Research on Heat Transfer Performance of Micro-Channel Backplane Heat Pipe Air Conditioning System in Data Center

Liping Zeng,Huan Su,Xianglong Liu,Quan Zhang,Xing Liu,Jun Yi

doi:10.3390/app10020583

Liping Zeng, Huan Su + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app10020583

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Abstract

This paper deals with the heat transfer performance of a micro-channel backplane heat pipe air conditioning system. The optimal range of the filling rate of a micro-channel backplane heat pipe air conditioning system was determined in the range of 65–75%, almost free from the interference of working conditions. Then, the influence of temperature and air volume flow rate on the heat exchange system were studied. The system maximum heat exchange is 7000–8000 W, and the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the evaporator and the condenser is almost 0 °C. Under the optimum refrigerant filling rate, the heat transfer of the micro-channel heat pipe backplane system is approximately linear with the temperature difference between the inlet air temperature of the evaporator and the cooling distribution unit (CDU) inlet water temperature in the range of 18–28 °C. The last part compares the heat transfer characteristics of two refrigerants at different filling rates. The heat transfer, pressure, and refrigerant temperature of R134a and R22 are the same with the change of filling rate, but the heat transfer of R134a is lower than that of R22. The results are of great significance for the operational control and practical application of a backplane heat pipe system.

Highlights

Given the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, communication, big data, Internet, finance, e-commerce, e-government, and other data-driven methods, the role of data centers will become more prominent
As a new type of separated heat pipe, the micro-channel backplane heat pipe system is a kind of efficient heat exchange element which uses the temperature difference to drive the phase change heat exchange of refrigerant
Ling [6,7] carried out experiments on the micro-channel separated heat pipe system for a base station, and the results showed that under different indoor conditions, the cooling capacity and energy efficiency ratio (EER) of the system increased with the increase of indoor and outdoor temperature difference

Summary

Introduction

Given the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, communication, big data, Internet, finance, e-commerce, e-government, and other data-driven methods, the role of data centers will become more prominent. Finding more efficient ways to operate them is essential [1]. From 2013 to 2018, the scale of China’s data center has grown nearly three times, with an average annual growth rate of more than 30%. By 2019, the scale of China’s data center market will reach. US $21.81 billion, accounting for 30.1% of the global total scale. Compared with the global market, the size of the data center market increased from US $28.44 billion in 2013 to US $62.6 billion in 2018, with a compound growth rate of only 17.1% [2]. As data center equipment is intensive and energy consumption is high, data room designers and equipment manufacturers are actively seeking various technical means to reduce power consumption and improve energy efficiency. As a new type of separated heat pipe, the micro-channel backplane heat pipe system is a kind of efficient heat exchange element which uses the temperature difference to drive the phase change heat exchange of refrigerant

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Conclusion