Hitachi directs GPU coolant toward the heat source through U-shaped channels
Hitachi developed a prototype cold plate that sends liquid toward the hottest part of a graphics processor before turning it back through U-shaped channels. Thousands of parallel paths keep incoming and outgoing liquid separate. The company plans to combine the component with data-center operating tools and present part of the research at InterPACK later this month.
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Coolant turns toward the processor’s heat
Hitachi, a technology company, developed a prototype cold plate for graphics processing units, or GPU chips, used in AI data centers. A cold plate touches a hot semiconductor and transfers heat into liquid flowing through its internal channels. The new component changes the path of that liquid. Rather than carrying it along the processor's surface, the design directs it toward the region where the chip produces heat.[1], [2]
After collecting heat, the coolant makes a U-turn toward the outlet. Separate passages keep the colder incoming liquid apart from the warmed outgoing stream. Hitachi says limiting that mixing helps preserve the plate's cooling ability. The flow pattern is built into tiny tunnel channels, bringing the liquid toward the heat source and then returning it through the thickness of the plate.[1], [2]
Short parallel channels shape the liquid’s route
Thousands of fine channels sit side by side in parallel. Flow through the plate's thickness makes each route shorter than a passage running along the processor surface. According to Hitachi, that reduces friction and the associated pressure loss. Many channels together preserve the total area through which liquid can pass within the limited dimensions of a cold plate. The company describes the work as joint design of temperature distribution and fluid flow.[1], [2]
The plate is one stage in removing heat from the building
The collected heat still has to travel out of the data center. Pumps, chillers, pipes and equipment that rejects heat to outside air form the rest of that cooling chain. Hitachi says the prototype can work with warmer coolant, allowing the system to use the temperature difference from outdoor air in removing heat. Its facility energy calculation uses assumptions about outdoor temperatures in a particular region and annual equipment operation.[1], [2]
Hitachi intends to combine the new plate with integrated operating and control tools in HMAX Data Center, its data-center services offering. The device remains a prototype, with no mass-deployment date or named customer installation announced. The company plans to present part of the research at InterPACK, a packaging and integration conference in San Diego, on 26–29 October. Work on the plate concerns cooling hardware around a processor rather than a change to the processor's own architecture.[1]
