Journal and Conference Papers

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of High Compute Density Data Centers to Assure System Inlet Air Specifications

Reprinted from the proceedings of the Pacific Rim ASME International Electronic Packaging Technical Conference and Exhibition (IPACK 2001)
© 2001, ASME

Chandrakant D. Patel, Cullen E. Bash and Christian Belady of HP and Lennart Stahl and Danny Sullivan of Emerson Energy Systems

Due to high heat loads, designing the air conditioning system in a data center using simple energy balance is no longer adequate. Data center design cannot rely on intuitive design of air distribution. It is necessary to model the air flow and temperature distribution in a data center. This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics model of a
prototype data center to make the case for such modeling.
Read the full paper here. Requires Adobe Acrobat.

About the Authors:

Chandrakant D. Patel is a principal scientist in charge of electronics cooling research at HP Labs. He established the thermal technology research program at HP Labs in 1995 and is responsible for strategically engaging in research of cooling technologies for future HP microprocessors, workstations and servers.

Between 1991 and 1995, he worked on the VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) program, and was responsible for the development of the thermo-mechanical solution for the VLIW microprocessor. The VLIW work became the basis for Intel's next-generation Itanium architecture. He has been granted seven U.S. patents in thermo-mechanical design of microprocessors and systems.

Cullen E. Bash is a member of the technical staff at HP Labs. He joined the Thermo-Mechanical Architecture group in 1998 and is involved with thermal modeling, metrology and cooling technology research in scales ranging from microprocessors to rooms. Prior to joining HP Labs, he worked on the thermo-mechanical design of various HP servers and PA-RISC microprocessor modules. He holds two U.S. patents related to electronics cooling.

Christian Belady is a principal scientist for HP's High Performance Systems Lab in Richardson, Texas and is responsible for the power and cooling design and strategy of the center's high-end computers. In addition, he is responsible for identifying and developing key technologies for future products. His latest interests focus on power consumption of computers and their impact on facility and municipal infrastructures.

Christian has received the IMAPS 1999 William D. Ashman Achievement Award as well as the North Texas 1998-99 Mechanical Engineer of the Year Award. He is also a Fellow and Lifetime Member of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS). He holds six U.S. patents.