LiquidCool Solutions

About the Company

Founded in 2006, LiquidCool‘s initial product offerings included high-performance gaming systems and engineering workstations. Today, the company is focused on developing immersion-cooled server systems for data centers and other enterprises with IT deployments as well as the development of stand-alone computers for use in harsh environments. LCS is currently staffed by a small but talented engineering team supplemented by a network of fabrication and manufacturing partners. They are currently in the commercialization stage for their immersion-cooled server systems.

Innovators Network Partner

Vaultas (headquartered in Alexandria, MN – the project will take place in St. Cloud, MN). Lube-Tech and Slipstream are providing additional support to this project. 

About the Technology

Liquid Cool Solutions (LCS)  has designed total liquid immersion cooling systems for HPC Servers and stand-alone computers in data centers, edge deployments, and harsh environment locations. LCS systems use patented methods that protect and cool by immersing all components (circuit boards, CPUs, memory, etc.) in liquid instead of relying upon conditioned air as a cooling medium. The systems are designed using controlled forced convection. They can be customized to meet the customers’ desired outcomes, whether maximizing energy efficiency, managing high heat density, or optimizing performance for heat reuse. By eliminating internal fans in enclosures, as well as the need for chillers and air handling systems at the facility level, LCS systems can reduce data center energy use by 30% or more compared to installations using air-cooling.

The system works by immersing 100% of a device’s electronics in an electrically non-conductive heat transfer fluid that uses energy efficient pumps that replace fans and filters. A fluid circulation system inside the device enclosure transfers heat away from the electronics and outside the enclosure. Since the specific heat capacity of liquid is 1000 times better than air, the liquid can keep electronics sufficiently cool even if its temperature is as high as 140°F, whereas legacy air-cooled systems’ peak temperatures are around 105°F. This higher quality heat, captured in liquid, enables free cooling in more geographies and hotter weather conditions and also permits easy and efficient transport for heat reuse for hot water, building or commercial process heat. 

LCS immersion cooling uses far less electricity than traditional air-cooling in three primary ways: 1) moving heat in liquid instead of air, 2) eliminating complex HVAC system components necessary to control and condition air, as it cannot be too arid or humid, and 3) enabling heat reuse with heat recovery efficiencies of 90-95%, per NREL. LCS methods also conserve water by eliminating its consumption on-premise, via the absence of chill water towers, and offsite at thermoelectric power generation sites where 0.5 to 4.0 gallons of water can be consumed per kWh generated.

Unlike tank-based liquid immersion server cooling systems, LiquidCool’s immersion servers and heat exchange systems are designed to be installed into standard IT racks, a feature that enhances scalability and eases the transition from conventional cooling to immersion cooling.

LCS also employs a patented cooling process that combines total immersion with forced convection for the hottest server components, such as CPUs and GPUs. This improves cooling efficiency, which enables effective cooling of servers with very high power densities without the need to consume any water.

With the emergence of AI computing driving rapid growth in the IT space, LiquidCool’s energy-saving cooling technology can have a huge impact on lessening the increase in demand for electricity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

About the Demonstration Project

The demonstration will be conducted at the Vaultas colocation site in St. Cloud. Two identically configured servers, one air-cooled and one cooled using LiquidCool Solutions total immersion, will be installed in the same rack and operated across a range of identical computing workloads while the electricity usage of each server is measured. A high-performance server configuration with dual CPUs and multiple GPUs will be demonstrated.

Using an energy-intensive workload will add relevance to the demonstration and accentuate the energy-saving benefits that LCS cooling technology can provide for the rapidly growing AI computing market.