Collaborative core of hybrid cooling system in AI intelligent computing center

The explosion of computing power has forced a revolution in cooling, with the mainstream approach being the combination of air and liquid cooling

The development of large model businesses has driven the power of AI intelligent computing centers to exceed 30~60 kW per single cabinet, posing severe challenges to thermal management due to high-density computing power. The industry consensus is that pure liquid cooling solutions have high construction costs and leakage risks, while pure air cooling cannot meet the cooling needs of ultra-high heat flux density. Air-liquid hybrid cooling is currently the mainstream technology path in the industry. In this architecture, liquid cooling is responsible for dissipating the heat from GPU and CPU cores, while EC fans are key collaborative units in the hybrid cooling architecture for airflow scheduling, supplemental heat control, and outdoor heat exchange, supporting the high reliability and low PUE operation of intelligent computing centers.

Accurately filling the liquid cooling blind spots, EC fans act as the "airflow hub"

In the hybrid cooling architecture, liquid cooling can remove 75% to 85% of the core heat from the cabinet, while the cooling of non-core components still relies on air cooling. At the same time, there are demands in the server room for eliminating local hot spots, preventing and controlling cold and hot airflow short circuits, and discharging heat from dry coolers. This is precisely the core value of EC fans. Based on permanent magnet brushless electronic commutation technology, EC fans can be deployed in multiple nodes such as servers, inter-row air conditioning, EC-Fan-Grid air walls, and dry coolers, to build a complete air circulation covering the cabinet-server room-outdoors, undertake cooling scenarios not covered by liquid cooling, and fill the performance gap in hybrid cooling.

Wide temperature range and long-life design, cost reduction and efficiency improvement throughout the entire life cycle

High-performance EC fans can adapt to the wide temperature range of -40°C to 85°C in intelligent computing centers. The long-life carbon-brushless structure reduces mechanical wear, decreases maintenance frequency, and lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO) over the entire lifecycle. In cold plate liquid cooling projects, EC fan walls optimize cabinet airflow to address overheating issues of components not covered by liquid cooling. At the outdoor heat exchange end, EC fans drive the heat dissipation of dry coolers, maximizing the use of natural cold sources and reducing the operating time and investment proportion of mechanical refrigeration.

EC fans, rather than replacing, collaborate with fluid to build the foundation for future thermal management

Liquid cooling technology is not a replacement for air cooling, but rather a technological upgrade for the computing power cooling system. EC fans play the role of the "airflow hub" in the hybrid cooling system, connecting the thermal conduction pathways of the chip cold plate, cabinet, server room, and outdoor cold source, achieving a balance between cooling performance, construction cost, and operation and maintenance risk. For the construction of future high-density intelligent computing centers, EC fans with high reliability, digitalization, and high energy efficiency are indispensable core hardware in hybrid cooling solutions, laying a solid foundation for thermal management to ensure stable output of large model computing power.