Liquid cooling

Last updated March 13, 2024

Liquid cooling refers to cooling by means of the convection or circulation of a liquid.

Applications

Computing

In computing and electronics, liquid cooling involves the technology that uses a special water block to conduct heat away from the processor as well as the chipset.^[1] This method can also be used in combination with other traditional cooling methods such as those that use air. The application to microelectronics is either indirect or direct. The former pertains to the category that utilizes cold plate cooling, which uses water as coolant while, in the latter (also referred to as liquid immersion cooling), the surface of the chips comes in contact with the liquid since there is no wall separating the heat source from the coolant.^[2] This immersion cooling also offer a higher transfer coefficient, although this depends on the specific coolant used and mode of convective heat transfer.^[3] One of the main benefits achieved is the reduction of noise and it is also more efficient.^[1] Some of the drawbacks include the risk entailed with the close proximity of liquid to electronics as well as its cost. Liquid cooling systems are more expensive than fan sets, which require less components such as reservoir, pump, water blocks, hose, and radiator.^[1]

HVAC

Liquid cooling is also used to remove heat from large buildings by using chillers which transfer the coolant from the evaporator to air handling units, chilled beams and fan coil units inside the building, and to the cooling towers from the condenser if the condenser is liquid-cooled. Some buildings are directly cooled by the cooling towers using plate heat exchangers transferring the heat from the chiller condenser loop to the evaporator loop. Convective heat transfer is used to cool the coolant if the building uses dry or closed-circuit cooling towers.

Related Research Articles

A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contact. They are widely used in space heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, power stations, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, natural-gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air. Another example is the heat sink, which is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant.

A radiator is a heat exchanger used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics.

A heat pipe is a heat-transfer device that employs phase transition to transfer heat between two solid interfaces.

Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non-toxic; however, it can contain impurities and cause corrosion.

A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream, to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or, in the case of dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature using radiators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiller</span> Machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via vapor compression

A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression, absorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another process stream. As a necessary by-product, refrigeration creates waste heat that must be exhausted to ambience, or for greater efficiency, recovered for heating purposes. Vapor compression chillers may use any of a number of different types of compressors. Most common today are the hermetic scroll, semi-hermetic screw, or centrifugal compressors. The condensing side of the chiller can be either air or water cooled. Even when liquid cooled, the chiller is often cooled by an induced or forced draft cooling tower. Absorption and adsorption chillers require a heat source to function.

Computer cooling is required to remove the waste heat produced by computer components, to keep components within permissible operating temperature limits. Components that are susceptible to temporary malfunction or permanent failure if overheated include integrated circuits such as central processing units (CPUs), chipsets, graphics cards, hard disk drives, and solid state drives.

A coolant is a substance, typically liquid, that is used to reduce or regulate the temperature of a system. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, chemically inert and neither causes nor promotes corrosion of the cooling system. Some applications also require the coolant to be an electrical insulator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermosiphon</span> Method of heat exchange in which convection drives pumpless circulation

Thermosiphon is a method of passive heat exchange, based on natural convection, which circulates a fluid without the necessity of a mechanical pump. Thermosiphoning is used for circulation of liquids and volatile gases in heating and cooling applications such as heat pumps, water heaters, boilers and furnaces. Thermosiphoning also occurs across air temperature gradients such as those utilized in a wood fire chimney or solar chimney.

An absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source to provide the energy needed to drive the cooling process. Solar energy, burning a fossil fuel, waste heat from factories, and district heating systems are examples of convenient heat sources that can be used. An absorption refrigerator uses two coolants: the first coolant performs evaporative cooling and then is absorbed into the second coolant; heat is needed to reset the two coolants to their initial states. Absorption refrigerators are commonly used in recreational vehicles (RVs), campers, and caravans because the heat required to power them can be provided by a propane fuel burner, by a low-voltage DC electric heater or by a mains-powered electric heater. Absorption refrigerators can also be used to air-condition buildings using the waste heat from a gas turbine or water heater in the building. Using waste heat from a gas turbine makes the turbine very efficient because it first produces electricity, then hot water, and finally, air-conditioning—trigeneration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermal management (electronics)</span> Regulation of the temperature of electronic circuitry to prevent inefficiency or failure

All electronic devices and circuitry generate excess heat and thus require thermal management to improve reliability and prevent premature failure. The amount of heat output is equal to the power input, if there are no other energy interactions. There are several techniques for cooling including various styles of heat sinks, thermoelectric coolers, forced air systems and fans, heat pipes, and others. In cases of extreme low environmental temperatures, it may actually be necessary to heat the electronic components to achieve satisfactory operation.

