Experimental research on the influence of a novel passive cooling system on the data center temperature distribution

As artificial intelligence has been leaping forward, data centers (DCs) are only capable of meeting to the daily needs of people through uninterrupted operations. A power outage or cooling system failure can result in high temperatures, trigger data center shutdowns, and even damage IT equipment. In terms of several special DCs, a prolonged cooling system interruption may lead to catastrophic and incalculable consequences. Accordingly, a novel passive cooling system was proposed in this study to address the long-term interruption of air conditioning systems. Liquid nitrogen (LN2) was driven by the pressure of the cryogenic liquid container and flowed into finned tube heat exchangers (FTHEs) in the DC. LN2, i.e., a refrigerant, can absorb heat through vaporization and give FTHEs ultra-low temperature surfaces to drop the indoor temperature. The effects of refrigerant flow rate, temperature, and extreme indoor initial temperature on the indoor temperature distribution were examined. As indicated by the results, increasing the flow rate and decreasing the refrigerant temperature increased the room cooling rate while exacerbating the degree of temperature stratification (TSD). Compared with 35 kg/h, the cooling effect was enhanced by 1.5 times for a flow rate of 50 kg/h, whereas the TSD value near FTHEs was nearly 14 degrees C/m, approximately twice as high as that of 35 kg/h. Slightly raising the initial ambient temperature led to the rise of the cooling effect, whereas this method slightly affected the temperature stratification. This study provides a novel idea for solving long-term DC cooling system failure while laying a basis for the effect of ultra-low temperature surfaces on ambient temperature distribution.