人工智能的崛起得益于数据中心的大规模扩张。预计到本十年末，数据中心将占美国总用电量的 9% 至 17%。如今，数据中心约三分之一的电力用于冷却运行人工智能模型的芯片。
The rise of artificial intelligence is riding on the back of an enormous data center expansion. Data centers are projected to account for anywhere from 9 to 17 percent of total electricity usage in the U.S. by the end of the decade. Today, around a third of data center electricity is devoted to cooling the chips that run AI models.
该公司的 冷却系统将计算机服务器浸没在一种特殊的液体中，这种液体比风扇的空气更有效地吸收热量。该解决方案与其他液体冷却系统的不同之处在于气泡: Ferveret的 自适应相冷却(APC) 解决方案在服务器表面产生更小的气泡,，这些气泡更频繁地分离, 加速了传热过程。
The company的 cooling system submerges computer servers in a specialized liquid that absorbs heat much more efficiently than air from a fan. What makes the solution different from other liquid cooling systems are the bubbles: Ferveret的 Adaptive Phase Cooling (APC) solution produces much smaller bubbles at the surface of the server, which detach more frequently, accelerating the heat transfer process.
Ferveret 已经在与数据中心开发商和运营商 CleanSpark,、人工智能加速器公司 FuriosaAI, 和美国最大的数据中心运营商之一 Switch, 等公司测试其解决方案。
Ferveret is already testing its solutions with companies including CleanSpark, the data center developer and operator, as well as FuriosaAI, an AI accelerator company, and Switch, one of the largest data center operators in the U.S.
在最近与加州大学洛杉矶分校 Samueli 计算机科学系合作进行的一项研究中, Ferveret 发现，与最先进的液体冷却解决方案相比，其 APC 解决方案使计算能力效率提高了 15%。通过将这些节省与 Ferveret的 功率控制系统相结合来优化操作条件,，该公司表示，它允许数据中心以相同的功率从其 AI 模型中获得多 35% 的令牌 — 小段文本或数据 —。
In a recent study in collaboration with the Samueli Computer Science Department at the University of California at Los Angeles, Ferveret found its APC solution led to a 15 percent improvement in computational power efficiency compared to state-of-the-art liquid cooling solutions. By combining those savings with Ferveret的 power control system to optimize operating conditions, the company says it allows data centers to get 35 percent more tokens — small pieces of text or data — from their AI models with the same amount of power.
“我们的目标是使数据中心尽可能可持续，并帮助他们利用每一瓦的电力来生成代币,，这是最有用的输出,” Azizian 说。 “我们的系统可以运行更强大的芯片,它可以帮助数据中心减少能源浪费,并且它以零水消耗实现了这一切。”
“Our goal is to make data centers as sustainable as possible and help them use every single watt of power to generate tokens, which are the most useful outputs,” Azizian says. “Our system enables the operation of more powerful chips, it helps data centers waste a lot less energy, and it accomplishes all that with zero water consumption.”
2013 年，Azizian 在麻省理工学院担任博士后，当时他遇到了当时的研究科学家 Bucci,。在 Azizian 进入工业, 之前，他们致力于核反应堆的传热工作，在那里他将重点转向冷却芯片。 Azizian 首先从事 Microsoft的 HoloLens 增强现实耳机的工作，然后加入 Nvidia,，该公司生产公司用来训练和运行最新 AI 模型的图形处理单元。与此同时, Bucci 继续在 MIT, 进行研究，并于 2016 年成为助理教授。
Azizian was a postdoc at MIT in 2013 when he met Bucci, who was then a research scientist. They worked on heat transfer in nuclear reactors before Azizian went into industry, where he shifted his focus to cooling chips. Azizian first worked on Microsoft的 HoloLens augmented reality headset and then joined Nvidia, which produces the graphical processing units companies use to train and run the latest AI models. Meanwhile, Bucci continued conducting research at MIT, becoming an assistant professor in 2016.
