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Experimental study of a dual-loop cooling system for data centers: A combined active and passive cooling approach

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Listed:
  • Wang, Ningbo
  • Tian, Bo
  • Wei, Zuyuan
  • Guo, Yanhua
  • Dong, Zijun
  • Ding, Dekun
  • Shao, Shuangquan

Abstract

The relentless surge in data center (DC) energy consumption and carbon emissions necessitates transformative cooling solutions. Conventional vapor compression (VC) systems face challenges such as high energy use and inefficient utilization of natural cooling sources, while existing composite systems integrating VC with gravity heat pipes (GHP) suffer from refrigerant-lubricant mixing and suboptimal control strategies. This study introduces a dual-loop active-passive cooling system that technically decouples the VC and GHP loops to eliminate refrigerant contamination. Additionally, an adaptive control strategy is developed to maximize the runtime of GHP mode during transition season. The methodology involves experimental validation of the system under three seasonal conditions: summer, transition season and winter in Wuhan, China. Key performance metrics, including energy efficiency ratio (EER), power usage effectiveness (PUE), and cooling load factor (CLF), were evaluated. The findings of this study show that the system achieves annual average PUE, CLF, and EER values of 1.27, 0.21, and 3.62, respectively, outperforming traditional air conditioning systems. Seasonal analysis reveals significant efficiency improvements in colder climates, with winter PUE as low as 1.23 and EER reaching 4.21. The innovation of this work lies in the complete separation of VC and GHP loops, eliminating oil-refrigerant mixing, and the integration of a responsive control algorithm that ensures energy-efficient operation. Overall, the cooling performance of the dual-loop active-passive cooling system is fully compliant with current standards. This study provides a robust solution for enhancing cooling efficiency and offers new insights into carbon emission reduction in DC cooling systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Ningbo & Tian, Bo & Wei, Zuyuan & Guo, Yanhua & Dong, Zijun & Ding, Dekun & Shao, Shuangquan, 2025. "Experimental study of a dual-loop cooling system for data centers: A combined active and passive cooling approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:333:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225031202
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137478
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