NON THERMAL RELIABILITY CONSIDERATIONS FOR OIL COOLED DATA CENTERS AND ITS SERVICEABILITY

Abstract

The interest in Oil immersion cooling is increasing day by day which can be attributed to the recent research that shows the potential of its performance when compared to other techniques that add a little more expenses to the organization. Even though the performance of oil immersion cooling has its own capabilities and advantages, this technique is not widely adopted and there is limited published information regarding the important aspects of the design of the system. This paper presents the non-thermal aspects of oil immersion cooling and explains the chemistry of mineral oil and the factors that affect its performance. The main focus is on the reliability and compatibility of the materials when immersed in mineral oil. The leaching of the materials particularly plastics is regarded as recurring effect and is an important factor when the properties of material is taken into consideration. The issue of serviceability is a crucial segment of oil cooling which is often raised by the adversaries. Serviceability of oil immersion data centers is also considered where its contamination and servicing issues are highlighted and some recommendations are proposed. The safety concerns and health hazards which include flammability of oil is also considered as a valid concern when the IT equipment is immersed. Various operational and designs changes come into light when converting to oil immersion cooling from air cooling data centers.