Nvidia Introduces Water-Free Liquid-Cooled Data Center Technology
Nvidia has announced a liquid-cooled data center architecture that aims to eliminate the need for water on premises with a closed-loop system that utilises a water-propylene glycol mixture. The design can save more than $4 million a year for a 50 MW facility.
According to Nvidia, their data center cooling design can do away with the need for on-site water usage. In order to avoid using water from outside sources, the design employs a closed-loop liquid system that recycles a solution of water and propylene glycol.
With the UN predicting that AI data centers might use as much water as 1.3 billion people by the end of this decade, this breakthrough has the potential to completely transform the AI business. Powering increasingly sophisticated AI systems necessitates massive energy and cooling demands from the data centers that house them.
How Exactly Nvidia’s New Design Works?
According to Nvidia's DSX AI factory reference architecture, the design involves pumping coolant into server racks at temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius. This level of heat is sufficient for many climates to be lowered by external dry coolers alone, without the need for mechanical chillers or evaporative cooling towers. As per the company's calculations, traditional cooling tower systems use around 2.6 million gallons of water per megawatt per annum. The new architecture, according to Nvidia, can bring that number down to almost zero.
According to a blog post by Ali Heydari, Nvidia's director of data centre cooling and infrastructure, the NVIDIA DSX reference architecture for AI factories does not use any water. The company has cut back significantly on water use and electricity consumption. The 75:25 propylene glycol and water mixture is put into the system once and kept circulating endlessly instead of drawing on fresh supplies.
Additionally, Nvidia claims that their Rubin generation of AI infrastructure achieves 100% liquid cooling, making it the first of its kind. There are no fans anywhere in the system, and all of the chips and networking components are cooled by liquid in a closed loop. According to Nvidia, the design can reduce cooling-related energy and water expenses by over $4 million per year for a 50 MW facility.
NVIDIA’s New Technology Comes with a Limitation
The new technology from NVIDIA has a significant climatic constraint. Keeping ambient air temperatures well below the coolant's 45-degree limit is necessary for the system to operate without chillers. Data centres in extremely hot locations, such as Phoenix, Arizona, may still require chillers on the warmest days of the year, according to Nvidia. The company's accounting, according to critics, ends at the facility wall. The data centre's overall water footprint can be increased by a factor of two or three due to the water used by the power plants that provide the energy, an expense that Nvidia does not account for in its calculations.
According to a recent study, natural gas facilities consume 1.17 litres of water for each kilowatt-hour produced, while coal-fired generation is even more water-intensive, consuming 2.2 litres per kilowatt-hour. According to the IEA, data centres currently receive about half of their power from fossil fuels. The revelation by Nvidia comes at a time when the data centre business is being more and more criticised for the resources it uses. Data centre cooling in the Phoenix area alone is expected to lead to an 870% increase in water demand. Meanwhile, Lake Powell is at 24% capacity and Lake Mead is at 32%, further straining the Colorado River system.
