Data Center World 2025
Designing Water Cooled Data Centers: 10 Years of Lessons Learned
Brian Rener P.E. LEED AP (Mission Critical Leader, SmithGroup)
Jamison Caldwell, PE, LEED AP (Principal Mechanical Engineer, SmithGroup)
Location: Room 207B
Date: Tuesday, April 15
Time: 1:00 pm - 1:50 pm
Pass Type: AFCOM Solution Provider, All Access Conference, Industry Conference, Standard Conference - Get your pass now!
Track: Data Center BUILD
Session Type: Conference Session
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All Audiences
Recent growth in AI and high-density computing in commercial and enterprise data centers has seen a shift from air cooled to water cooled technologies. However, water cooling technology has been used in various forms in computing environments since the 1980's. SmithGroup has been designing hybrid water- and air-cooling environments for over a decade, including designing the first LEED platinum, 1.03 PUE, high performance computing data center for the Department of Energy. This presentation will include lessons learned for water cooling and what's next in hyperdense data center cooling.
Takeaway
When does water cooling make sense for a data center?
Is air cooling really going away?
Flexible systems for different rack-based cooling topologies
Opportunities for sustainability via waste heat
Considerations for electrical systems for high density racks
Implications for building design including architecture and structural systems
What is coming next?