UC San Diego engineers have created a passive cooling technology that can drive data centers energy consumption up to 40%.
Their fibre membrane systems remove heat by natural evaporation without the need for fans, pumps or other electricity. Innovation is crucial in critical times when artificial intelligence and cloud computing push energy demand to new heights. Data centers currently consume enough electricity to power the entire city, and cooling systems account for nearly half of that massive energy bill.
The technology is a fundamental shift from active cooling systems that can use more energy to fight passive systems against natural physics. The study, published in the journal Joule, shows how reusing existing materials can solve pressing technical challenges.
Thermal Crisis in Calculation
As demand for AI processing explodes, the computing industry faces unprecedented cooling challenges. Currently, cooling accounts for 40% of total energy use in data centers. Industry forecasts suggest that if current trends continue, global energy use for cooling may more than double by 2030.
Traditional cooling methods are combined with strong heat generated by modern processors. The air conditioning system works when working overtime, while liquid cooling requires a complex water pumping mechanism. Both methods consume a lot of energy and are usually not in line with the cooling requirements of next-generation chips.
Natural style solutions
The new system mimics how plants cool themselves by transpiration. A specially designed fiber membrane is located on a microchannel filled with cooling liquid. The interconnected pores of the membrane are drawn upwards by capillary action, which is the force that pulls the stems of the plant on the water.
When the liquid reaches the surface of the membrane, it evaporates and removes heat. This process does not require external energy because capillaries and evaporation occur naturally. The membrane continuously pulls fresh liquid out of the channels below, resulting in a self-sustaining cooling cycle.
“Evaporation dissipates higher heat while reducing energy compared to traditional air or liquid cooling,” Renkun Chen, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, San Diego, led the project with Professor Shengqiang Cai and Abhishek Saha.
Key Performance Indicators:
- Treats heat flux exceeding 800 watts per square centimeter
- Run stably for several hours without degradation
- Need zero additional energy input to operate
- Use standard fiber membranes originally designed for filtration
- Consistent performance between variable thermal loads
Goldilocks problem solved
Previous attempts to evaporative cooling face a critical design challenge that researchers call the “Goldilocks problem.” Membranes with too small pores can clog impurities. Too big pores can trigger a violent boil, disrupting the cooling process.
The UC San Diego team found that the pores in the standard filter membrane were “just right” for evaporative cooling. These ready-made materials have interconnected pore networks with optimal sizes and can evaporate continuously without boiling.
“Here we use porous fiber membranes with interconnected pores, the right size,” Chen explained. This design allows for effective evaporation without the disadvantages that plague early systems.
Beyond the news release details
What makes this finding particularly important is the mechanical reinforcement breakthrough that was not highlighted in the initial report. The team found that fiber membranes, while very suitable for evaporation, could not withstand the intense thermal stress of high-power electrons at first.
The solution involves the development of specialized mechanical reinforcement technologies that enable delicate fiber structures to maintain integrity under extreme heat flux conditions. This engineering advances the transformation of fragile filter materials into robust thermal management components capable of using industrial applications.
“It was surprising to us that with the right mechanical reinforcement, they not only compete with high heat fluxes – which perform very well below.” This enhancement method allows similar material reuse in other applications where mechanical stress limits performance.
Record performance
Tests reveal the special functions of the membrane. It manages heat fluxes over 800 watts per square centimeter, the highest ever level of passive evaporative cooling systems. In the context, this is enough heat to quickly boil water on contact.
The system also exhibits significant stability during extended operation. Many cooling technologies exhibit performance degradation over time due to scaling, corrosion or structural changes. The fiber membranes maintain a consistent emission rate for multiple hours of continuous operation.
Perhaps most importantly, performance testing shows that the technology works well below its theoretical limits. This suggests that significant space is improved by optimizing membrane performance and system design.
Real-world applications
Chen pointed out that many current equipment has been cooled using evaporation. The heat pipes in laptops and the evaporators in air conditioners prove the effectiveness of the principle. However, until now, applying evaporative cooling to high-power electronic devices has proved challenging.
Membrane technology can change thermal management in multiple industries. Data centers represent the most direct application, but high-performance computing, electric vehicle batteries and solar panel cooling can all benefit from passive heat removal.
Next-generation processors produce heat density that causes conventional cooling methods. Graphics cards for AI training, quantum computers and 5G infrastructure all face thermal bottlenecks that limit performance. Passive evaporative cooling unlocks new levels of computing power.
From the laboratory to the market
The research team did not stop proof of concept. They are actively developing prototypes of cold plates, i.e. prototypes that are directly connected to computer chips for heat dissipation. These prototypes will demonstrate how membrane technology integrates with existing computer hardware.
Researchers are also setting up a startup to commercialize its discoveries. This entrepreneurial step marks confidence in the potential and practical application of technology markets.
“This success demonstrates the potential of reimagining the material,” Chen stressed. “These fiber membranes were originally designed for filtration and no one has explored their use in evaporation before.”
Environmental impact
In addition to energy saving, the technology can also reduce the amount of water used in the cooling system. Traditional data center cooling usually requires a lot of water for heat exchange and humidity control. The use of passive evaporation systems is significantly reduced, while achieving better cooling performance.
Environmental benefits extend to reduce carbon emissions from energy consumption. If widely adopted, the technology could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the computing industry as AI and cloud services continue to expand globally.
As the world strives to address climate change and energy sustainability, innovations that significantly reduce power consumption while improving performance represents a critical step towards a more sustainable technological future.
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