We have ordered two immersion cooling systems from DCX to test their efficiency for ASIC mining.
Follow our journey on this project …
Our Journey
Back in August 2021, we ordered a couple of single bay DCX immersion systems but due to a number of factors including Covid 19, worldwide supply chain issues, long shipping times, and Christmas, they are yet to arrive. Current estimate is 31-Jan-2022 for port arrival and a following week to allow for customs clearances and delivery.
What is an Immersion System?
Very simply, an immersion system is where electronic components are immersed in a non-conductive dielectric fluid which helps with heat dissipation and noise reduction. The fluid is pumped from the immersion tank to a cooling system (usually a dry cooler system) where the heat from the fluid is dissipated and then returned back to the immersion tank at a lower temperature. The tank temperature is regulated by the pump flow and the rate at which the fans on the dry cooler run to remove the heat.
The key benefits of an immersion system are:
- less noise – no fans are required to cool the miners.
- less heat – the miners run up to 20 deg C cooler than air cooling (in Australia, this is very important).
- less power – when the miners run cooler and don’t have fans to run, up to 25% cost savings can be achieved. Lower power consumption means lower cost to run.
- less failures – running at a lower temperature and no fans to pull in dust allows the miners to run longer without failures (or cleaning).
Why DCX?
As this is for our own internal use, we looked into a number of immersion systems from around the World and chose the DCX system for the following reasons:
- they replied when we requested information (you would be surprised how many didn’t).
- cost efficiency.
- the system stacks vertically which reduces space requirements.
- they have a good range of products which allows for scalability or upgrades.
- they use high grade dielectric fluid.
Vertical vs Horizontal Deployments
This is up to each individual to decide which deployment option best suits them. We specifically chose a vertical stacking solution as space is limited at our premises, but If you have a large warehouse or lots of floorspace to run long bays, then a horizontal option might be better for you. The majority of providers have standard horizontal bays which means if you want to expand, you will need additional floorspace.
Our System
We ordered a ‘plug-n-play’ starter pack which consists of a single tank, a 40-50kW heat dissipation dry cooler, and all of the hoses, connections, fluids, and other bits required to get it running. It all packs onto a standard European pallet and weighs in at 400Kg so air freight is a bit expensive and sea freight it is … and the long wait begins.
Progress
We will update this post once the system is delivered and we can set it up and test it (at this stage, mid Feb 2022).
Links
- DCX website
- A great article by Anamoorphic about immersion cooling (3yrs old but still good content)
- Immersion Systems website with more great information..
- Beeminer website – has one of the smallest systems supporting only 3 x S19 size miners. Has larger systems as well.
- Bixbit website – one of the few other vertical solutions
