Underwater Datacenter

Hi, my name is Cadel. I am going into my Junior year of high school, and this is my submission for the Make It Resilient Student Design Competition.

One idea that came to mind immediately when considering how to make a habitat that is adapted to a harsh environment was an underwater datacenter. Two of the most important requirements for a datacenter are cooling (because servers generate a lot of heat and need to be cooled to avoid damaging the senstive equipment), and of course, electricity. Oceans have both cold water and energy in abundance. An underwater data center could dissipate heat to the surrounding water to keep its servers cool. Additionally, it could harness the massive energy in ocean currents and tides to generate electricity for the servers. Precisely the features that make the ocean floor a hostile environment for most purposes, could make it ideally suited for a data center.

For modeling:

• Fusion 360
• Pen and paper

For prototype:

• 3d Printer
• Spray Paint

Making a list of the key features I want to include helps me break down my problem into smaller sections, brainstorm, and organize my thoughts. Here is my list of key features for this project.

• Large water-tight metal outer shell that can withstand high pressures.
• Large module for the data center.
• Depth control module for easy maintenance.
• Hatch on top for maintenance.
• Water-tight solution for data and power cables.
• Cooling system.
• Turbines for power generation.
• Must be a way to manufacture components.

The server rack I decided to make is compatible with 3U servers which are very common in the data center industry. As outlined in my list of key features everything I design must have a plan for manufacturing, so I will experiment with Fusion 360's sheet metal mode to make cheap and effective racks.

First I created a sketch of a flattened side rail, then I created a flange from that sketch, then used the bend tool to bend the metal down its center to make strong side rails with mounting holes for my server racks. Next, I duplicated this for all four corners to horizontal rails for the server chassis to rest on. Then I designed a piece that could be injection molded to hold all four frame rails together. Finally, I filled the vacant slots with servers that I had modeled.

Another asset I needed to model before making the data center module was a ladder to access the server room. I did this by simply noting the size it should occupy and then making four two-inch vertical beams to hold the rungs. Then I used the tangent plane and pattern tool to make rungs along one side. Finally, I repeated the process I used for the rungs to make some cross members.

The data center module will be a cube consisting of two floors. So to find my dimensions I found the height of one server rack (84 and 1/2 inch), added 1/2 inch for flooring, and then multiplied by two. This meant the dimensions of my data center module would be 170 x 170 x 170 inches.

I created a simple floor and imported my server rack into the project. Using the align tool, I placed the server perfectly in the corner. Next I used the pattern tool to make a single row along the edge of my floor. Next, I used an offset plane and the mirror tool to mirror the row of server racks to the other side. Then I repeated this process for the middle rows by setting my offset plane to 1/4th the length of the floor. After deleting one server rack I used the align tool to position my ladder for accessing the different floors. Finally, I used the Move/Copy tool to duplicate my work and make the second floor.

I decided to make the outer shell of my data center shaped like a sphere because spheres can withstand lots of pressure without thick walls. After marking out the center of my data center I made a sphere that circumscribed the data center. Then, using the shell tool I hollowed out the inside.

I had an idea that this sphere could be cast from a mold, so my first modification to the sphere was to split it in half. Then I made a lip for bolt holes that could hold the two halves together. Next, I designed a port hole which uses a well-shaped seal that I designed to keep water out. Finally, I added sections onto the existing data center module to well the sphere to the data center.

The depth control module was designed so that engineers could remotely raise the data center to the surface for maintenance and access it from a boat. The data center is already sectioned off from the top, bottom, and sides, and I designed the left and right pockets as ballast tanks. These ballast tanks are simple and consist of a pump that can either pump water in or push water out to control the buoyancy.

The pump I designed ensures that water will not leak in even when no power is applied to the hub motor. As shown in the picture above, it uses a corkscrew shape to achieve this property.

I made sure to consider how to transfer heat from the servers to the outer sphere. To avoid the potential risks associated with water cooling the expensive data center components, I opted for air cooling. The design involves circulating air up behind the data center, down through a radiator where it will cool down, and then back up through the data center. The cooling system is designed to utilize the natural convection of hot air to help pull air through the data center. The radiator is shaped to fit the outer shell and has fins along one side to effectively transfer heat from the air to the outer shell. Additionally, I perforated the floors and ceilings to allow airflow between levels.

A truly self-sustaining habitat can provide every need, so I began researching a solution that could reliably generate power for my data center. Inspired by this article outlining how Japan is using underwater turbines to harvest electricity from sea currents I decided to create my own turbines. The turbines are positioned on each side of the data center, and provide electricity for the servers.

The data center is designed to utilize fiber optics for their low latency and ease of use underwater. The fiber optic cable will run along the ocean floor back to shore where the datacenter will be connected to network.

Renders are highly detailed pictures of a virtual object that also include extra effects like textures, material qualities, lighting sources, and ray tracing. Using Fusion 360's renderer is pretty simple. Add textures from Fusion 360's library to your model, adjust where your light is coming from, make your background pleasing to the eye, and add decals such as the one I added in the second picture. Once this initial setup is complete I hit render and the results turned out great. But, to take it one step further, I copied my project over to a new folder and sliced it in half to get some nice cross-sectional shots.

I made my prototype to visualize my concept and explore new manufacturing techniques. Two new techniques I used were Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Digital Light Processing (DPL) 3d printing. FDM is the more traditional method with a plastic extruder mounted to a three-axis gantry. However, DPL shines a powerful UV light through a mask to selectively cure a resin. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, and I enjoyed learning how to properly each.

Thank you for taking the time to read my instructables. I learned a lot while working on this project and am already using lessons learned while working on this instructable to work hard on my next project.