Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system
Although there has been a lot of waste heat utilization studies for the air-cooled data center (DC) systems, the waste heat utilization has not been studied for the liquid-cooled DC systems, which have been rapidly gaining importance for the high-performance Information and Communication Technology...
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sg-ntu-dr.10356-1545082021-12-23T08:40:05Z Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system Kanbur, Baris Burak Wu, Chenlong Duan, Fai School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Engineering::Mechanical engineering Combined Energy System Data Center Cooling Although there has been a lot of waste heat utilization studies for the air-cooled data center (DC) systems, the waste heat utilization has not been studied for the liquid-cooled DC systems, which have been rapidly gaining importance for the high-performance Information and Communication Technology facilities such as cloud computing and big data storage. Compared to the air-cooled systems, higher heat removal capacity of the liquid-cooled DC systems provides better heat transfer performance; and therefore, the waste heat of the liquid-cooled DC systems can be more efficiently utilized in the low-temperature and low-carbon energy systems such as electricity generation via polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. For this purpose, the current study proposes a novel hybrid system that consists of the PEM fuel cell and the two-phase liquid-immersion DC cooling system. The two-phase liquid immersion DC cooling system is one of the most recent and advanced DC cooling methods and has not been considered in the DC waste heat utilization studies before. The PEM fuel cell unit is operated with the hydrogen and compressed air flows that are pre-heated in the DC cooling unit. Due to its original design, the hybrid system brings its own original design criteria and limitations, which are taken into account in the energetic and exergetic assessments. The power density of the PEM fuel cell reaches up to 0.99 kW/m2 with the water production rate of 0.0157 kg/s. In the electricity generation case, the highest energetic efficiency is found as 15.8% whereas the efficiency increases up to 96.16% when different multigeneration cases are considered. The hybrid design deduces that the highest exergetic efficiency and sustainability index are 43.3% and 1.76 and they are 9.4% and 6.6% higher than exergetic and sustainability performances of the stand-alone PEM fuel cell operation, respectively. Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) Nanyang Technological University The authors gratefully thank the funding supports fromthe joint project between Nanyang Technological Univer-sity (NTU) and Defense Science and Technology Agency4770KANBURET AL. (DSTA). We are also grateful to Dr. Wei Tong and SimiaoFan for their help on the study. 2021-12-23T08:40:05Z 2021-12-23T08:40:05Z 2020 Journal Article Kanbur, B. B., Wu, C. & Duan, F. (2020). Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system. International Journal of Energy Research, 44(6), 4759-4772. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/er.5256 0363-907X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154508 10.1002/er.5256 2-s2.0-85081282737 6 44 4759 4772 en International Journal of Energy Research © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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Engineering::Mechanical engineering Combined Energy System Data Center Cooling Kanbur, Baris Burak Wu, Chenlong Duan, Fai Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
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Although there has been a lot of waste heat utilization studies for the air-cooled data center (DC) systems, the waste heat utilization has not been studied for the liquid-cooled DC systems, which have been rapidly gaining importance for the high-performance Information and Communication Technology facilities such as cloud computing and big data storage. Compared to the air-cooled systems, higher heat removal capacity of the liquid-cooled DC systems provides better heat transfer performance; and therefore, the waste heat of the liquid-cooled DC systems can be more efficiently utilized in the low-temperature and low-carbon energy systems such as electricity generation via polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. For this purpose, the current study proposes a novel hybrid system that consists of the PEM fuel cell and the two-phase liquid-immersion DC cooling system. The two-phase liquid immersion DC cooling system is one of the most recent and advanced DC cooling methods and has not been considered in the DC waste heat utilization studies before. The PEM fuel cell unit is operated with the hydrogen and compressed air flows that are pre-heated in the DC cooling unit. Due to its original design, the hybrid system brings its own original design criteria and limitations, which are taken into account in the energetic and exergetic assessments. The power density of the PEM fuel cell reaches up to 0.99 kW/m2 with the water production rate of 0.0157 kg/s. In the electricity generation case, the highest energetic efficiency is found as 15.8% whereas the efficiency increases up to 96.16% when different multigeneration cases are considered. The hybrid design deduces that the highest exergetic efficiency and sustainability index are 43.3% and 1.76 and they are 9.4% and 6.6% higher than exergetic and sustainability performances of the stand-alone PEM fuel cell operation, respectively. |
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School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
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School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Kanbur, Baris Burak Wu, Chenlong Duan, Fai |
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Article |
author |
Kanbur, Baris Burak Wu, Chenlong Duan, Fai |
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Kanbur, Baris Burak |
title |
Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
title_short |
Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
title_full |
Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
title_fullStr |
Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
title_full_unstemmed |
Combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
title_sort |
combined heat and power generation via hybrid data center cooling-polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154508 |
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1720447108283105280 |