As 2025 quickly approaches, many new IT and chip technologies are being designed with liquid cooling in mind.
Data centers that only deploy air cooling may struggle to meet the demands of their customers in the future as they seek improved performance and next-generation IT equipment.
Many data center managers and IT professionals are turning to liquid cooling. Liquid cooling can help data centers increase capacity while maintaining efficient space and energy use. These systems can provide an effective solution for achieving the required temperature parameters of next-gen chips and reducing the energy consumption of cooling systems. They can also offer a favorable return on investment and lower the total cost of ownership for data center facilities by improving power usage effectiveness (PUE).
Many data center managers are looking for guidance on how and why to implement liquid cooling. Here are a few trends in the liquid cooling industry data center managers should monitor:
Energy efficiency
Liquid cooling is an effective solution for achieving required temperature parameters of next-generation IT and lowering energy consumption of cooling systems, thus lowering operating costs. Liquid provides a much greater heat transfer capacity – 3,500 times higher than that of air – because liquid is denser than air. Liquid cooling can also dramatically increase PUE, reducing energy costs and contributing to environmental sustainability. Direct-to-chip liquid cooling can also remove heat from its source, which further improves efficiency. Liquid cooling can either improve the efficiency of or reduce the need for air cooling in data centers, which can result in a significant reduction of overall energy consumption.
Sustainability
For many data centers, liquid cooling can offer better performance while saving energy and helping them operate more sustainably. Increasing PUE reduces energy costs and can help data centers meet their environmental goals. Additionally, increasing chip density can ease the pressure on data centers to expand their physical footprint, reducing the associated environmental costs of construction projects. Liquid cooling may sound water intensive, but liquid cooling can actually reduce water use since many of these systems use closed water loops and reuse of coolant. This minimizes unnecessary water waste. When applicable, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind can be integrated into cooling infrastructure to further enhance sustainability.
Building vs. Retrofitting
In the rush to expand capacity to support growing demand for high-performance AI applications, data center managers, colocation operators and facility managers need to make decisions about whether to build new data centers or retrofit existing ones. Both approaches have advantages—building facility infrastructure from scratch allows data center managers to deploy the newest high-density cooling technology, but these construction projects can be expensive and come with sustainability trade-offs. On the other hand, retrofitting existing data centers comes with its own challenges like maintaining uptime and availability through remodel projects. However, there are technologies available to help data centers grow their capacity to support AI chips like the H100 GPU without completely reconstructing their facility design.
Modular design
Liquid cooling systems are often customized to fit specific needs of customers. Modular and standard design makes it easier to adapt to meet customer requirements and prepare for future upgrades. By using a modular approach, data centers can reduce initial expenses and scale their investment in additional equipment as needed. This approach helps manage the overall expenses more effectively since data centers only need to pay for the cooling they need today, while keeping their options open for tomorrow.
Regular maintenance
Regular maintenance is a schedule of periodic inspections of all cooling components. During regular maintenance checks, it is important to pay close attention to safety protocols and ensure that the system complies with relevant industry standards and regulations. A maintenance schedule and continuous monitoring can help ensure that the cooling system operates efficiently and identifies any issues sooner rather than later. In particular, data centers running liquid cooling systems should pay attention to water quality and ensure they are refreshing or cleaning the water in closed loop liquid lines as needed.
At nVent, our comprehensive cooling solutions portfolio includes adaptable, modular and scalable solutions for networking, data center and communications applications. Equipping your data center is a dynamic process – you often need to add new systems. That’s why nVent’s products are modular and compatible with each other. Choose from standard, modified or completely custom-built solutions. Your benefit: maximum protection and scalability.
