3M shows off two-phase, immersion cooling fluid for supercomputers

3M, Intel and SGI demonstrate the 3M Novec Engineered Fluid, a new two-phase, dielectric fluid for submersion cooling of servers and supercomputers. The fluid doesn't require pumping, the server's heat makes the Novec fluid boil, generating vapor that riser to a condenser. The condenser cools the vapor and returns it to a liquid that drips back into the servers.

The fluid reportedly costs $200 per gallon. 3M claims it requires ten times less space than conventional air cooling and touts the system's capability to cool up to 100kW of computing power per square meter!

The system is said to use 10X less space than traditional air cooling, and it promises to dissipate up to 100kW/m² of floor space. Impressively, the condenser apparently runs on "normal facility water" rather than a dedicated supply. Heat can be harvested from the system, too, and the Novec fluid sounds pretty innocuous. It won't catch fire, put holes in the ozone, or leave behind any residue. It even has "low toxicity," though I wouldn't recommend drinking the stuff.

An older video shows the fluid cooling a regular Z77-based desktop PC configuration:



Source: The Tech Report