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."

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.

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

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.

Re:Why bother?

[harrkev]

This is not my field, but I would imagine that it would be because business are averse to risk. Fans are known and reliable. Watercooling is new and unknown in a 19" rack. What if YOU were the first one to suggest installing it, and it leaked? Bye bye job.

If an enthusiast's system leaks, he misses the next LAN party. If it happend on the top computer on a rack, that system goes down. The water then trickes down to the next lower computer and destroys it. Maybe the water will go down to the next computer under that.

I do admit that some clever engineering to put drain pans leading to drain hoses can connect to a bucket on the floor. But, somehow, I can't imagine too many business buying that.

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!

Re:Why bother?

[caffeinatedOnline]

I don't know much about in a rack system, but I had been running a Big Water [thermaltake.com] system in my gaming rig for about a year, and it developed a slow leak. Mind you, they recommend that you check the fittings every so often for leaks, which is something that I didn't do as religiously as I should have. I had modified it by including 2 VGA coolers, and a leak developed on one of the VGA coolers and a smaller leak on the CPU block.

The leak from the CPU block was such a small leak that it dripped sludge, as the water evaporated before it could actually drip, and the residues built up. Unfortunately, the sludge landed right on the back of one of the video cards, on the GPU connections. Crossfire didn't much appreciate the signals that the video card was sending, and pretty much fried both cards and the PCI-e slots on the motherboard.

The leak from the VGA block dripped on my audio card, and fried that. In the end, I ended up having to replace 2 video cards, an audio card, motherboard, and a 1 gig stick of ram (fried as well, but can't be sure that it was caused by the water.) I can imagine that a leak in a rack would be even more catastrophic.

Hard Lesson

[Gr8Apes]

That's a hard lesson learned there, spend the $35 for a non-conductive liquid and save hundreds, if not thousands in hardware costs. The same thing applies to UPSes.

Until it lands in the dust

[A nonymous Coward]

Won't it then become conductive, or rather the mixture of wet dust?