Traditional data centres are air-cooled. They use large fans to draw the hot air away from the computers, and expel the waste heat to the atmosphere.
For every 100 units of computing power, it takes another 40 units of power for cooling and other services, resulting in a
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.4 (140%).
In a liquid-cooled data centre, the servers are immersed in a non-conducting liquid, which absorbs their heat. Liquid-cooled data centres are much more efficient, with a PUE as low as 1.03(103%).
But the waste heat is still wasted. NovoPower systems allow it to be converted back into power, replacing some of the electricity the data centre would otherwise have had to buy.
THE PATENT-PENDING NOVOPOWER SOLUTION IS AN ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE SYSTEM, USING MODULAR FREE-PISTON LINEAR GENERATORS.
THE PATENT-PENDING NOVOPOWER SOLUTION IS AN ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE SYSTEM, USING MODULAR FREE-PISTON LINEAR GENERATORS.
THE PATENT-PENDING NOVOPOWER SOLUTION IS AN ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE SYSTEM, USING MODULAR FREE-PISTON LINEAR GENERATORS.
Organic Rankine Cycle* optimized for varying temperatures and flows
Integrated linear generator and modular design allow high efficiencies across a broad range of operating conditions
Organic Rankine Cycle* optimized for varying temperatures and flows
Integrated linear generator and modular design allow high efficiencies across a broad range of operating conditions
Heat from the servers is absorbed by the nonconducting liquid in which they are immersed.
This liquid is much hotter than the air leaving a traditional data center, but it is still not hot enough for traditional generation systems.
First, we have to convert thermal power (heat) to mechanical power (work). We do that with an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) process, where the working fluid and thermal cycle are optimized for the liquid cooling context.
This hot fluid is circulated through a heat-exchanger, which uses the heat to vaporize an environmentally friendly working fluid.
This pressurized vapour expands, pushing a piston through a cylinder.
Then, we convert this mechanical power to electricity, using a linear generator built right into the cylinder. Magnets in the piston are pushed past past coils in the cylinder walls, producing electricity, which is returned to the data centre to help run its computers.
This is all done without converting linear to rotary motion. Leaving out the crankshaft means fewer moving parts and a lighter, simpler engine. More important, it doesn’t have operational parameters “baked in”, allowing it to operate at high efficiency across a wide range of conditions.
It sounds easy, but it is not.
NovoPower’s integrated free-piston generator rolls the mechanical and electrical conversions into a single device, with just one moving part: the piston!
First, we have to convert thermal power (heat) to mechanical power (work). We do that with an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) process, where the working fluid and thermal cycle are optimized for the liquid cooling context.
This hot fluid is circulated through a heat-exchanger, which uses the heat to vaporize an environmentally friendly working fluid.
This pressurized vapour expands, pushing a piston through a cylinder.
Then, we convert this mechanical power to electricity, using a linear generator built right into the cylinder. Magnets in the piston are pushed past past coils in the cylinder walls, producing electricity, which is returned to the data centre to help run its computers.
This is all done without converting linear to rotary motion. Leaving out the crankshaft means fewer moving parts and a lighter, simpler engine. More important, it doesn’t have operational parameters “baked in”, allowing it to operate at high efficiency across a wide range of conditions.
It sounds easy, but it is not.
NovoPower’s integrated free-piston generator rolls the mechanical and electrical conversions into a single device, with just one moving part: the piston!