Leakage detection and solution for liquid cooling plate

    Liquid leakage in liquid cooled servers can cause various potential risks and damages. Firstly, liquid leakage may cause device short circuits, damage to equipment, and potentially trigger fires. Secondly, liquid leakage may also cause corrosion to electronic components and circuits inside the server, thereby affecting the performance and reliability of the server. In addition, a large amount of leaked liquid can cause chaos within the data center and require significant time and cost to clean up. Therefore, liquid leakage poses certain risks and damages to the operation and maintenance of data centers.
 

Deploy leak sensors:

    Leakage sensor technology is connected to the server backplane management controller (BMC) and then integrated into the server chassis. Leakage sensors are deployed at different locations in the chassis and are configured through firmware and hardware to monitor liquid leaks in real-time and take proactive measures to protect the equipment.
     The commonly used rope leakage sensor is a sensor device used to detect liquid leaks. It consists of sensor ropes, power cables, and circuits. When using a rope leakage sensor in a liquid cooled server, a common installation method is to install the sensor rope at the pipeline connection or the lowest point of the storage tank. This installation method is suitable for application scenarios that can tolerate small leaks, as the sensor can only detect leaks when the leakage rate is large enough to flow through gravity and come into contact with the sensor.

Anhydrous two-phase system:
    Since  water is an ideal heat transfer agent, a water-based coolant composed of propylene glycol (PG), deionized water (DI), and additives is often used in server liquid cooling systems. Over time, water can cause corrosion of metal components, leading to expensive maintenance or replacement costs. As corrosion intensifies, potential water leakage will lead to short circuits and damage to the equipment.
   The anhydrous two-phase liquid cooling system aims to address the above drawbacks by utilizing the insulation characteristics of dielectric refrigerants to avoid liquid leakage and short circuits, and relying on the efficient two-phase boiling and condensation process of refrigerants to maximize cooling efficiency.

3D printing cold plate:
   This integrated cold plate eliminates cold plate gaskets and joints, and supports the free design of internal fins, which can withstand water pressure of 6 bar and above. 3D printing technology, as an alternative to brazing and assembling cold plates, can minimize the risk of leakage in cold plate liquid cooling applications. This technology supports the production of more complex geometric shapes, achieving better performance in heat exchange and liquid pressure drop.

    In order to get rid of these risks, it is very important to implement liquid leakage detection and take mitigation measures in liquid cooled servers.