The Intel group is working on a proposal to study immersion cooling with a two-phase fluid that boils off and condenses, transferring heat. “There are a number of other liquid cooling approaches including cold plates for CPUs to plates for full servers, so we are very much in our path-finding phase,” he said.
For its part, Intel has no further plans to use the oil-immersion approach, in part, because it has plenty of space in its data centers where air flow is good. However Patterson’s group is analyzing the trade-offs of building an “oil-optimized platform.” In today’s servers “the heat sinks and fan control built into the platforms are for air cooling,” he said.
Intel conducted the oil-immersion test after overcoming some of its own skepticism.
Source: EE Times