Analysis of transient and hysteresis behavior of cross-flow heat exchangers under variable fluid mass flow rate for data center cooling applications

• The transient performance of a crossflow heat exchanger was modeled and studied.
• This study provides design information for data center thermal management.
• The time constant metric was used to study the impacts of many variable inputs.
• The hysteresis behavior associated with heat exchanger dynamic response is studied.
• Specific discussions for practical data center cooling applications are performed.

Effective thermal management of data centers is an important aspect of reducing the energy required for the reliable operation of data processing and communications equipment. Liquid and hybrid (air/liquid) cooling approaches are becoming more widely used in today's large and complex data center facilities. Examples of these approaches include rear door heat exchangers, in-row and overhead coolers and direct liquid cooled servers. Heat exchangers are primary components of liquid and hybrid cooling systems, and the effectiveness of a heat exchanger strongly influences the thermal performance of a cooling system. Characterizing and modeling the dynamic behavior of heat exchangers is important for the design of cooling systems, especially for control strategies to improve energy efficiency. In this study, a dynamic thermal model is solved numerically in order to predict the transient response of an unmixed–unmixed crossflow heat exchanger, of the type that is widely used in data center cooling equipment. The transient response to step and ramp changes in the mass flow rate of both the hot and cold fluid is investigated. Five model parameters are varied over specific ranges to characterize the transient performance. The parameter range investigated is based on available heat exchanger data. The thermal response to the magnitude, time period and initial and final conditions of the transient input functions is studied in detail. Also, the hysteresis associated with the fluid mass flow rate variation is investigated. The modeling results and performance data are used to analyze specific dynamic performance of heat exchangers used in practical data center cooling applications.