The partnership between Intel and Submer, initially announced in early 2022, has finally borne fruit. This week, the two companies unveiled the Forced Convection Heat Sink (FCHS) package designed to cool down chips with thermal design power of 1000W and above. The device promises to be a reliable and cost-effective solution for future datacenter processors with extremely high heat dissipation.
"Many have challenged the technological runway of single-phase immersion cooling," said Daniel Pope, Co-Founder and CEO of Submer. "The Forced Convection Heat Sink is the undeniable proof that immersion is here to compete head-on with other liquid cooling technologies, including Direct Liquid Cooled water-based cold plates."
Intel and Sumber said that the FCHS combines the benefits of forced convection with passive cooling mechanisms and is designed to be integrated seamlessly into existing server and immersion tank setups, ensuring operational continuity and enhanced thermal management in high-performance computing environments. The two companies did not reveal how exactly FCHS operates but said the solution is reliable, cost-effective, and adaptable. Some of its parts can be 3D printed, they said.
To demonstrate the device's potential, Intel and Submer used it to cool down an undisclosed Xeon processor with an over 800W TDP in a single-phase immersion system. The two companies claim that their development is a formidable competitor for liquid cooling solutions.
"An immersion heat sink utilizing forced convection is a key innovation in taking single-phase immersion cooling beyond the current barriers, allowing single-phase immersion not only to be a solution of today but also a solution of the future," said Mohan J Kumar, Intel Fellow.
The FCHS is scheduled for an official presentation at the OCP Global Summit from October 17 through October 19, 2023. Live demonstrations at the summit are expected to showcase the real-time effectiveness and practical applicability of the FCHS, emphasizing its readiness to meet contemporary and future datacenter cooling needs.
