Performance study of a coupled flat-plate liquid-cooling and air-cooling system in high-density communication cabinets

With the increasing demand for information services, the number of data centers has surged, leading to a significant rise in energy consumption. Traditional air-cooling systems can no longer meet the cooling requirements of high-density cabinets. To address the thermal management challenges in high-heat-density data centers, this paper proposes a thermal management system that couples flat-plate liquid cooling with air cooling for cabinet-level cooling. The cooling performance of the coupled thermal management system is compared with that of a traditional air-cooling system, and experimental studies are conducted to investigate the cooling performance and variation patterns of the flat-plate liquid-cooling and air-cooling coupled system. The results indicate that the coupled cooling system improves the average cooling efficiency by 59.77% compared to traditional air-cooling cabinets, with a maximum heat dissipation of 19 378.35 kJ, a maximum cooling efficiency of 88.96%, and a maximum coefficient of performance of 1.54. The residual heat after heat exchange can be used for domestic water heating and regenerating desiccants, offering potential for heat recovery. Based on experimental data and theoretical calculations, a computational model for the cooling system was established. The results of the model were in good agreement with experimental measurements, indicating that the model can predict the cooling performance of the coupled system under different operating conditions. The findings of this study contribute to improving the cooling efficiency of high-density cabinets, reducing cooling energy consumption, and facilitating energy-saving retrofits for existing cabinets.