Podcast #133: Effortless Liquid Cooling with JetCool

Sep 12, 2024

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Closed-loop liquid cooling from JetCool delivers power efficiencies and increased CPU/GPU performance.

Liquid cooling continues to gain traction in the enterprise, especially with the intense compute requirements associated with AI. CPUs and GPUs are running hotter, and traditional air cooling struggles to keep those temperatures down. We have covered several liquid cooling systems over the past few years, with JetCool being a standout player.

After running into JetCool during SuperComputing 2023, we brought their technology into our Ohio lab, nestled inside an R760. To say we were impressed would be an understatement. To gain more insight into this technology, Brian invited JetCool founder and CEO Bernie Malouin for this podcast.

Bernie describes himself as a technical professional with demonstrated experience from concept studies through deployment. By the way, Bernie also holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. That’s impressive, but before he founded JetCool, Bernie spent eight years at MIT Lincoln Labs. He was the technical and programmatic lead for a multi-sponsor research project to implement advanced cooling technology in high-power RF devices for advanced electronics applications.

Although this podcast is less than 40 minutes long, Brian and Bernie cover a lot of ground. It’s worth viewing or listening in its entirety, but if you are short on time or need specifics on a particular topic, we have broken down the conversation into five-minute chunks so you can skip around.

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span> 00:00 Introduction

The landscape
It’s AI’s fault – or is it hype
GPUs and CPUs need to cool it
It’s about efficiency
What’s the power budget?
Wait! Liquid-Assisted?

06:00 Clarify Liquid Assist, please

Getting technical
Cold plates, closed-loop, and radiators, oh my
Efficiencies in cooling with JETCOOL
Arrays of tiny fluid jets
Surgically removing heat
Now, where are those heat nodes?
Profiling the CPU

10:00 Relationships with the chip makers

Staying ahead of the curve
Chip makers – partners in design
Details on where to cool
Tiny pumps
- micro DC brushless pumps
- circulating fluid throughout the server

15:00 Let’s talk about pumps, cold plates and radiators

Radiator technology
- Modified technology in Formula One racing
- Proven reliability
- Cold plates
  - Originally developed for aerospace applications
- What about the liquid?
  - JETCOOL uses PG 25 (Propylene glycol)
    - Benefits
      - non-corrosive
      - natural antifreeze
      - non-toxic
      - ready to use
- Top off the fluid
  - can you go to a jiffy lube?

22:00 What happens when the hose breaks

Leak tests
Overpressure tests
Only 8-10 Oz of fluid in the system
- Small puncture
- faulty seal
- might experience a few drops, but they evaporate
- the telltale sign that there is a problem
  - CPU temperature rises
Leak detection mechanisms

25:00 Looking for the signals

OCP is dedicating two days for liquid cooling for their next conference
Partners can do a better job of educating customers about liquid cooling
- Upgrade through the channel
- driving the pull-through

30:00 Yeah, but how much does it cost?

An upgrade is about ten percent of the system price
ROI
- within about six months
Suitable for co-location services
- gaining efficiencies in co-lo facilities
On-premises deployments
- limited space
- limited budget
- power constraints
Heavy lifting performed by the Intern and Kevin

37:00 Silence is liquid gold

One of the best benefits
Simple to try

Wrap-up: Stop by JETCOOL at OCP in October!

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