What Health Systems Need To Know About Power and Cooling in the Age of AI

How Can Health Systems Upgrade Their Approach to Power?

From a power standpoint, organizations need to make sure they have extended runtime to support their needs. That could come in the form of a generator, but regulations may require that the organization also have a battery energy storage system in place.

To use a BESS device, the organization would charge it at night for a lower electricity cost, then use it during the day to augment the building’s power.

Whether the organization uses a generator, a BESS, an uninterruptible power supply or a combination of those options, it needs to ensure it has enough extended runtime to support its power load.

If a UPS is being placed in a patient care space, then the organization will need to choose a medical-grade UPS. These devices don’t emit certain electromagnetic waves to ensure extra safety around patients.

In addition to having the right power technology in place, health systems also need to have a strategy that addresses which facilities need power during a natural disaster or crisis impacting the organization’s primary power source.

EXPLORE: Modernizing your data center will prepare you for the next phase of AI.

Upgrading Healthcare’s Cooling Systems To Meet AI Needs 

The computing power required for some AI use cases could require healthcare organizations to upgrade their cooling systems. Cooling for a traditional data center is air-based and requires proper air flow and quickly addressing hot spots. For AI, an organization will likely need to add liquid cooling.

Most AI solutions today use a hybrid system. Liquid is used to cool the processor and sometimes memory, while the rest of the components are cooled using a fan-based system. However, the next phase of AI will require 100% liquid cooling.

Infrastructure Considerations for Healthcare Power and Cooling

As liquid cooling becomes the preferred cooling method for AI-intensive organizations, health systems will need a strategy on how to bring it into the data center. Are they going to retrofit their existing data centers or consider prefab data centers or colocation?

Many customers are using CoLo today, but the cost is high. We’ll likely see a transition back to the data center.

Prefabricated data centers might be the right fit for organizations because they can drop them right outside their existing data centers without having to retrofit them.

Another benefit of transitioning a data center into a prefab data center is that it frees up valuable space where hospitals could place more beds — a money generator in healthcare.

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Environmental Considerations for Healthcare Power and Cooling

Sustainability is a growing concern for healthcare organizations, and modernizing their power and cooling technology is a great step toward reaching their environmental goals. The first thing organizations can do is update their battery technology. Lead acid batteries can last from three to five years, while newer lithium-ion batteries can last for seven to 10 years, so you can set them and forget them. Not only do they have a better environmental impact, but lithium-ion batteries also have a better total cost of ownership. They require no maintenance, and by the time you’re ready to replace them, there will likely be new and improved battery technology available.

However, adoption of lithium-ion batteries has been slower due to fear created by videos of electronics catching fire. People are hesitant to deploy them in a hospital space where there is flammable oxygen. As new battery types come out in the next few years that have fewer concerns around fire hazards, I expect that new battery technology will really shine.

On the cooling side of the conversation, there are four liquid cooling options today: direct liquid cooling and immersion cooling, each offering single-phase or two-phase cooling solutions. 

Single-phase cooling is typically done with water or a water mixture, while two-phase cooling leverages a refrigerant that turns into a gas when heated. However, no matter what system is being used, the environmental impact of the water, chemicals, heat or vapors being released back into the water system or the atmosphere must be understood. This is something that many cooling manufacturers are trying to discern.

LEARN MORE: How are data centers adapting for AI?

The Importance of Partnership for Power and Cooling in Healthcare

Healthcare organizations don’t have to modernize alone. At CDW, we provide an AI readiness assessment that allows health systems to evaluate their data centers and what it would cost to bring AI into their infrastructure.

CDW has a dedicated power and cooling team with over 200 years of combined experience. We are trusted advisers who provide vendor-agnostic insights on power and cooling to meet a healthcare organization’s specific needs.

Part of my role is to expand our partnerships with power and cooling companies to ensure we can represent a wide range of different technology types. Our relationship with different partners enables us to provide nuanced recommendations on how to approach specific problems. We’re constantly monitoring the industry for best practices and the latest in technology to share with our customers so they can meet their power and cooling needs today and in the future.

This article is part of HealthTech’s MonITor blog series.