PI: Animesh Kundu
Co-PI: Helen M. Chan
University: Lehigh University
Industry partner: Dynalene, Inc.
Dynalene is a U.S.-based leading developer and manufacturer of heat transfer fluids, coolants, and glycols. In this proposed effort, Dynalene and Lehigh University will collaborate to study the effectiveness of propylene glycol (PG)-water-based coolants for data centers. The primary objective is to develop coolant formulations with environmentally friendly inhibitors which would provide superior corrosion protection to the copper cold plates without compromising the high heat transfer efficiency.
Thermal management systems in data centers account for roughly 35 to 40% of their total power consumption. With the rapid expansion of hyperscale data centers, the need for more efficient cooling is paramount. The industry standard azole-based coolants provide acceptable performance but have poor biodegradability; they persist in soil and water, and lead to aquatic toxicity. The rapid expansion of data centers has facilitated an increasing demand for low-toxicity alternatives to conventional copper inhibitors. A market gap exists for environmentally safer yellow metal inhibitors with performance similar to the industrial azole-based inhibitors.
The team will systematically evaluate several sustainable PG-water-based formulations developed by Dynalene and assess their efficacy in inhibiting corrosion towards copper. Dynalene will be performing the corrosion testing, while at Lehigh, the focus will be on characterizing the films and the interfaces between the films and the substrates. The corrosion characteristics will also be studied in this proposed effort.
With the results obtained in this exploratory effort, the LU-Dynalene team will first identify environmentally friendly inhibitor packages as well as the associated risks and challenges and then obtain results of sufficient detail that would enable subsequent commercialization efforts.
The successful development of the new formulations will provide a competitive edge to a Pennsylvania-based company. The students trained in this research will gain experience in an innovative market-driven research and development effort and could be retained in the commonwealth after graduation.