Supercomputer Cooling System Uses Refrigerant to Replace Water

Sandia National Laboratories researchers designed a cooling system for supercomputer centers that is expected to save four to five million gallons of water annually in New Mexico if installed at Sandia's computing center, and hundreds of millions of gallons nationally if the method is widely adopted. It is being tested at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which expects to save a million gallons annually. The system, built by Johnson Controls and called the Thermosyphon Cooler Hybrid System, cools like a refrigerator without the expense and energy needs of a compressor.