Ning Chang, Qin Xiaoning: Adding Inclusive Liquid Cooling Technology to Promote Green Transformation of Data Centers

Global Network Technology Reporter Zheng XiangqiAs the "base" of the digital economy, China's data center development has entered a "fast lane" in recent years. According to the Digital China Development Report (2022), as of the end of 2022, the total scale of data center racks in China exceeded 6

Global Network Technology Reporter Zheng XiangqiAs the "base" of the digital economy, China's data center development has entered a "fast lane" in recent years. According to the Digital China Development Report (2022), as of the end of 2022, the total scale of data center racks in China exceeded 6.5 million standard racks, with an average annual growth rate of over 30% in the past five years.

Data centers are also major energy consumers, especially in the current era of the booming big model race, where massive data throughput and computation pose unprecedented challenges in energy consumption and cooling. According to the "14th Five Year Plan" for the Development of the Information and Communication Industry, by 2025, the computing power of national data centers will reach 3.3 times that of 2020. At the intersection of digitization and low-carbon, how to promote the green development of the data center industry has become a major issue at present.

The top-level design has indicated the direction for energy conservation and consumption reduction in the data center. The "Three Year Action Plan for the Development of New Data Centers (2021-2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") proposes to support the application of green technology, green products, and clean energy, and comprehensively improve the energy utilization efficiency of new data centers. By the end of 2023, the PUE of newly built large and above data centers will be reduced to below 1.3, and efforts will be made to reduce it to below 1.25 in severe and cold regions.

An Important Path to Greenization of Liquid Cooled Data Centers

Wu Xiaohui, Director of the Engineering Department of the Data Center of China Architecture Standards Design and Research Institute, believes that in order to achieve green and low-carbon development, data centers should grasp the three key points of reasonable location selection, improving energy efficiency, and optimizing energy use. From the perspective of improving energy efficiency and optimizing energy consumption, the refrigeration system, which accounts for a significant proportion of energy consumption in various components of the data center, has enormous energy-saving potential. With its outstanding advantages in carbon reduction, liquid cooling will become one of the important refrigeration technology directions.

It is reported that compared to traditional air cooling systems, liquid cooling systems replace air cooling by cooling liquid, which can better meet the requirements of high-precision chip level refrigeration in high-density cabinets, and have advantages such as more energy saving, land saving, and low noise. The Plan also emphasizes the strong promotion of the creation, operation, and renovation of green data centers, and encourages the application of efficient refrigeration systems such as liquid cooling. According to the prediction of CCID Consulting, the Market penetration of China's liquid cooling data center is expected to reach more than 20% in 2025.

However, at present, the industrialization of liquid cooling technology still has a long way to go. Currently, the demand for AI servers has significantly increased, but 80% to 90% of data centers still use air-cooled cooling. Despite frequent energy-saving policies in data centers and a decrease in liquid cooling investment costs, there are still multiple difficulties in upgrading liquid cooling, and the problems in different industries are also different. "Ning Chang President Qin Xiaoning told reporters.

Specifically, in terms of technical difficulty, the transition from air cooling to liquid cooling involves comprehensive technologies such as complex component liquid cooling adaptation and leakage reliability, with high technical requirements. In terms of construction cycle, liquid cooling upgrade involves multiple links such as building and space renovation, with weak industrial chain synergy and long implementation time. In addition, the high initial construction cost is also a pain point that some users are more concerned about. According to industry calculations, the initial construction cost of liquid cooled data centers is currently about 10% higher than that of air cooled ones, and it takes 1.5 years to achieve a balance between total cost of ownership and investment return.

Qin Xiaoning also revealed that for "just in need" users such as the internet, scientific research and education, finance, and operators, they also pay great attention to the ability of full stack modularity when transforming data centers. The implementation of a liquid cooling solution not only involves a specific server or GPU, but also requires a full stack transformation. Therefore, it is best to have a standardized and modular solution that can be used directly, which can more conveniently help users reduce data center PUE

Lowering the threshold for data center liquid cooling upgrades

Against this industry background, Ningchang recently launched the "worry free liquid renewal plan" to help data centers lower the threshold for liquid cooling upgrades and achieve synchronous upgrades of green and computing efficiency. It is understood that the plan covers three versions to accurately meet the differentiated needs of various users.

Among them, for users who cannot be deployed on a large scale, Ningchang can help users achieve liquid cooling transformation and upgrading of liquid cooling cabinets within air-cooled server nodes. Zhao Lei, CTO of Ningchang, said, "This plan can eliminate the need for computer room deployment and be completed within 24 hours. Compared to the same model of new machines, the cost is reduced by 90% and the performance is improved by 10%

For users with a strong demand for liquid cooling, Ningchang provides a full stack liquid cooling modular solution. Based on this version, Ningchang can achieve full infrastructure customization, and through modular prefabrication and modular combination, customers from different industries can match according to their needs, achieving optimal TCO.

In addition, for users with high energy conservation needs and ample budgets, Ningchang can provide a full system solution for immersed liquid cooling. Zhao Lei stated that this plan can achieve a 20% performance improvement in the data center and a 30% energy-saving optimization by upgrading the immersion liquid cooling server and its related supporting facilities.

It is worth mentioning that behind this plan, it is inseparable from the systematic support of Ningchang throughout the entire service cycle of research and development, production, operation and maintenance. According to Qin Xiaoning, in recent years, in order to accelerate the green development of data centers, Ningchang has continuously increased its liquid cooling layout. At present, with the support of this system, Ningchang liquid cooling technology can cover servers such as general-purpose, artificial intelligence, and high-density, and exert its effectiveness in more application scenarios.

In terms of delivery, Ningchang has fully standardized the liquid cooled cooling components, which can cover various servers and infrastructure. After being prefabricated in the factory, they can be installed in the computer room, thereby improving delivery speed. At the same time, Ningchang can also provide progressive solution services for various stages including air cooling, air liquid mixing, and full liquid cooling, as well as collaborative management from the primary side to the secondary side, making data center iteration smoother and operation and maintenance more convenient.

The inclusive use of liquid cooling technology has become an inevitable trend, "Qin Xiaoning said. In the face of growing market demand, Ningchang will further help industry users solve practical upgrading problems, promote the transition from" luxury "to" inclusive "liquid cooling, and accelerate the green transformation process of data centers.

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