But the benefits of implementing liquid cooling go beyond the energy and cost savings.

“A liquid cooling installation eliminates the need for mechanical equipment for air cooling, which frees up valuable floor space to be converted into additional data hall capacity,” says Green.

Another advantage, in the case of an immersion bath cooling setup, is the lower floor-to-floor height requirement of four meters, similar to a grade A office space.

This major reduction, compared to the standard six meters needed for most existing data centers, comes with the trade-off of needing an increased structural floor loading. “If the same amount of compute is installed within the same floor area, the weight per square meter increases from 12 to 15 kilopascals (kPa) to at least 20 kPa in a liquid-cooling installation,” Green explains.

Despite the clear benefits of liquid cooling, a pivot in cooling technology is a major undertaking for operators, potentially requiring an overhaul of the existing infrastructure and design.

One of the key design changes involves plumbing installations. “Traditionally, we’ve put a lot of effort into keeping water out of the data halls, be it pre-action sprinklers or water detection systems,” says Green.

But in direct-to-chip cooling, for instance, small-bore pipes are required to deliver the coolant directly to the chips for heat removal.