Manufacturing Energy Analysis of a Microchannel Heat Exchanger for High-density Servers

The power consumed by servers transforms into heat dissipated within IT equipment racks, which has led to the challenge of thermal management in data centers. This challenge has increased with the emergence of high-density servers. As heat dissipated per unit volume increases, conventional cooling becomes less effective and less efficient in maintaining an adequate environment for IT equipment. Liquid cooling has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to provide a reliable environment for servers and to reduce the load on conventional cooling systems. While microchannel process technology (MPT)-based devices offer a space-efficient approach to liquid cooling of high-density servers, MPT device manufacturing has been shown to be cost and energy intensive. Manufacturing of an MPT heat exchanger to liquid cool the warm exiting air from server racks is discussed. Manufacturing process energy analysis is conducted and compared for photochemical machining and two joining methods: diffusion bonding and laser welding. A process model for laser welding is developed, which enhances energy analysis. It is found that laser welding results in significantly lower life cycle energy impact than diffusion bonding due to reduced process energy and improved yield.