Liquid cooling refers to cooling by means of the

convection Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the c ...

or circulation of a

liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, ...

. Examples of liquid cooling technologies include: * Cooling by convection or circulation of

coolant A coolant is a substance, typically liquid, that is used to reduce or regulate the temperature of a system. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, chemically inert and neither causes nor promotes corrosi ...

, including

water cooling Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...

* Liquid cooling and ventilation garments, worn by astronauts *

Liquid metal cooled reactor A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor or LMFR is an advanced type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a liquid metal. Liquid metal cooled reactors were first adapted for nuclear submarine use and have been ...

s * Radiators (engine cooling) *

Cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat an ...

Applications

Computing

In computing and electronics, liquid cooling involves the technology that uses a special water block to conduct heat away from the processor as well as the chipset. This method can also be used in combination with other traditional cooling methods such as those that use air. The application to microelectronics is either indirect or direct. The former pertains to the category that utilizes cold plate cooling, which uses water as coolant while, in the latter (also referred to as liquid immersion cooling), the surface of the chips comes in contact with the liquid since there is no wall separating the heat source from the coolant. This immersion cooling also offer a higher transfer coefficient, although this depends on the specific coolant used and mode of convective heat transfer. One of the main benefits achieved is the reduction of noise and it is also more efficient. Some of the drawbacks include the risk entailed with the close proximity of liquid to electronics as well as its cost. Liquid cooling systems are more expensive than fan sets, which require less components such as reservoir, pump, water blocks, hose, and

radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always ...

HVAC

Liquid cooling is also used to remove heat from large buildings by using

chillers A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another proc ...

which transfer the coolant from the evaporator to air handling units, chilled beams and fan coil units inside the building, and to the

cooling towers A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...

from the condenser if the condenser is liquid-cooled. Some buildings are directly cooled by the cooling towers using plate heat exchangers transferring the heat from the chiller condenser loop to the evaporator loop. Convective heat transfer is used to cool the coolant if the building uses dry or closed-circuit cooling towers.

References

{{Tech-stub broad-concept articles Cooling technology