Castrol has joined the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) partner programme to advance the development of next-gen immersion cooling fluids for use in data centres.

According to Castrol, it aims to combine its fluid, material science and thermal management expertise with RISE’s research capabilities to further the development of the Castrol ON range of single-phase immersion cooling fluids. It also hopes to encourage the adoption of immersion cooling solutions among other project partners.

Immersion cooling involves submerging server and IT equipment in a non-conductive dielectric liquid. It can be used to help reduce the consumption of energy and water required to cool servers.

Last year, Castrol announced plans to build an immersion cooling test and development facility for data centres at its headquarters in Pangbourne, UK.

Rebecca Yates, bp Technology’s Vice President Advanced Lubricants Products, said: “Immersion cooling is a fast-developing sphere of innovation, spurred on by the global need to optimise the efficiency and energy usage of the world’s most powerful data centres. Through this collaboration, Castrol and RISE will accelerate development of immersion coolants and develop underpinning science which addresses challenges associated with the development of next generation computing”.

Tor Björn Minde, Director ICE Data Centre at RISE, added, “We want to excel in data centre technologies by working with the industry. A partner programme helps with dialogue and enables direct bi-lateral collaboration. This way we can continue to develop our thought leadership together with our partners.”