Share

A test stand for characterization of condensers operating at low-inlet-vapor quality for pumped two-phase cooling loops using low-GWP refrigerants.

Number: 2585

Author(s) : PARK J., SCHOSTEK T. J., WEIBEL J. A., ZIVIANI D.

Summary

With the rapid increase in the amount of data being processed, stored, and transmitted in service of modern computing applications, data centers currently consume 2% of electricity generated in the U.S. alone, with expected further increases in this percentage over the next decade. Aside from the energy used by the electronic devices themselves, the primary auxiliary energy use in these facilities is for thermal management. In this context, pumped two-phase loops are being investigated to provide effective and efficient cooling for data centers. Leveraging the high heat transfer capabilities achieved in boiling and condensation, pumped two-phase loop systems can address the cooling demands of high-power density chips more effectively than conventional single-phase air- or liquid-cooling technologies, thereby eliminating the energy intensive refrigeration of chilled water or air as coolants. Strict space requirements placed on the cold plates that reside in the server racks of these systems has motivated extensive study of these components. However, condensers also play a critical role in dissipating heat out of the cooling cycle. Microchannel heat exchangers are often selected for these systems due to their compact design. Although microchannel condensers have been widely studied for traditional HVAC applications, the unique boundary and operating conditions of electronics cooling applications (namely, low inlet vapor quality, distinctive desired saturation temperatures of the working fluid, and the non-traditional orientation installation into server racks) necessitate a more application-specific investigation.
In this study, an experimental condenser test stand has been designed and constructed to emulate their operation in pumped two-phase systems, as well as allows in situ reconfiguration of the condenser in different orientations. An air-cooled microchannel condenser with a refrigerant-side channel hydraulic diameter of 0.64 mm is tested with R1234ze(E), a low-GWP dielectric fluid. Inlet vapor quality is varied between 0.2 and 1.0 over a range of saturation temperatures between 30 and 60 °C (saturation pressure between 580 and 1280 kPa) and channel mass fluxes between 40 and 100 kg/m2-s. Experiments are conducted in both vertical and horizontal orientations of the condenser. The capabilities of the facility demonstrated in this study can yield data for better understanding of the condensation phenomena and aid in the validation of models to predict condenser performance specific to this application.

Available documents

Format PDF

Pages: 10 p.

Available

Free

Download

Details

  • Original title: A test stand for characterization of condensers operating at low-inlet-vapor quality for pumped two-phase cooling loops using low-GWP refrigerants.
  • Record ID : 30033020
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Technology
  • Source: 2024 Purdue Conferences. 20th International Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Conference at Purdue.
  • Publication date: 2024/07/17

Links


See other articles from the proceedings (187)
See the conference proceedings

Indexing