Azizian 在 2017, 走进他的第一个数据中心，在那里，他被冷却时充满整个建筑的巨大, 噪音风扇震惊了。
Azizian walked into his first data center in 2017, where he was struck by the massive, noisy fans that filled the building as they cooled.
“I 认为, ‘天哪, 这不是冷却设施的方式,’” Azizian 回忆, 指出空气冷却仍然会占用进入数据中心的 40% 的电力。 “这不是一种有效的处理方式,，但由于它不会损害性能%2��,没有人关心冷却技术已经有 50 年历史了。”
“I thought, ‘Holy crap, this is not how you cool facilities,’” Azizian recalls, noting air cooling can still take up 40 percent of the power going into a data center. “It was not an efficient way of doing things, but since it wasn’t hurting the performance, no one cared that the cooling technology was 50 years old.”
Azizian 开始与 Bucci 讨论如何将他们在优化核反应堆传热方面的知识应用到数据中心。科学家们花了几十年的时间寻找在核反应堆中转移热量的更好方法。
Azizian began talking with Bucci about applying their knowledge around optimizing heat transfer in nuclear reactors to data centers. Scientists have spent decades finding better ways to move heat in nuclear reactors.
“热传递决定了您可以从反应堆堆芯提取多少能量,，这直接转化为收入,” Azizian 解释道。
“Heat transfer determines how much energy you can extract from the reactor core, which translates directly to revenue,” Azizian explains.
创始人于 2021 年创立了 Ferveret。自从 Azizian 走进他的第一个数据中心以来，发生了很多变化。随着人工智能的爆炸式增长，芯片公司已经在其芯片上安装了越来越多的组件，这使得从有限的电源中挤出尽可能多的计算能力变得更加重要。
The founders started Ferveret in 2021. A lot has changed since Azizian walked into his first data center. Chip companies have packed more and more components onto their chips as the explosion in artificial intelligence has put a premium on squeezing as much computing capacity as possible out of limited power supplies.
这促使数据中心运营商通常通过一种称为浸入式冷却的技术，将芯片浸入液体中，使用液体来冷却芯片 —。最有效的浸入式冷却方式是使液体沸腾。
That has driven data center operators to use liquid to cool chips — often through a technique known as immersion cooling that submerges chips in liquid. The most effective form of immersion cooling brings the liquid to a boil.
“液体是比空气更好的传热介质。这 这就是为什么当您将手放入室温水中时仍然感觉很冷,” Bucci 解释道。 “当液体沸腾,时，它在散热方面会变得更好，因为相变需要大量能量,，这是您从芯片中移除的能量。这样您就可以在芯片和液体之间以最小的温差传递大量的热量。”
“Liquid is a better heat transfer medium than air. That的 why when you stick your hand into room temperature water it still feels cold,” Bucci explains. “When liquid is boiling, it becomes even better at removing heat because the phase change requires a lot of energy, which is the energy you remove from the chip. That lets you transfer large quantities of heat with minimal temperature differences between the chips and the liquid.”
不幸的是，, 沸腾液体增加了系统的复杂性，因为它迫使操作员捕获并重新液化气泡，同时控制压力, 温度, 和流体库存。
Unfortunately, boiling liquid adds complexity to the system because it forces operators to capture and reliquefy the bubbles while controlling for pressure, temperature, and fluid inventory.
Ferveret的 系统改编自核反应堆中称为过冷沸腾的过程。它使用低沸点液体，不含其他方法所依赖的有毒 PFAS “forever 化学品”。在芯片表面, Ferveret的 液体产生的气泡比其他浸入式冷却方法更小。这些气泡更频繁地分离，并在周围的液体,中快速重新凝结，加速芯片表面的气泡再润湿循环，从而加速热传递。
Ferveret的 system is adapted from a process in nuclear reactors called subcooled boiling. It uses a liquid with a low boiling point and none of the toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that other approaches rely on. At the surface of the chip, Ferveret的 liquid produces smaller bubbles than other immersion cooling approaches. Those bubbles detach more frequently and quickly recondense in the surrounding liquid, accelerating the bubble-rewetting cycle at the surface of the chip to hasten heat transfer.
