Study on the operation strategy of the water cooling system in the single-phase immersion cooling data center considering cooling tower performance

Energy analysis from an entire systems perspective can further improve the energy efficiency of single-phase immersion cooling technology. In this study, a water cooling system for the single-phase immersion data center was developed using a combination of FLOWNEX SE and FLUENT software. Firstly, the energy consumption analysis was carried out from the perspective of cooling system, and an optimal operation strategy was identified to minimize energy consumption. Furthermore, the influence of ambient temperature and chip power on the operation strategy and energy consumption were analyzed, and the optimal operation strategy under different conditions was given. Finally, a comparison was made between the two operating modes of the water cooling system. The analysis results showed that there was an optimal operation strategy which should be adapted based on ambient temperature and chip power to reduce the power consumption. Moreover, it was noted that when the environmental temperature rises above 22 °C, the PUE of the water cooling system surpasses 1.2, indicating that the water cooling system becomes unsuitable for single-phase immersion data centers in such conditions. In addition, the excessive cooling of the chip can be avoided through the optimal operation strategy. And when the chip power was 600 W, the optimal operation strategy can reduce the PUE by 16 % and save 5.71 kW energy.