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Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2)

Center Overview

The Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2) provides a cross-disciplinary approach to optimizing energy use and cooling in electronic systems and data centers. ES2's mission is to develop systematic methodologies for operating dynamic, predictable, self-sensing, and self-regulating electronic systems that can be verified in real time.

Thousands of data centers across the United States provide the infrastructure to handle a wide spectrum of information and processing needs for the government, military, business, and industry. Their services are critical for entertainment, e-business, e-governance, finances, cloud computing, social media, health care, and fitness. Massive amounts of energy are required to power and cool these facilities. Worldwide, about half of the energy they consume is wasted due to inefficiencies in the system and operational practices.

ES2's researchers bring together expertise in computer science and mechanical and electrical engineering to provide a holistic approach to making electronic systems and data centers more energy efficient. ES2 student researchers work with faculty and industry partners to prepare for careers in this dynamically evolving sector, and help companies develop solutions that benefit their businesses and society.

ES2 envisions the creation and operation of energy-optimized data centers and electronic systems with:

Smart allocation and distribution of IT load and dynamic IT capacity provisioning.
Smart integration of controlled, on-demand cooling.
Smart elimination of energy waste and inefficiencies.
Smart use of stored energy in data centers.

Universities

Villanova University
University of Texas, Arlington
Binghamton University

View Center Website

Center Personnel

Bahgat Sammakia
ES2 Center Director
+1 607 777 6880
bahgat@binghamton.edu

Andrea Palmeri
ES2 Managing Director
+1 607 777 3629
apalmeri@binghamton.edu

Kanad Ghose
ES2 Site Director - Binghamton University
+1 607 777 4608
ghose@cs.binghamton.edu

Alfonso Ortega
ES2 Site Director - Villanova University
+1 610 519 7440
alfonso.ortega@villanova.edu

Dereje Agonafer
ES2 Site Director - University of Texas, Arlington
+1 817 272 7377
agonafer@uta.edu

Research Focus

Thermal Management – Air Cooling

Various aspects of air-cooling are studied and modeled, including developing intelligent control systems that enable air cooling on demand and optimize energy usage, containment, active tiles, contamination issues, and evaporative and free air cooling.

Thermal Management – Liquid Cooling

ES2 research is at the forefront of investigating transferrable high-performance liquid cooling technologies for data center environments. ES2 projects address three sub-areas within this focus area: single and two-phase liquid cooling, (both direct and indirect), and immersion cooling.

Predictive Management of Data Centers – IT/Cooling

Research in this area has resulted in solutions to predict workload and manage deployed server capacities to avoid waste due to overprovisioning while providing very tight performance guarantees. The solutions continue to be refined as new cooling technologies and renewable energy sources are deployed.

Sustainability

ES2’s data center sustainability focus includes projects that address waste heat recovery, advancing battery storage technologies, power conversion and integration of renewable energy sources, and applying sustainability life cycle analysis to make better decisions on the design and operation of data centers. These projects will continue in Phase III with emphasis on integrating sustainable engineering principles into all of the projects by developing and applying design methods and performance metrics for data center systems that account for environmental sustainability including, for example, consumption of resources (power, water, etc.) and global warming potential.

Awards

1738782

Phase II IUCRC Villanova University: Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2)

Data centers are an integral part of life, providing services ranging from social networking, e-commerce and entertainment to cloud infrastructures that provide storage and computing capabilities for individuals and enterprises. Data centers consume over 2% of the nation's electricity, generated mostly from fossil sources. The Center for Energy-Smart Electronic systems (ES2) was established to develop tools and methodologies for improving the energy efficiency of electronic systems, primarily data centers. Much of the energy expended by data centers is wasted due to operating inefficiencies, including operating more servers than are needed to handle the workload and overcooling the IT equipment, or deploying sub-optimal cooling and IT technologies. ES2?s research focusses on developing intelligent and fully automated techniques for operating data centers to match the IT and cooling resources to the workload demands, avoiding energy waste while maintaining service quality. ES2 research benefits society by: (a) providing solutions to reduce the demand on the electrical grid and the carbon footprint and enabling the growth of data center-based services in an energy-efficient way and (b) developing human resources by training engineers and computer scientists in high-demand skills. ES2?s research therefore enables the nation to maintain competitive, agile and energy-efficient cyber services and infrastructures.

