Intel Adds Sensors to Chips

The purpose of Intel's addition of sensors is to measure the temperature of the server's incoming and outgoing channels as well as the system's airflow. According to Jay Vincent, senior solutions architect at Intel's high-density cloud computing department, Intel's chip products have already been equipped with power sensors.

Jay Vincent said: “With the help of sensors, it helps the data center cooling system to perform thermal inspection more accurately, discovering the IT equipment that needs to be replaced during the simulation process, and ensuring the efficient operation of the cooling system.”

Cooling equipment (such as chillers and air flow control) in the data center account for as much as 40% of total data center expenses. Vincent said: "According to the US Department of Energy estimates, half of the cooling capacity in its data center has actually been wasted."

Cooling systems are carefully configured to provide the right amount of cool air to cool the data center. However, when the IT department installs new equipment, it is difficult to avoid hot air and cold air mixing with each other, and the cooling capacity will be wasted.

Vincent believes that some data centers have wireless sensors installed, which can also help manage monitoring air temperature. However, such wireless sensors are not only expensive to deploy but are often installed at the top of racks, air conditioning units and other locations far from the server itself, resulting in inaccurate data.

At Datacenter Dynamics in San Francisco, Intel and Future Facilitie discussed the issue of how to increase data center reliability. Intel proposed the development of a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model tool to simulate the flow of airflow in the data center. The CFD tool collects server temperature, airflow, and power data, and locates server cooling air intakes or other gas recirculation emissions through a simulation process.

Embedded temperature sensors eliminate the need for external sensors to monitor remote distances from the server. These sensors provide real-time simulation and optimization based on IT load capacity by providing real-time feedback on power flow and CPU utilization data. Sensors and CFD models bring the possibility of designing and operating automatic cooling control systems.

Future Facilities is the leading data center infrastructure simulation software vendor, and its senior engineering service manager Akhil Docca said: “This thermal management method enables data center managers to more accurately understand data center cooling conditions, eliminate external sensors, and provide more accurate Plan the capacity of the data center and greatly reduce the power and cooling costs."