IBM's Water-Cooled Aquasar Supercomputer Uses Waste Heat to Warm Dorms

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 04.16.2010 at 1:12 pm 6 Comments

Aquasar Keep cool, my babies! IBM Research-Zurich

Supercomputers and massive data centers carry huge energy costs when it comes to keeping their electronic components chilly. Now IBM is set to unveil its next big supercomputer, Aquasar, which keeps cool with a constant circulation of water at 140 to 160 degrees F, according to TechNewsDaily.

A system of tiny capillary-like micro-channels feeds the water through the IBM blade servers. Even better, some of the collected heat from the water will end up being released into the building heating system at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. IBM teamed up with the university to develop Aquasar, which is set to debut next month.

The first trial run would just use a small computer, and create less than one percent of building heating, but later tests with larger server arrays could warm several buildings, or even create energy for sale. The micro-channeled system costs more than typical air cooling up front, but IBM expects to recoup costs after a year or so.

Such water cooling has already seen use in some server farms, except they used room-temperature water that did not provide the secondary benefit of building heating. A UK company has also come out with its own chilling system, involving liquid cooling bags.

[via TechNewsDaily]

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6 Comments

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snopy79797

04/16/10 at 1:27 pm

That is a good way to get use the heat, but if something happened couldn't the water leak into the computer.

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BaPef

04/16/10 at 3:04 pm

@snopy79797 - That is always a risk of water cooling systems, but something tells me IBM will have put in saftey measures against that considering the probable cost of this system.

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sirtede

04/18/10 at 7:23 am

Good idea, but what happens with all that heated water during the summer months?

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manit

04/19/10 at 1:59 pm

There are companies have have systems today that do heat exchange with ground. The lower you dig into the ground the less the temperature changes. This is true for all year round. In the summer, IBM could route the hot water under ground and have it cooled coming up.

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zayıflatıcı

05/02/10 at 7:55 pm

fikir Yeni Aliyormusun ben bunu seneler önceden görmüştüm www.devabitkiselurun.com