Wet' computer server could cut internet waste

[rootsrat]

I never suspected that guys at the uni in the city where I live are working on something like this: 

 

I really like the idea! What are your thoughts on this guys?

[MontyMM]

I think it's a very promising idea.  There are already active data centres testing a similar concept with mineral oil.

 

In fact, my new PC is very lucky that it didn't end up in one of these.  It's the sort of loopy thing I like to do.

[EssArrBee]

So a computer full of baby oil? The smell might attract females so I'm all for it. It's also good to soak your razors in that stuff to keep the blades clean, lasts twice as long.

 

I think that there should be some research into replacing some of the metal components with carbon fiber like you see on the brakes of high performance automobiles. Those thing can get so hot they turn red, and then cool to the touch in one second. This would be kind of bridge until we get those fancy graphene components.

[TechAngel85]

The idea of submerged computers in some type of liquid for cooling as been around for a really long time. It's just rarely been put into use. I can remember an episode of The Screen Savers on TechTV (now G4) in which they showed this concept.

[Besidilo]

As long as the liquid is non-conductive (most watercooling fluids become conductive after a few weeks, sometimes a couple of months) and there are no moving parts, there should be no issues with submerging your workstation in it. At all.

 

Heck, I'd like an aquarium-PC myself. It would certainly look nicer than that bulky tower under my desk. If only I didn't have to disassemble it every other month...

[rootsrat]

The stuff from Leeds Uni is not conductive (quite obviously :) ). The heat it takes away from the PCs can be recycled and used to heat the room - that is what I think makes a HUGE difference to alternative solutions. Not for home-PC user, but I'm talking commercial use, huge server rooms etc.

[z929669]

What a mess at upgrade time though ... Besidilo makes a good point about "acquired conductivity". We would expect that it is possible that conductive material would eventually leech into the non-conductive medium over time and literally "shock" the system.

 

Fans also do not work with viscous materials like liquid.

 

I like the idea of convection of heat to liquid across a sealed barrier. This keeps components dry and simple to work with physically, whilst allowing one to still put the heat within the liquid to use. Water is much, much better at holding and keeping heat (i.e., high specific heat) than oil, so it would be much better at doing the double duty.