The goal of ES2 research is to develop systematic methodologies for operating electronic systems, including data centers, as dynamic self-sensing and regulating cognitive systems that are predictive and verified in real time. At the Villanova site, algorithms and systems are being developed to enhance and control cooling and to assist expert system schedulers being developed at our partner site to schedule or migrate workload in a holistic manner in order to achieve optimal energy consumption. Advanced strategies for cooling data centers using hybrid air-liquid cooling and single and two-phase liquid cooling are being developed and optimized. These advanced cooling methods anticipate ever increasing thermal densities in data center equipment. Our research is leading to the development of improved methods and metrics for utilizing Dynamic Hybrid Cooling Systems which can be used to deliver efficient on-demand cooling where and when it is needed. The Villanova site is investigating methods for the conversion of Waste Heat from electrical power consumed in a data center to useful Energy. More than 90% of electrical power supplied to a data center is dissipated as waste heat, hence our research will have significant impact on the overall energy sustainability of data center systems. Read More >

1738811

Phase II IUCRC University of Texas at Arlington: Center for Energy Smart Electronic Systems

Data centers are an integral part of life, providing services ranging from social networking, e-commerce and entertainment to cloud infrastructures that provide storage and computing capabilities for individuals and enterprises. Data centers consume over 2% of the nation's electricity, generated mostly from fossil sources. The Center for Energy-Smart Electronic systems (ES2) was established to develop tools and methodologies for improving the energy efficiency of electronic systems, primarily data centers. Much of the energy expended by data centers is wasted due to operating inefficiencies, including operating more servers than are needed to handle the workload and overcooling the IT equipment, or deploying sub-optimal cooling and IT technologies. ES2?s research focusses on developing intelligent and fully automated techniques for operating data centers to match the IT and cooling resources to the workload demands, avoiding energy waste while maintaining service quality. ES2 research benefits society by: (a) providing solutions to reduce the demand on the electrical grid and the carbon footprint and enabling the growth of data center-based services in an energy-efficient way and (b) developing human resources by training engineers and computer scientists in high-demand skills. ES2?s research therefore enables the nation to maintain competitive, agile and energy-efficient cyber services and infrastructures.

The goal of ES2 is to dramatically reduce data center energy consumption. The Phase I funding from NSF supported the development of models, metrics and infrastructures that would realize this vision. At University of Texas, Arlington (UTA), Phase II research focuses on improving energy efficiency at various scales of a data center facility and addressing the challenges involved in implementing alternative data center cooling technologies such as evaporative cooling and dielectric oil immersion cooling. UTA utilizes purpose-built data center research facilities and numerical analysis tools to evaluate and optimize the various cooling systems. At chip level, a dynamic water cooled cold plate developed in Phase I will be scaled to a chip scale package and integrated with robust flow control devices to enable uniform temperature distribution and realize reduction in pumping power. At the rack and room level, Phase II research focuses on developing deeper understanding in implementing evaporative cooling systems and address the corresponding particulate and gaseous contamination in data centers. Also, Phase II studies will focus on evaluating cooling performance, reliability and operability of systems implementing direct-to-chip liquid cooling and oil immersion cooling. In Phase I, UTA has graduated ten ES2-funded PhD students and over 60 students with master's degrees. Read More >

2209751

IUCRC Phase III University of Texas, Arlington: Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2)

