news

Original title: Host "bath" and computing "run fast" - see how the National Advanced Computing Taiyuan Center creates new quality productivity

In the digital economy era, computing power is the core productivity. As an important carrier for the high-quality development of the digital economy, what is the difference between the advanced computing center and the traditional data center? How can it support the high-quality development of thousands of industries?

Recently, the reporter visited the National Advanced Computing Taiyuan Center of Shanxi Cloud Era Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Taiyuan Center") to gain an in-depth understanding of this "behind-the-scenes hero" who uses computing power to support the development of new quality productivity.

In the dog days of summer, the heat is rising, but in the Taiyuan Center computer room, there is no sense of stuffiness, let alone the roar of fans. The air becomes unusually fresh after being filtered and purified layer by layer. Time seems to slow down here, allowing people to calm down and feel the extraordinary power of advanced computing.

In the computer room, rows of black cabinets more than two people high are neatly arranged, and the indicator lights of the servers are flashing regularly. The "Taihang No. 1" advanced computing platform is processing massive amounts of data. Through the glass screen on the cabinet, a sci-fi scene caught the reporter's attention - the server chips and motherboards are actually soaked in "water", and bubbles are constantly coming out.

"This device bubbling in the liquid is the mainframe of 'Taihang No. 1'. The liquid used is a low-boiling-point fluorinated liquid that does not conduct electricity." Zhang Senwei, head of the Taiyuan Center Basic Operation and Maintenance Center, introduced that this technology is called "full immersion phase change liquid cooling technology" - all computing components are immersed in liquid refrigerant, which can achieve high-density, full coverage, no dead angle, and efficient constant temperature cooling, effectively solving the heat dissipation problem of large data centers. When the temperature exceeds 50°C, a phase change from liquid to gas will occur, thereby taking away the heat, just like giving the server a "bath", making it "calmer", faster in computing speed, and more stable in operation.

It is reported that under the same energy consumption, through this technology, the heat dissipation power of computers can reach 25 times that of traditional air cooling, and the cooling energy saving can reach more than 90%. "Generally, data centers use 1.3 kWh of electricity, 1 kWh is used for computing, and 0.3 kWh is used for air conditioning. By soaking it in liquid, it only needs 0.04 kWh to cool down. The energy-saving and consumption-reducing effect of the Taiyuan Center is very obvious." Zhang Senwei said.

Under the careful planning and high-level promotion of the provincial party committee and the provincial government, the Taiyuan Center was jointly built by Shanxi Cloud Era Company and Shanxi University. Adhering to the principle of "highest standards, technological commanding heights, and safe localization", the construction started on March 29, 2021, and was powered on and put into trial operation on October 20. It passed the acceptance of the Ministry of Science and Technology on March 31, 2022, and on April 18, the Ministry of Science and Technology officially approved the inclusion of the center in the national sequence management. Actively seizing the high ground of scientific and technological innovation and accelerating the development of advanced computing power industries have strengthened our province's determination to blaze a new trail in transformation and development.

The Taiyuan Center has a large computing scale, high deployment density, and large single cabinet power (200kW). During construction, Cloud Era Company carefully selected coolants based on actual conditions to ensure safe circuit operation, improve system layout, ensure efficient system operation, fully consider pressure control, and ensure airtightness to reduce working fluid loss... A series of effective measures have solved many difficulties in the deployment of the fully immersed phase change liquid cooling system and met the operational needs of high-density, high-computing power information infrastructure.

After several years of debugging and operation, the Taiyuan Center now has a double-precision floating-point computing power of 300PFlops, an AI computing power of 800PFlops, and a storage capacity of 300PB, which is at the leading level among computing centers in China. Zhang Senwei explained: "It can complete the calculation of 10,000 years of data by ordinary computers in one day. Its computing power in one minute is equivalent to the computing power of all people in the world for one year at the same time."

Powerful computing power builds a solid foundation for the high-quality development of the digital economy. At present, the center has deployed and operated national and provincial key projects such as the neutrino map of the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the wing optimization of domestic dual-channel large passenger aircraft, and the digital protection platform for cultural relics. With the support of powerful computing power, through extensive cross-disciplinary and cross-unit cooperation, application results based on the Taiyuan Center continue to emerge.

On the big screen of the operation and dispatch center, the global regional integrated weather numerical simulation system is running. Multiple data around the three earth simulators are constantly jumping, and the air quality conditions of thousands of stations across the country are in front of you. With the powerful computing power of the "Taihang No. 1" platform, the system has provided weather forecast numerical services for the National Day ceremony and the Winter Olympics. At present, it can perform forecast numerical calculations for the weather conditions in the next 14 days, with a calculation accuracy of up to 1.5×1.5 kilometers, achieving breakthroughs in the "hourly" and "kilometer" levels.

There are many types of vehicle collisions. How can we design the system to effectively protect the safety of passengers? How much are pollutants affected by meteorological, topographical and other factors during their diffusion? How can we effectively control them? If we solve these problems through real experiments, it will cost a lot. However, in the Taiyuan Center, these problems can be solved efficiently through simulation experiments conducted by computing systems, which greatly reduces the trial and error costs of R&D personnel.

According to reports, based on the characteristics of the application industry, the Taiyuan Center has worked with mature ecological partners to build an industry-specific advanced computing service platform and create a one-stop service system of "computing power + algorithm + computing data". In recent years, it has built and improved advanced computing service platforms such as industrial simulation, high-end equipment, and ecological environment. Many scientific research institutes, universities, and high-tech enterprises have boarded the "computing power express". Computing power, like water and electricity, has penetrated into all aspects of supporting industrial development.

Advanced computing empowers thousands of industries, but no matter how powerful the computing power is, it is still an isolated island if it cannot be connected into a network. At present, Cloud Era Company is actively integrating into the national "Eastern Data and Western Computing" strategy and building the "National Integrated Computing Network National Hub Node Shanxi Hub Project". After the project is completed, it will link the "Datong Cluster" to create a digital intelligence source computing power hub with Shanxi characteristics, and realize interconnection, optimized sharing and intelligent scheduling with national computing power.

Recently, our province has introduced a number of measures to promote the integrated development of advanced computing power and artificial intelligence, provided real financial support for the construction and transformation of green data centers, increased support for relevant entities in the computing power industry, and pressed the "fast forward button" for the Taiyuan Center's continuous innovation.

"The era of digital economy with computing power as the core productivity has arrived. We will seize development opportunities, make full use of environmental advantages, and deeply explore application scenarios. Advanced computing, this 'super racing car', will lead us to a better future." Zhang Senwei said. (Reporter Yao Yi)

(Shanxi Daily)