Time to face the heat

The embedded dc/dc converter market is predicted by Gartner to be slow in the near future with a slow uptake by server, storage, network and communications applications. However, research states that in 2006 1.2% of all U.S. power consumption was in data centersand that percentage will only increase with the tremendous need for more storage.

Additionally, the density of chips in these data centers is increasing along the lines of Moore’s Law, which means converter efficiency and cooling are design challenges. For example, the average power per rack in data centers has increased from 1 kW/rack in 2000 to 6 to 8 kW/rack in 2006and that density is predicted to increase to about 20 kW/rack by 2010. That means that heat is, and will be, the number one issue facing data centers.

The issue then becomes what to do with new servers needed in the data centers. Some observers say that a mere 50% of data centers will have enough cooling in place for the increased demand.

These predictions are serious and should be a call to arms for all designers, from the dc/dc converter to the operations managers of data centers, to move in-sync to resolve this show-stopping problem. I know that many manufacturers have created what they think is the optimal design for their piece of the solution, but perhaps it’s time to take a look at the bigger picture and integrate several solutions that will make significant progress in this problem of excessive heat, before it causes catastrophic shutdowns in the brain center of our electronic lives.