With the proliferation of automation and electronic devices throughout most major industries, the amount of data being produced and the need to process/manage that data continues to grow. Automated management of data centers, addressing their emerging thermal challenges and improving their energy efficiency form the key to addressing this demand. The Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2), an NSF Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), was established in 2011 to address these needs for data centers. This award provides a Phase III renewal for this 3-site IUCRC, which consists of Binghamton University, Villanova University and University of Texas at Arlington. ES2's vision is to develop systematic methodologies for operating electronic systems, including data centers, as dynamic, self- sensing and regulating systems that are predictable and verified in real time. The focus in Phase I and Phase II has been to develop new energy-optimization and thermal management models and designs, as well as tools and algorithms enabling electronic data systems to operate more efficiently and securely. Phase III will further expand on these methodologies to progress closer to a full realization of the ES2 vision. The Center brings together computer scientists, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers in a synergistic multidisciplinary team to advance industrially relevant research in this area. ES2, in promoting significant reductions in energy consumption in electronic systems, will contribute to the national agenda of eventually reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Reducing energy costs in data centers will help to allow computing services to be more deployable and accessible for a larger population segment. ES2 continues to attract a diverse group of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and provides industrially relevant training in their careers beyond graduation. ES2 has also integrated a variety of mechanisms across the partners universities and industry members to increase participation by women and underrepresented students.

The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) site has grown its facilities, specifically hardware, to support ES2, often in collaboration with the Center’s industry members. Currently there is a modular data center laboratory consisting of a direct/indirect evaporative cooling unit that has been developed in collaboration with a Center partner; in Phase III this will be augmented with a second spray-based indirect evaporative cooling unit. In Phase III, there will be a considerable focus at UTA on immersion cooling, an important industry sector that is predicted to experience significant growth in the next five years. Immersion cooling applications span high-performance computing, edge computing, and cryptocurrency mining, amongst others. UTA has invested in significant infrastructure to support this important area of research, including resources for a newly renovated state-of-the-art immersion cooling lab as well as a PIV for experiments related to immersion cooling. As such, in Phase III, UTA will be conducting both experimental and computational immersion cooling research. The test laboratories also offer educational value by serving as a practical demonstration of technology and heat transfer principles for both undergraduates as well as high school students participating in UTA’s summer programs. These facilities support the educational and workforce development missions of ES2; the UTA site has a strong track record of providing highly trained STEM graduates to industry, including many of the Center’s members.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

2209691

IUCRC Phase III Villanova University: Center for Energy Smart Electronic Systems (ES2)

With the proliferation of automation and electronic devices throughout most major industries, the amount of data being produced and the need to process/manage that data continues to grow. Automated management of data centers, addressing their emerging thermal challenges and improving their energy efficiency form the key to addressing this demand. The Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2), an NSF Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), was established in 2011 to address these needs for data centers. This award provides a Phase III renewal for this 3-site IUCRC, which consists of Binghamton University, Villanova University and University of Texas at Arlington. ES2's vision is to develop systematic methodologies for operating electronic systems, including data centers, as dynamic, self- sensing and regulating systems that are predictable and verified in real time. The focus in Phase I and Phase II has been to develop new energy-optimization and thermal management models and designs, as well as tools and algorithms enabling electronic data systems to operate more efficiently and securely. Phase III will further expand on these methodologies to progress closer to a full realization of the ES2 vision. The Center brings together computer scientists, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers in a synergistic multidisciplinary team to advance industrially relevant research in this area. ES2, in promoting significant reductions in energy consumption in electronic systems, will contribute to the national agenda of eventually reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Reducing energy costs in data centers will help to allow computing services to be more deployable and accessible for a larger population segment. ES2 continues to attract a diverse group of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and provides industrially relevant training in their careers beyond graduation. ES2 has also integrated a variety of mechanisms across the partners universities and industry members to increase participation by women and underrepresented students.

At the Villanova site, research activities focus on advancing the overall center goals of smart workload and server management, smart integration of controlled on-demand cooling, and smart elimination of energy waste and inefficiencies. Activities are focused in three main focus areas: air- and hybrid air- liquid cooling systems, advanced liquid cooling, and sustainability, including the consumption of water, energy, and the re-use of waste heat. Research in the hybrid air-liquid cooling systems focuses on developing capabilities for simulating and predicting the behavior of components and systems such as heat exchangers that are at the heart of most systems. Of particular interest is in developing compact thermal-fluid models that can be embedded in system CFD computational frameworks. The focus of research in advanced liquid cooling systems is in indirect or direct-to-chip liquid cooling using single phase cooling, i.e., with water, or using two-phase cooling, using refrigerants. Investigations span the entire system from: the chip-scale, to the cold plate and server cooling system scale, to the development of simulation tools for entire systems. New research will be launched in direct immersion two-phase cooling with the goals of understanding and extending the limits of direct immersion cooling of server electronics. A new focus on sustainable data centers will feature new projects in the areas of carbon sequestration and developing innovative tools and metrics to predict and track the impact of data centers on water and energy consumption. The Villanova University ES2 site is committed to research within the overall context of environmental sustainability, with a commitment to use NSF funded ES2 research to initiate, promote, and advance the careers of students, faculty, and researchers from diverse backgrounds, and to disseminate our research to the scientific, engineering, and public communities through innovative uses of print and visual media and public forums.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

