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New Measurement Method for Direct Cooled Power Electronic with Transmission Fluids

Power Electronic (PE) will play an essential role in future drive concepts. Nowadays, mainly water/glycol-based cooling media are used to cool PE. Due to their high electrical conductivity (EC), water/glycol-based coolants cannot be used for direct cooling of the electrical components. Direct cooling concepts with dedicated transmission fluids show potential usage of fluid in direct contact with electrified parts. This results in special requirements for the fluids and materials. The aimed action as a coolant requires a defined measurement and characterization of fluid properties and heat transfer in order to assess the cooling ability of a fluid. The purpose of the work was to develop a new measurement setup based on the thermal transient method with which the thermal requirements of cooling fluids for a direct cooling concept can be assessed. With this method, relevant transmission fluids have been tested and the thermal performance compared to indirect cooling effect of water/glycol is discussed. The result of the work is that the measurement method is very well suited for the application-related evaluation of the fluids. Direct oil cooling with transmission fluids could increase heat transfer coefficient by a factor of 3 to 8, compared to the indirect cooing with water/glycol as cooling media.

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Techno-Economic and Sustainability Analysis of Potential Cooling Methods in Irish Data Centres

11% of Irish electricity was consumed by data centres in 2020. The Irish data centre industry and the cooling methods utilised require reformative actions in the coming years to meet EU Energy policies. The resell of heat, alternative cooling methods or carbon reduction methods are all possibilities to conform to these policies. This study aims to determine the viability of the resell of waste heat from data centres both technically and economically. This was determined using a novel application of thermodynamics to determine waste heat recovery potential in Irish data centres, and the current methods of heat generation for economical comparison. This paper also explores policy surrounding waste heat recovery within the industry. The Recoverable Carnot Equivalent Power (RCEP) is theoretically calculated for the three potential cooling methods for Irish data centres. These are air, hybrid, and immersion cooling techniques. This is the maximum useable heat that can be recovered from a data centre rack. This study is established under current operating conditions which are optimised for cooling performance, that air cooling has the highest potential RCEP of 0.39 kW/rack. This is approximately 8% of the input electrical power that can be captured as useable heat. Indicating that Irish data centres have the energy potential to be heat providers in the Irish economy. This study highlighted the technical and economic aspects of prevalent cooling techniques and determined air cooling heat recovery cost can be reduced to 0.01 €/kWhth using offsetting. This is financially competitive with current heating solutions in Ireland.

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Optimal Thermal Insulation Thickness in Isolated Air-Conditioned Buildings and Economic Analysis

The removal building heat load and electrical power consumption by air conditioning system are proportional to the outside conditions and solar radiation intensity. Building construction materials has substantial effects on the transmission heat through outer walls, ceiling and glazing windows. Good thermal isolation for buildings is important to reduce the transmitted heat and consumed power. The buildings models are constructed from common materials with 0 - 16 cm of thermal insulation thickness in the outer walls and ceilings, and double-layers glazing windows. The building heat loads were calculated for two types of walls and ceiling with and without thermal insulation. The cooling load temperature difference method, CLTD, was used to estimate the building heat load during a 24-hour each day throughout spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons. The annual cooling degree-day, CDD was used to estimate the optimal thermal insulation thickness and payback period with including the solar radiation effect on the outer walls surfaces. The average saved energy percentage in summer, spring, autumn and winter are 35.5%, 32.8%, 33.2% and 30.7% respectively, and average yearly saved energy is about of 33.5%. The optimal thermal insulation thickness was obtained between 7 - 12 cm and payback period of 20 - 30 month for some Egyptian Cities according to the Latitude and annual degree-days.

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