In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team looks at some interesting new developments in HPC Power & Cooling including: the Solar-Powered Hikari Supercomputer at TACC that is demonstrating the advantages HVDC racks. Plus, Aquila’s new OCP Server Platform has an innovative, fan-less design based on liquid cooling technology from Clustered Systems that supports up to 100 Kw per rack.
Podcast: Solar-Powered Hikari Supercomputer at TACC Demonstrates HVDC Efficiencies
September 16, 2016 by
Engineers of the Hikari HVDC power feeding system predict it will 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.”
