Microsoft patents high-pressure data center

Microsoft’s patent filing for a high-pressure data center that would allow more efficient heat transfer has been approved.

Microsoft patent filing for high pressure basically makes air denser and increases its heat capacity. Thus, the amount of heat it can remove from the system is increased. Although Microsoft didn’t make any official comment about the filing, it is very self-explanatory. The patent also includes different choices of gases under different pressures. Mentioned gases are normal air (nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide) pure nitrogen (N2), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and combinations of these gases. There is a diagram about these gases’ potential benefits on heat transport.

Nitrogen, carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride

Microsoft’s new solution for cooling is energy-efficient but the patent doesn’t include details about potential leakages. The gas management system includes embodiments, automatically perform pressure sensing, gas composition sensing, pressure control, gas composition control and control of the human access safety door.

The high-pressure energy-efficient data center patent can be a part of Microsoft’s advanced project involving a low-maintenance data center in a pressure vessel: the Project Natick research initiative. Winston Saunders, manager of advanced data center development at Microsoft is credited for the patent. He is also known as Intel’s former director of data center power initiatives.

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