Solar air conditioning, or "solar-powered air conditioning", refers to any air conditioning (cooling) system that uses solar power.

In chemistry, a condenser is laboratory apparatus used to condense vapors – that is, turn them into liquids – by cooling them down.

In systems involving heat transfer, a condenser is a heat exchanger used to condense a gaseous substance into a liquid state through cooling. In so doing, the latent heat is released by the substance and transferred to the surrounding environment. Condensers are used for efficient heat rejection in many industrial systems. Condensers can be made according to numerous designs and come in many sizes ranging from rather small (hand-held) to very large. For example, a refrigerator uses a condenser to get rid of heat extracted from the interior of the unit to the outside air.

Free cooling is an economical method of using low external air temperatures to assist in chilling water, which can then be used for industrial processes, or air conditioning systems. The chilled water can either be used immediately or be stored for the short- or long-term. When outdoor temperatures are lower relative to indoor temperatures, this system utilizes the cool outdoor air as a free cooling source. In this manner, the system replaces the chiller in traditional air conditioning systems while achieving the same cooling result. Such systems can be made for single buildings or district cooling networks.

Radiators are heat exchangers used for cooling internal combustion engines, mainly in automobiles but also in piston-engined aircraft, railway locomotives, motorcycles, stationary generating plants or any similar use of such an engine.

HVAC is a major sub discipline of mechanical engineering. The goal of HVAC design is to balance indoor environmental comfort with other factors such as installation cost, ease of maintenance, and energy efficiency. The discipline of HVAC includes a large number of specialized terms and acronyms, many of which are summarized in this glossary.

Immersion cooling is an IT cooling practice by which complete servers are immersed in a dielectric, electrically non-conductive fluid that has significantly higher thermal conductivity than air. Heat is removed from a system by putting the coolant in direct contact with hot components, and circulating the heated liquid through heat exchangers. This practice is highly effective because liquid coolants can absorb more heat from the system, and are more easily circulated through the system, than air. Immersion cooling has many benefits, including but not limited to: sustainability, performance, reliability and cost

Pillow-plate heat exchangers are a class of fully welded heat exchanger design, which exhibit a wavy, “pillow-shaped” surface formed by an inflation process. Compared to more conventional equipment, such as shell and tube and plate and frame heat exchangers, pillow plates are a quite young technology. Due to their geometric flexibility, they are used as well as “plate-type” heat exchangers and as jackets for cooling or heating of vessels. Pillow plate equipment is currently experiencing increased attention and implementation in process industry.

References

1 2 3 Docter, Quentin; Dulaney, Emmett; Skandier, Toby (2012). CompTIA A+ Complete Deluxe Study Guide Recommended Courseware: Exams 220-801 and 220-802, Second Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. p. 61. ISBN 9781118324066.
↑ Tong, Ho-Ming; Lai, Yi-Shao; Wong, C. P. (2013). Advanced Flip Chip Packaging . Dordrecht: Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 447. ISBN 9781441957689.
↑ Yarin, L. P.; Mosyak, A.; Hetsroni, G. (2008). Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer and Boiling in Micro-Channels . Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp. 13. ISBN 9783540787549.

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[:0-1] 1 2 3 Docter, Quentin; Dulaney, Emmett; Skandier, Toby (2012). CompTIA A+ Complete Deluxe Study Guide Recommended Courseware: Exams 220-801 and 220-802, Second Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. p. 61. ISBN 9781118324066.

[2] Tong, Ho-Ming; Lai, Yi-Shao; Wong, C. P. (2013). Advanced Flip Chip Packaging . Dordrecht: Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 447. ISBN 9781441957689.

[3] Yarin, L. P.; Mosyak, A.; Hetsroni, G. (2008). Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer and Boiling in Micro-Channels . Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp. 13. ISBN 9783540787549.

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