New Cooling Method for Supercomputers to Save Millions of Gallons of Water
The system uses a liquid refrigerant instead of water to carry away heat
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In different parts of the country, people discuss gray-water recycling and rainwater capture to minimize the millions of gallons of water required to cool large data centers. But the simple answer in many climates, said Sandia National Laboratories researcher David J. Martinez, is to use liquid refrigerant.
Based on that principle, Martinez — engineering project lead for Sandia’s infrastructure computing services — is helping design and monitor a cooling system expected to save 4 million to 5 million gallons annually in New Mexico if installed next year at Sandia’s computing center, and hundreds of millions of gallons nationally if the method is widely adopted. It’s now being tested at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, which expects to save a million gallons annually.