyphon loop cooling capacity is 1750 W for ambient temperature at 23 °C and it increased to 2900 W at 10 °C. The cooling capacity is extended to 3000 W by using the thermosyphon with the condenser cooled by the sea water at 23 °C. The thermosyphon loop with a hybrid cooling condenser is investigated annually as the cooling system of a chosen typical data center in seven French coastal cities. The results show that the passive thermosyphon loop is generally more powerful for cooling data center in winter. In summer, the use of the sea water cooling of the condenser is required. Taking into account the climatic constraints, the annual energy saving can reach 54% using the combination of the passive and the hybrid thermosyphon condenser.