The cost gap between air cooling and liquid cooling for energy storage equipment

Is liquid cooling better than air cooled data center?

It demonstrates that for like densities (10kW/rack), the data center cost of an air-cooled and liquid-cooled data center are roughly equal. But as described above, liquid cooling also enables compaction of the IT, and with compaction, there is an opportunity for a capex sav-ings.

Does liquid cooling save space?

Although there is no compaction of the IT white space, facility space is saved by the reduction of cooling system switchgear and UPS systems. Savings include other associated costs linked to space, like fire suppression, lighting, etc. Additionally, liquid cooling does not re-quire any air containment, so this is removed.

Should you choose liquid cooling over traditional air cooling?

There are several known benefits of choosing liquid cooling over traditional air cooling including energy savings. Capi-tal cost, however, is viewed as a common obstacle.

How much does liquid cooling save a data center?

Because high density compaction is a key benefit of liquid cooling, we also quantify the capex difference when liquid cooling is deployed at 20 kW/rack and 40 kW/rack for the same capacity data center. The result is 10% and 14% capex savings, respectively. Liquid-cooled IT equipment is not new. It’s been around for decades.

How much does liquid cooling cost?

Liquid cooling technology – $0.77/W premium. This premium represents the in-crease in costs at the server and rack level. As mentioned previously, this includes the sealed chassis, dielectric fluid, liquid heat sinks, tubing, micro pumps, heat ex-changer, dripless connectors, and rack manifold. Dry coolers & CRACs – $0.31/W premium.

Why is liquid cooling better than air cooling?

For the same amount of compute, liquid cooling has a lower overall IT load. Internal IT fans of air-cooled servers consume more power than the internal micro-pumps for chassis-based im-mersion, for the same IT compute load.