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The Data Dome: A Server Farm In a Geodesic Dome
1sockchuck writes In a unique approach to data center design, the new high-performance computing center in Oregon is housed in a geodesic dome. The new facility at the Oregon Health and Science University requires no mechanical air conditioning, using outside air to racks of servers reaching densities of 25kW per cabinet. The design uses an aisle containment system to separate hot and cold air, and can recirculate server exhaust heat to adjust cold aisle temperatures in the winter. It's a very cool integration of many recent advances in data center design, combining elements of the Yahoo Chicken Coop and server silo in Quebec. The school has posted a virtual tour that provides a deep technical dive.
I wonder if they have any issues with moisture from constantly cycling in outside air? Its being heated, so I guess it won't condense, but still seems like it could be a concern over the long term. Is the air filtered? Particulates would be another concern, or would they just do some sort of cleaning?
Where the rubber meets the road is if the machines are in temperature and humidity specifications for the equipment, so warranties are not voided.
If this is workable, even during the winter or when it is extremely rainy/humid, this might be a useful idea. However, there is only a limited set of climates that this would work in. The PNW with its moderate temperatures makes sense for this. However, if I attempted to do the same thing in Texas, come summertime, I'd have a building full of BBQ-ed servers.
They should put the data center in a pyramid. Then, the servers would last forever!
You are welcome on my lawn.
Oh, come on; everything's more futuristic in a geodesic dome.
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In Portland, it's reasonably cool MOST OF THE TIME.
Temperatures reach or exceed 90 F (32 C) on 14 days per year and reach or exceed 100 F (38 C) on 1.4 days per year on average.
I'm thinking this project will last about 350 days.
Why did the chicken coop have two doors?
.
.
Becauase if it had four doors, it'd be a chicken sedan!
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
The article explicitly states when the temperatures REACHED (as in already happened) 100+, the water cooling units designed for that very purpose cycled on 10 minutes out of every thirty to keep incoming air within tolerance to cool the servers.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1955. The Manchester Computing Centre was designed to be one gigantic heat sink for their computers in the basement, using simple convection currents, ultra-large corridors and strategically-placed doors to regulate the temperature. It worked ok. Not great, but well enough. The computers generated enormous heat all year round, reducing the need for heating in winter. (Manchester winters can be bitingly cold, as the Romans discovered. Less so, now that Global Warming has screwed the weather systems up.)
The design that Oregon is using is several steps up, yes, but is basically designed on the same principles and uses essentially the same set of tools to achieve the results. Nobody quite knows the thermal properties of the location Alan Turing built the Manchester Baby in, the laboratory was demolished a long time ago. Bastards. However, we know where his successors worked, because that's the location of the MCC/NCC. A very unpleasant building, ugly as hell, but "functional" for the purpose for which it was designed. Nobody is saying the building never got hot - it did - but the computers didn't generally burst into flames, which they would have done if there had been no cooling at all.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It's only cold in space when you are in the shade. Direct sunlight is pretty hot stuff, but if you use reflective surfaces it limits the absorbed energy.
The problem with space though, is it is a vacuum and usually weightless. No convective cooling, only radiative cooling. Which is why they put a huge ammonia based cooling system on the ISS that drives external hot plates they keep in the shade when they can. So apparently, cooling stuff in space isn't all that easy or cost effective.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Not because I would object though.. But because it gets pretty hot here from time to time.
So, if you move it north, why not? Heck, the south pole is pretty cold most of the year..
I have a better idea, how about we just put server farms out at sea, then just use seawater from a few hundred feet down for cooling. That works great, even in the tropics.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
A dome doesn't care which way the wind blows, because it's round. Your long low building might have issues with that.
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
As described, after looking at their materials, I don't see an advantage to the radial design over a grid design. There is nothing to that which would improve airflow, and it leaves huge underutilized areas.
On the other hand, a traditional grid design optimizes the space, and it would still allow for the same airflow.
It's not a matter of being round, or having dead space, it's simple things we teach children. Square boxes don't fit through round holes. Round objects don't stack optimally.
One of the Equinix datacenters in Los Angeles (previously Pihana Pacific) has all of it's cooling on one side of the room, and returns on the other side. Each row is basically a wind tunnel. There is no appreciable temperature difference between the two sides. Both the front and back of the cabinets have the same airflow, and maintain roughly the same temperature.
As far as the total power load, they could keep the load the same, and have almost half of the building for just storage.
Of course, a square building that the industry uses as a standard for this kind of work, would not make the news. No one would be talking about it.
I guess if they have money to burn and real estate to waste, it doesn't matter what shape they make it or how much space is underutilized.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
TARDIS racks are great! I can get 932U of equipment in the space of a normal 42U rack, and I get the results before I enter my data!
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.