Performance Enhancement of Single-Phase Immersion Liquid-Cooled Data Center Servers

As the promising cooling method for the next generation of data centers, the internal heat transport mechanism and enhancement mechanism of single-phase immersion liquid-cooled (SPILC) systems are not yet well understood. To address this, a steady-state three-dimensional numerical model is constructed herein to analyze flow and thermal transport capacities in servers using SPILC and traditional air-cooling methods. Moreover, this paper emphasizes the influence of component positioning, and underscores the benefits of optimizing coolant flow distribution using baffles. The results indicate that the SPILC system outperforms the traditional air-cooling approach at the same inlet Reynolds number (Re). When Re=10 000, the SPILC method reduces the maximum temperature by up to 70.13%, increases the average convective heat transfer coefficient by 287.5%, and provides better overall thermal uniformity in data center servers. Moreover, placing devices downstream of high-power components creates "thermal barriers" and degrades thermal transport for upstream devices due to increased flow resistance. Excessive spacing between high-power devices can lead to the formation of bypass channels, further deteriorating heat transfer. Additionally, the addition of baffles in the inlet section of SPILC systems effectively enhances heat dissipation performance. To maximize the heat dissipation capacity, minimizing bypass channels and optimizing the flow distribution of coolants are crucial.