2209776

IUCRC Phase III Binghamton University: Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2)

With the proliferation of automation and electronic devices throughout most major industries, the amount of data being produced and the need to process/manage that data continues to grow. Automated management of data centers, addressing their emerging thermal challenges and improving their energy efficiency form the key to addressing this demand. The Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2), an NSF Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), was established in 2011 to address these needs for data centers. This award provides a Phase III renewal for this 3-site IUCRC, which consists of Binghamton University, Villanova University and University of Texas at Arlington. ES2's vision is to develop systematic methodologies for operating electronic systems, including data centers, as dynamic, self- sensing and regulating systems that are predictable and verified in real time. The focus in Phase I and Phase II has been to develop new energy-optimization and thermal management models and designs, as well as tools and algorithms enabling electronic data systems to operate more efficiently and securely. Phase III will further expand on these methodologies to progress closer to a full realization of the ES2 vision. The Center brings together computer scientists, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers in a synergistic multidisciplinary team to advance industrially relevant research in this area. ES2, in promoting significant reductions in energy consumption in electronic systems, will contribute to the national agenda of eventually reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Reducing energy costs in data centers will help to allow computing services to be more deployable and accessible for a larger population segment. ES2 continues to attract a diverse group of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and provides industrially relevant training in their careers beyond graduation. ES2 has also integrated a variety of mechanisms across the partners universities and industry members to increase participation by women and underrepresented students.

At the Binghamton site, which serves as the lead site for the Center, ES2’s research activities focus on smart workload prediction to allocate IT, cooling and energy resources dynamically and thus realize holistic energy-management methodologies for data centers at different scales. This holistic management of IT, cooling and energy sourcing is key to realizing sustainable, reliable, and available data centers of the future. The activities on sustainability also include the incorporation of renewable energy sources into data centers. At Binghamton, the research on cooling systems addresses the emerging cooling needs of high-power footprint servers and racks typical of data centers that cater to the HPC and intelligence-on-demand segments by focusing on single and two- phase cooling technologies and model-based development of cooling system control. Advanced air-cooling systems, including direct and indirect evaporative cooling, are also investigated. ES2 continues to work closely with its broad industry base of partners, including data center intensive businesses, data center hosting and service providers, data center design and infrastructure providers and data center equipment suppliers. Researchers at Binghamton University contribute to the center in the areas of thermal analysis and heat transfer, as well as power-aware systems and high-performance computing. Binghamton’s infrastructure includes a dedicated data center research laboratory. This data center laboratory has the scale of a mid-range data center but unlike a production data center, it permits disruptive experiments to be carried out. In addition to two fully contained cold aisles, the laboratory houses various types of cooling facilities (traditional chilled air cooling, rear door heat exchangers using chilled water and warm water cooling) to support experiments involving different cooling technologies that are seen in legacy as well as state-of-the-art data centers. Inherent inefficiencies and sustainability needs within the cooling, IT and power delivery components are addressed through investigations centered on new and emerging technologies.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

Member Organizations

IUCRC affiliated member organizations are displayed as submitted by the Center. Non-federal organizations are not selected, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

AMD
BAE Systems
Bloomberg
Cadence
CoolIT
ERG Aerospace
Fabric*Labs
Google
Honeywell
Intel
Mestek
Meta
Microsoft
Mikros
NVIDIA
Seguente
Shell
Silent-Aire
Swiss Vault
Vertiv

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.