Innovative cooling technologies for data centres

Johnson Controls, renowned for its expertise in crafting smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings, has recently made a substantial strategic investment in Accelsius, a specialist in two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling technology for data centres. This innovative approach exploits the process of phase change from liquid to vapor to enhance heat extraction efficiency while reducing energy consumption significantly.

Effective and reliable cooling is indispensable for any data centre, ensuring chips operate at optimal temperatures crucial to the foundations of our digital economy and daily life. However, with cooling systems consuming 30% to 40% of a data centre’s overall energy, the need for energy-efficient and water-saving cooling solutions poses one of the industry's foremost challenges.

"With the sharp growth in AI, cooling innovation has become a front-line imperative to meet the increasing demands of high-density data centres," notes Austin Domenici, Vice President and General Manager at Johnson Controls Global Data Center Solutions. "Our mission is to utilise our capabilities to propel the industry ahead, revealing new peaks in energy efficiency throughout the cooling chain."

Accelsius CEO Josh Claman highlights, "Our two-phase, direct-to-chip (D2C) cooling solutions employ non-conductive fluids in efficient loops to align with the rigorous demands of power-dense AI and HPC workloads. This approach realises 35% operational expenditure savings compared to single-phase direct-to-chip solutions."

Johnson Controls has been at the forefront of transformative innovations in data centre technologies. Among its notable achievements is the YORK® YVAM magnetic bearing chiller, which uses 40% less power annually compared to its counterparts, ensuring zero on-site water consumption. This advanced technology has garnered accolades, including a place on Fortune's "Change the World" list, as well as recognition from ABI Research as a leader and innovator in the data centre domain.

Further strengthening its portfolio, Johnson Controls has introduced the Silent-Aire Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) platform, offering scalable cooling capacities ranging from 500kW to over 10MW, adaptable to any data centre's specific needs. Adopting such comprehensive thermal management solutions by Johnson Controls enables owners and operators to dramatically enhance overall facility efficiency, notably reducing non-IT energy consumption by more than 50% across major North American data centre hubs.