Using Jet Engines to Cool Servers

rpmsci writes "The computer servers that fill huge data centers are producing more heat with every new generation of processors. It's a problem that's sending engineers on a search for cooling fans that are both small enough to fit inside ever-smaller server chassis and powerful enough to dispel increasing amounts of heat. At Hewlett-Packard, they've found one answer in an unexpected place: model jet airplanes."

Comments

Too Late

[AKAImBatman]

ASUS beat them to it

Not a jet.

[LWATCDR]

These are just ducted fans. There are actually tiny gas turbine engines available for model aircraft.
I have to wonder how much if this is really just hype. Last time I looked at my cooling fan it was already a ducted fan.
Are they adding extra stages? Maybe more an more efficient airfoil on the fan blades? Longer duct? Higher RPM?
I find this a huge so what.

Christ, is "active" a hip marketing term again?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

"The end product is HP's Active Cool Fan..."

Christ, is "active" a hip marketing term again? I thought "ActiveX" put a bullet in that fad...

Why bother?

[RingDev]

Air is such a poor heat transfer medium. Why not build a rack with a water cooling system built in? I have an external water cooled solution on my home PC connected via a set of no-break quick release couplings. So any time I need to pull my PC apart I can pop the coolant lines with out losing a drop of coolant or introducing air into the system.

I can't imaging running a fleet of model airplane engines is going to be quite, cheap, or all that reliable. Especially when compared to an rack integrated water cooling system.

-Rick

Re:Why bother?

[SatanicPuppy]

Might want to try some Fluid XP coolant. It's non-conductive, so no zapped parts. It's non-corrosive, so fewer motor problems. And it's non-toxic, so if your 2-year old glugs a quart of it, all they get is blue teeth.

I've never heard anything bad about it, and it works fine for me.

I like this better...

[AgentAce]

http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/

Yeah, real innovative HP. *yawn*

Not the same thing

[linuxkrn]

That asus is just a standard fan mounted in a case that looks like a jet engine, but it's the same technology.

On the other hand, the HP one uses small blades that are shorter and that spin faster. As such they create more thrust/airflow and reduce noise that normal blades produce from the tips of their blades.

RTFA, it's got a good discription, yeah, I know it's /. but sometimes it's worth reading.

Melted plastic and metal everywhere

[blueZ3]

Sheesh, Zonk -- could we at least take, say, three seconds to think before writing the article title. How about "Using jet engine technology..." instead of "Using jet engines..."

Little clue: Jet exhaust is... well, let's just call it "a little warm for cooling a server" and leave it at that. The article title gave me this picture of a Rolls jet engine (http://www.rolls-royce.com/education/schools/how_ things_work/default.jsp) sucking JP4 and blowing 1000's of cubic feet per second of very hot air into the server room here at work.

Oh the humanity!

A way to use a real jet engine

[necro81]

Since these ducted fan's aren't really jet engines, and certainly aren't what I had in mind when I saw the term "jet engine" in the headline (think very large and noisy!), here's a proposal for using a real, full-sized, jet engine for cooling your servers:

Take one jet engine,
Add stages to capture the thrust and transform it into more torque,
Connect output shaft to massive freakin' compressor turbine,
Use turbine to compress gaseous coolant back to a liquid,
Attach big large radiator/heat exchanger/water cooling tower

Viola! you now have many tonnes of refrigeration capacity, good for blowing cold air through your equipment room, or circulating liquid coolant directly to the chips.

The best part is, you get to have a jet engine tacked on to your server farm.

How they work.

[twitter]

On the other hand, the HP one uses small blades that are shorter and that spin faster. As such they create more thrust/airflow and reduce noise that normal blades produce from the tips of their blades.

That's about all the article says.

The key ingredient to a ducted fan is efficient expansion. Any old array of twisted parts can propell air. I read another article and fabricated such a thing from Dixie cups. After your rotor comes the stator, a very important component missing from ordinary fans, which removes the angular component of the flow velocity. You want to move the air down your axis not around it. Getting the air moving along the axis and expanding it out to larger volumes without wasting your effort is hard to do. Adding any stator will help. Doing it quietly and efficiently is one of those rocket science things.

Wikipedia, of course, has a quick article,

and Google turns up an easy design text.