ASHRAE Journal - May 2024 - 8

LETTERS
Corrosion With Copper Plates
I read the article " Accelerated Degradation of Copper
Cold Plates in Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling in Data
Centers " in the February 2024 issue of ASHRAE Journal
with great interest and have two questions:
1. Is cold plate liquid cooling
gaining signifi cant traction
compared to data center air
cooling?
2. For the liquid-cooled cold
plate systems presently in service,
are corrosion problems causing
catastrophic failures?
If both answers are " yes, " a root
cause analysis for the corrosion
problem may be need to be
conducted as a funded research
project-specifi cally, looking at the
possibility of a direct current (dc)
voltage attack as the root cause.
The research project would include
electrical measurements performed inside an active
data center.
The scope of the research project would include
measurement of dc voltage magnitude on the cold
plate, determination of the dc voltage source and
path, observation of cold plate pitting damage and any
remediation possibilities.
Gary R. Gabriel, P.E.
Member ASHRAE
Waleska, Ga.
CHINTHAPARTHY RESPONDS
Thank you for your letter. I hope these answers will
help.
1. Yes, cold plate cooling technology is gaining more
Tina Brueckner and Jennifer
Isenbeck discuss how industry
practitioners can follow ASHRAE
Guideline 42 to enhance indoor
environmental quality for occupants.
8
ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.org MAY 2 0 2 4
with great interest and have two questions:
popularity in data centers, as cold plates offer high
energy effi ciency, better thermal performance and
suitability for high-density servers. This optimizes
space and reduces operational costs.
With cold plate cooling technology,
we can go up to 150 W/cm2 per CPU/
graphics processing unit.
space and reduces operational costs.
With cold plate cooling technolog
we can go up to 150 W/cm
graphics processing unit.
2. Yes, corrosion is a major concern
2. Yes, corrosion is a major concern
while using cold plate cooling
while using cold plate cooling
technology. Most of the coolants are
water based. Long-term use of these
coolants without monitoring of
corrosion inhibitor levels can cause
formation of oxides at the hot spot
regions, resulting in degrading
the surface and reducing the cold
technology. Most of the coolants are
water based. Long-term use of these
coolants without monitoring of
corrosion inhibitor levels can cause
formation of oxides at the hot spot
regions, resulting in degrading
the surface and reducing the cold
plate's effi ciency for long-term use.
Yes, dc voltage attack could
be one of the reasons for the
corrosion, but my main focus was
to study the variation in coolant's chemistry under
accelerated scenarios.
Lochan Sai Reddy Chinthaparthy
Student Member ASHRAE
Arlington, Texas
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ASHRAE Journal - May 2024

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