In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team looks at some interesting new developments in HPC Power & Cooling:
- Solar-Powered Hikari Supercomputer at TACC Demonstrates HVDC Efficiencies. The HVDC technologies in the Hikari supercomputer at TACC could save 15 percent compared to conventional systems. “The 380 volt design reduces the number of power conversions when compared to AC voltage systems,” said James Stark, director of Engineering and Construction at the Electronic Environments Corporation (EEC), a Division of NTT FACILITIES. “What’s interesting about that,” Stark added, “is the computers themselves – the supercomputer, the blade servers, cooling units, and lighting – are really all designed to run on DC voltage. By supplying 380 volts DC to Hikari instead of having an AC supply with conversion steps, it just makes a lot more sense. That’s really the largest technical innovation.”
- Aquila Launches Liquid Cooled OCP Server Platform. Using a fan-less design based on liquid cooling technology from Clustered Systems, the new Aquarius rack from Aquila can support up to 100 Kw. “Aquarius is designed from the ground up to meet reliability and the feature-specific demands of high performance and high density computing. Our design goal was to reduce the cost of cooling server resources to well under 5% of overall data center usage.”
Plus, in out Catch of the Week, Dan is impressed with the evil innovation behind the new USB Killer.
