This paper describes a new CFD-based modeling capability and design methodology that overcomes the limitations of conventional guidelines and traditional CFD-based approaches and is effective at addressing equipment related cooling and efficiency problems in the data center. Depending on circumstances, 30-50% improvement in cooling system efficiency can be achieved by this … [Read more...]
The Better Box Model
Introduction For the consumer, natural convection cooling or fan-less cooling is the method of choice. It is silent, it is reliable, it is simple, and it is environmentally sound because no additional energy is used to remove the excess heat. For the thermal engineer, fan-less cooling is more problematic. On the plus side, no fan is needed, so there is an attractive cost … [Read more...]
CFD: One measly letter away from CAD
"The stuff you engineers design is too good," the guy from Marketing said, "I need shoddier! Can you make them less efficient and cheaper?" I was working for a small company that made electric power conditioning equipment. Our devices protected against spikes, sags and brownouts in the AC power for mission-critical equipment like air traffic control radar and the computer … [Read more...]
The treacherous streams
During the development of a telecommunications product, an unpredictable phenomenon of air streams within the maze of cards and module was encountered. It could only be compared to suddenly confronting powerful inner streams in a calm ocean. Unlike the ocean, however, these streams appeared in a man-made machine. It seemed as if someone had rewritten the laws of physics. It was … [Read more...]
Beyond the arrow plot – New methods for flow visualization
Within the realm of CFD-based flow analysis, the presentation of data is a vital issue. Researchers and developers need to gain insight, and non-technical managers and commercial staff have a critical need to understand the true ramifications of the data. Unfortunately, current methods for visualizing flow have limitations that make it difficult to interpret vast quantities of … [Read more...]
