Game-changing innovations might start with a single idea, but most only become reality through a team of inspired collaborators. Recently Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) was lucky enough to be part of one of these teams and help Asperitas, a data centre innovator, develop a new way to cool servers.

Air flow powered by fans is the traditional method for cooling within data centres, though it is less than ideal. It is expensive, unreliable and inefficient as it requires massive amounts of energy for adequate operation. From an environmental and sustainability standpoint this is untenable. Asperitas company founder Rolf Brink began looking at alternative ways to cool servers and came up with a more efficient solution – Immersed Computing.
[bctt tweet=”Immersed Cooling provides a sustainable, energy efficient solution to cooling data centre servers.” via=”no”]

Immersed Computing works through Immersion Cooling, which is the complete immersion of electronic components in a dielectric liquid that captures all of the heat generated. Appropriate dielectric liquids can absorb approximately 1,500 times more heat energy than air with the same volumes and temperatures. While Immersion Cooling was first used in the mid-20th century it was largely abandoned by the late 1960s as the electronics industry shifted attention away from energy efficiency. In order to make Immersed Computing possible for servers and the data centre environment, Asperitas had to solve a series of problems. This included finding suitable liquids, designing their circulation and creating an environment for the system that prevents leaks and spills- all the while making sure the system would be flexible enough to work in different data centre situations.

A critical part of this research was the trialling of various systems. For that Asperitas needed IT materials, which is where SRS enters the picture.

SRS’s partnership with Asperitas began through Green IT Amsterdam, an organisation that aims to decrease the carbon footprint of Dutch data centres. SRS, the group’s only IT reuse and recycling provider, has access to a large quantity of retired server materials, and was able to supply Asperitas with all of the materials required for testing at little or no cost. Asperitas staff visited SRS’s Haarlem facility on numerous occasions to speak with our technicians to discuss and find the most suitable IT parts and components for the test set-up. SRS was able to internally source almost all IT materials needed to build the test set-up that later would prove that Immersed Computing processes work.

As a technical partner on the project, SRS was proud to be with Asperitas at the launch of Immersed Computing at Cloud Expo Europe in March. Maarten Vink, International Business Development Manager at SRS, said, “I am thrilled that this incredible idea is now a reality. When I met Rolf at Green IT Amsterdam and heard him speak about his idea I was intrigued by the concept and impressed with his vision and dedication. It was clear that because of our extensive work in data centre decommissioning, SRS was in a position to help during the system’s R&D stages. I know this process will be of great interest to our data centre clients, as they often ask SRS to help them find more sustainable solutions for their operations.”

SRS can create a secure, sustainable bespoke solution for your data centre decommissioning project visit. Learn more.

To see Immersed Computing in action visit http://ow.ly/6W5d30azq7C