Journal of Engineering Research

Electricity cost constitutes the largest operational expenditure for data centers, accounting for over 60% of total operating costs. Phase change energy storage (PCES) technology has emerged as a critical direction for data center energy efficiency, owing to its advantages of high energy storage density and miniaturization. This study reviews the application status of PCES technologies in data centers, including cold storage systems and heat pipe coupling integration. By incorporating phase change materials (PCMs) into cold storage systems, peak load reduction, load shifting, and emergency cooling can be achieved. Practical case studies demonstrate that PCES-based air handling units reduce the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) from 2.1 to 1.51, achieving an annual average energy savings rate of 50% and increasing natural cooling utilization to 25%. A 60 kW PCES unit, through cool storage and release cycles, reduces air conditioning operation time by over 50% and provides 15 minutes of transitional emergency cooling. Research indicates that PCM-heat pipe coupling technology effectively mitigates spatiotemporal unevenness in thermal loads, reduces refrigerant charge by 30%, and ensures stable system operation via temperature zoning management. Looking ahead, with the decreasing cost of phase change materials and the widespread adoption of modular design, this technology is expected to achieve large-scale application in large data centers.

Data center; Phase change energy storage technology; Maximum design load; Economy; Coupling