Ferveret 在小盒子, 中提供其 APC 系统，每个小盒子装有一台服务器。创始人表示，他们的模块化系统使系统部署更容易并简化维护。
Ferveret delivers its APC system in small boxes, each of which houses one server. The founders say their modular systems make it easier to deploy the system and simplify maintenance.
“物理学使我们能够获得过去’不可能实现的外形尺寸,” Azizian 说。 “大多数浸入式冷却解决方案都是大型水箱，人们将服务器浸入其中。我们有一个较小的,模块化机架式解决方案，使其能够适应当前的基础设施,，因此’人们更容易部署我们的技术。”
“The physics enable us to get to form factors that weren’t possible in the past,” Azizian says. “Most immersion cooling solutions are large tanks that people submerge the servers in. We have a smaller, modular rack-mounted solution that makes it adaptable to the current infrastructure, so it的 easier for people to deploy our technology.”
Ferveret 还提供控制软件，可以实时调整每台服务器的功率，以进一步提高效率。
Ferveret also offers control software that adjusts the power going to each server in real-time to further improve efficiency.
“我们提供全栈系统，包括冷却箱,、机架,、冷却分配单元,以及测量温度和压力的传感器,” Bucci 说。 “我们的软件监控这些传感器并优化每个盒子内的操作条件，以确保系统中的能耗最小化。”
“We deliver full-stack systems that include the cooling box, the rack, the cooling distribution units, and sensors that measure the temperature and pressure,” Bucci says. “Our software monitors those sensors and optimizes the operating condition inside each box to ensure that energy consumption is minimized in the system.”
除了帮助数据中心更高效地运行之外，, Ferveret 还通过让使用更多可再生能源的偏远地区的数据中心更容易运营来提高可持续性。
In addition to helping data centers to run more efficiently, Ferveret is also improving sustainability by making it easier to operate data centers in remote regions with more renewable energy.
“阳光照耀在没有太多水,的地方’所以我们无水的优势是我们允许你在有太阳能但没有任何东西来冷却数据中心的地方建造数据中心,” Bucci说。 “这项技术可以帮助在通常情况下’没有资源的地区部署数据中心,，包括非洲,、中东,，当然还有美国部分地区。它’是一个巨大的解锁。”
“The sun shines in places where you don’t have much water, so the advantage of us being water-free is we allow you to build data centers where you have solar energy but nothing to cool the data center down,” Bucci says. “This technology can help deploy data centers in regions where normally you wouldn’t have the resources to do so, including Africa, the Middle East, and of course parts of America. It的 a huge unlock.”
Ferveret 正在与名为 hyperscalers, 的大型云计算公司进行谈判，目前是 Nvidia的 初创公司启动计划的一部分。该公司计划在今年晚些时候宣布扩大合作伙伴关系。从那时起, 创始人计划快速扩展他们的技术，以帮助人工智能行业继续发展，而不会给地球带来进一步的压力。
Ferveret is in talks with the large cloud computing companies known as hyperscalers, and is currently part of Nvidia的 Inception program for startups. The company plans to announce expanded partnerships later this year. From there, the founders plan to quickly scale their technology to help the AI industry continue to grow without further straining the planet.
“计算行业正面临着电力获取方面的巨大挑战,，并且在许多地区都存在用水问题,” Azizian 说。 “随着行业的发展，这只会变得更加有限。这些数据中心运营商的主要目标是从他们拥有的电力中获得更多代币。我们 已经证明我们可以做到这一点。”
“The computing industry is facing a huge challenge in the form of access to power, and they have a problem with access to water in many regions,” Azizian says. “That will only become more limiting as the industry grows. The main goal for these data center operators would be to get more tokens from the power they have. We’ve shown we can do that.”