Chinese scientists have claimed to have made a major achievement in the field of thermal engineering. They have introduced liquid cooling technology that can cool from room temperature to sub-zero levels in just a few seconds. Scientists say that this technology can prove to be a gamechanger for AI-based data centers, where heat management has become a major challenge due to excessive computing power.
The specialty of this technique is that it has used the unique behavior of a special salt, ammonium thiocyanate, dissolved in water. Scientists describe the process of applying and releasing pressure as “squeezing out a wet sponge.” As soon as the pressure is released, the salt rapidly redissolves and immediately absorbs the heat from the surroundings.
Will freeze ice in 20 seconds
During the research, it was found that at room temperature this solution cooled to about 30 degrees Celsius in just 20 seconds. At the same time, in hotter environments the temperature dropped by more than 50 degrees Celsius. This capability is considered to be more effective than existing cooling systems. This research was published in the prestigious journal ‘Nature’ on January 22. The research team included several scientists, including Li Bing from the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, from the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research. He says that this technology will not only provide faster cooling for AI infrastructure, but can also reduce energy consumption significantly.
This technology can become important in AI race
In fact, along with the AI race between America and China, the number of data centers is increasing rapidly. America’s commercial electricity consumption is expected to increase by 11 percent in 2024, in which data centers play an important role. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also admitted that AI systems require large amounts of power and cooling to run.
Although China has more power generation capacity than the US, it is also now working on more energy-efficient data centers. In this series, scientists have taken the traditional ‘barocaloric effect’ forward and applied it to liquid solutions, which they have named “barocaloric effect based on dissolution”.
Cools liquid faster
Based on this technology, scientists have prepared a four-stage cooling cycle, which includes applying pressure, taking out heat, releasing the pressure and cooling it rapidly and then absorbing the heat of the machines from that cold liquid. Each gram of liquid can absorb about 67 joules of heat in one cycle and its theoretical efficiency is said to be up to 77 percent, which is much better than a normal refrigerator.
According to China’s government media CCTV, about 40 percent of the total electricity consumption of data centers is spent only on cooling. In such a situation, this new discovery can not only save electricity but can also eliminate the use of gases that harm the environment.
