Collaborations in Engineering the Edge – from the subarctic to the tropics.

Purpose and goal:

The project was designed to enable two strong research groups working in data center infrastructure to come together and share knowledge around "engineering the edge". The groups operate in two extreme climatic conditions that challenge thermal management systems, but by coming together synergies and areas of future collaboration could be established. The objective was to run 3 mini-workshops, two online in April and May followed by an in person meeting in Singapore.

Expected results and effects:

Since this was a planning grant, the outputs were expected to come directly out of the three workshops. The workshops were staggered in April and May, online, and finally June, face-to-face in Singapore.

The two groups grew to understand the activities of one another and the RISE partner, Systemair AB, was able to present its activities and contributions to cooling in the two geographies.

The engagement identified that microprocessor thermal management and the potential for heat reuse were two areas that could form an ongoing collaboration pending funding. Approach and implementation: The project was executed with three phases.

First phase was a "show and tell" online workshop (in April) enable both research groups from RISE and Singapore to share areas of expertise and research activity. A presentation was given by both teams and this was followed by an open discussion. The second phase (in May) enabled RISE project partner, Systemair, to present their activities around data center cooling, which was followed by an additional presentation from RISE and discussions from all participants.