Cray, Inc., a global provider of supercomputer systems to government, industry and academia, has released ECOphlex (PHase-change Liquid EXchange), a new liquid cooling technology that allows computers to operate speeds of multiple petaflops (thousands of trillions of calculations per second) while delivering significant energy savings by enabling greater system density, reducing the need for expensive air cooling and limiting the need for chilled water.
The ECOphlex technology provides the flexibility to utilize either vertical air cooling or the new liquid cooling technology that converts an inert coolant, R134a, from a liquid to a gas. Systems with ECOphlex technology have the flexibility to use chilled or unchilled air at various temperatures and are designed to be “room air neutral,” meaning that the temperature of the air entering the system is roughly the same as the temperature of the air exiting the system.
Cray XT5 systems will begin shipping with ECOphlex technology later this year.
