Research Projects

Artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups are rapidly emerging in India, driving the need for domestic data centres to handle large-scale data processing. As AI adoption grows, data centre power consumption and heat dissipation are rising sharply, underscoring the critical need for efficient cooling solutions. A mid-sized data centre typically dissipates between 100 kW and 1 MW of heat. The current cooling approach in data centres, involves supplying cold air through the bottom of server racks, with fans circulating air across the equipment. The resulting hot air, reaching 35°C–40°C in the hot aisle, is then recooled by the air conditioning system. However, this air-cooled system alone accounts for nearly 50% of the data centre’s total power consumption with power usage effectiveness (PUE) of ~1.5. While immersion cooling offers a more efficient alternative, its implementation faces challenges such as dielectric fluid handling, toxicity risks, potential leaks, and gradual degradation of dielectric properties—all of which pose risks to sensitive components. This project proposes a two-phase thermosyphon cooling system to enhance the efficiency of existing air-cooling infrastructure. Thermosyphons are hermetically sealed heat transfer devices containing a working fluid that operates through passive phase-change mechanisms. Objectives • Improving the PUE of the air-cooled system • Design of a two-phase thermosyphon-based cooling solution (heat flux ~ 20 kW/m2) • Fabrication of a vertical evaporator thermosyphon and air-cooled condenser • Testing of thermosyphon with different operating conditions Methodology Thermosyphons efficiently transfer high heat loads over long distances with minimal temperature difference (between indoor and outdoor environments). The evaporator absorbs heat and dissipates it into ambient air cooled using an air-side economizer and evaporative cooling. A portion of the thermal load is managed by the thermosyphon, thereby reducing the load on the vapor compression refrigeration system (VCRS). The power consumption of the air-side economizer and evaporative cooling is significantly lower than that of the VCRS, thereby improving overall cooling efficiency. The stages to carrying out proposed research: 1. Designing the thermosyphon based on the heat source and space constraint 2. Design, frication and selection of evaporator and a highly efficient air-cooled condenser 3. Fabrication of experimental set-up 4. Testing of thermosyphon for the different working fluids and filling ratios 5. Analysing the tested data and writing a report Expected output: A prototype thermosyphon design that can be scaled for thermal management of data centres. • The outcome of this work for cooling of data centres will result in o A passive thermal management solution resulting in improved reliability o Reduced energy consumption for cooling (better PUE) resulting in reduced carbon footprint o Reduced operating cost of the data centre