Thermal management is crucial for optimal data center performance. Partnering with ACT enables you to design a cutting-edge thermal architecture that delivers unparalleled energy efficiency, high-performance computing, and space-saving cooling solutions. Maximize your data center’s potential with ACT’s innovative thermal management expertise.
Maximize Cooling Efficiency for Optimal Data Center Performance
The global data center cooling solutions market is rapidly expanding, driven by the widespread adoption of AI, cloud computing, and the growing reliance on digital transactions. With cooling systems accounting for a significant portion of overall data center power consumption, companies are actively seeking energy-efficient cooling strategies. While air cooling has historically dominated the industry, innovative liquid cooling, immersion cooling, and hybrid solutions are gaining traction for their superior thermal management capabilities. Advanced Cooling Technologies (ACT) offers a wide range of custom thermal management solutions for data centers, from component-level cooling to rack and facility-level solutions, tailored to meet the unique needs of each system. With expertise in various cooling technologies, including air, liquid, immersion, and hybrid solutions, ACT provides energy-efficient and high-performance cooling strategies to handle the increasing power densities and heat loads in data centers. ACT’s comprehensive approach, spanning from chip-level cooling to room-level cooling and edge computing applications, makes ACT a leading provider of thermal management solutions for the data center market.
Data Center Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling Solutions
As CPU and GPU performance continues to push boundaries, power densities are soaring, creating an urgent need for cutting-edge chip-level cooling solutions capable of dissipating extreme heat fluxes and minimizing thermal resistance. Advanced Direct-to-Chip (D2C) liquid cooling is emerging as a critical technology to tame these scorching hot spots. ACT’s innovative D2C solutions employ microchannel cold plates, jet impingement, and other techniques to provide superior heat transfer coefficients. Our thermally-engineered coolants, precision temperature control, and optimized fluid delivery enable ultra-high heat flux dissipation over 1 kW/cm2. D2C cooling unlocks new performance potential while enhancing reliability. ACT offers custom direct-to-chip liquid cooling solutions for moderate (> 10 W/cm^2) to extreme (> 1000 W/cm^2) heat flux applications:
Two-phase evaporator for High Power Computing (HPC) application.
Data Center Rack-Level Cooling Solutions
High power computing (HPC) density demands a holistic rack-level thermal management strategy that optimizes total heat removal and space utilization. ACT custom designs and integrates complete rack cooling solutions to achieve industry-leading power densities while minimizing infrastructure overhead. Our toolkit includes:
Forced convection, liquid cooling – internal or external
Precision cooling control, built-in redundancy, and real-time monitoring ensure reliable “lights-out” operation at maximum compute capacity.
Figure 1. High density blade server utilizing P2P cooling with blind mate quick disconnects to provide hot swap capability.
Intel 1U rack with direct Pumped Two-Phase Cooling
200kW P2P fluid distribution unit
Pumped Two-Phase Schematic
Control distribution unit
Loop Thermosyphon Infographic
As an example (see Figure 1) a Pumped Two-Phase (P2P) system can significantly increase efficiency from direct liquid cooling and can improve heat density capability from air-cooled systems. ACT’s expertise expands throughout the P2P system, with advanced know-how in cold plate design to enable high-heat-flux capabilities required for next generation CPUs and GPUs, as well as modular hot-swappable racks that use quick disconnects for easy replacement and servicing of server blades within the system. A P2P system leverages fractional horsepower pumps, taking advantage of the latent heat of vaporization (not the fluid velocity like single phase system) to increase power density, allowing for higher power applications with a fraction of the energy consumption.
Room and Data Center Level Cooling
As rack densities climb, traditional computer room air handling is not enough. Facility-level cooling strategies have evolved, incorporating energy recovery and localized computer room air handlers (CRAHs) or computer room air conditioners (CRACs). ACT provides comprehensive facility-level thermal solutions incorporating modern free-cooling methods, localized computer room cooling units, and heat distribution infrastructure. Our approach leverages evaporative cooling, airside/waterside economizers, and energy recovery to drastically reduce cooling costs. State-of-the-art cooling distribution units (CDUs), energy recovery heat exchangers, and large-scale passive loop thermosyphons efficiently move heat from high-density equipment to outdoor dry coolers/cooling towers. Intelligent control maximizes free-cooling hours while maintaining temperature and humidity control.
Best-in-class energy efficiency is possible by leveraging hybrid technology; ACT has developed a hybrid vapor compression system with free cooling capabilities, leveraging our P2P technology. This is ideal for applications that require sub-ambient air conditioning during certain periods but can leverage cool outdoor air a portion of the time. Similarly, ACT has developed pump-assisted passive loop thermosyphons to allow for year operation in vertical or large, split distance, energy recovery heat exchanger applications.
Wrap Around Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger
8-evaporator two-phase immersion cooling system
Roof-mounted cooling tower at ACT used to dissipate 25kW from a loop thermosyphon
Edge Computing Cooling Systems
Edge computing demands low-latency, high-efficiency, and secure data processing closer to the source. The source can be IOT in air-conditioned factory to large scale military satcom systems deployed to some of the harshest environments in the world and everything in between. While traditional computer room cooling works for IT closets, ACT’s rugged Tekgard® and Vaphtek™ solutions enable true “edge” deployments. In these mobile systems, containerized edge computing with dedicated thermal management, including air conditioning solutions and direct rack-level cooling for high power density applications. The Tekgard® brand is synonymous with ruggedization and reliability, being deployed across the globe for over two decades. These harsh-environment cooling solutions, such as environmental control units (ECUs), hybrid environmental control units and chillers, enable reliable edge computing for military, autonomous vehicle, and industrial applications where performance and durability are critical.
ACT has met challenging outdoor and/or transport requirements for mobile edge computing applications, including:
Shock and vibration (industrial and MIL-STD)
EMI Protection
Corrosion Resistance
Trailer, wall, or skid mounted options
Smart control systems
Active Dehumidification
In-House Testing Capabilities
All of ACT’s thermal management solutions undergo rigorous validation testing in our state-of-the-art R&D facilities before release. This ensures optimized real-world performance in your application. We invest heavily in advanced thermal modeling, instrumentation, environmental test chambers, and accelerated life testing to guarantee reliable, energy-efficient cooling that is tailored to your specific requirements. Our integrated NPI process combines multi-physics simulation and experimental validation to rapidly deliver right-the-first-time designs.
P2P evaporators for waterless D2C cooling
Direct to Chip Cooling
High heat flux Vapor Chambers >500 W/cm^2
Two-phase evaporator for High Power Computing (HPC) application.
Figure 1. High density blade server utilizing P2P cooling with blind mate quick disconnects to provide hot swap capability.
Intel 1U rack with direct Pumped Two-Phase Cooling
200kW P2P fluid distribution unit
Pumped Two-Phase Schematic
Control distribution unit
Loop Thermosyphon Infographic
Wrap Around Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger
8-evaporator two-phase immersion cooling system
Roof-mounted cooling tower at ACT used to dissipate 25kW from a loop thermosyphon
