Immersion cooling for Bitcoin mining

Immersion cooling for Bitcoin mining, As the number of bitcoin miners developing immersion cooling systems has increased quickly in the last two years, there are no signs that this trend will slow down.

Bitcoin’s hash rate continues to achieve new record highs as mining difficulty rises, yet the dollar-denominated money generated by a single computer decreases. As a result, every mining unit is seeking for ways to get a competitive advantage over their peers, and more miners than ever believe immersion is the way to go.

This article goes into the what, why, and how of immersion cooling, as well as some of the major and small miners who are counting on it as the future of Bitcoin infrastructure. Immersion economics are supposed to provide an answer to the question, “Is immersion worth it?”

WHAT IS BITCOIN IMMERSION MINING?

Immersion mining, also known as mining with immersion cooling systems, is the technique of submerging bitcoin mining equipment in dielectric fluids, such as oils or designed fluids, with the purpose of reducing heat emissions, reducing noise, and increasing production, among other things.

Building and submerging a mining machine in an immersion cooling system is unquestionably more difficult than mounting the same unit on a rack with adequate air circulation. However, the main purpose is to keep hash boards cool by circulating the fluid that runs over them and pumped in and out of the tank.

A mining machine’s operations differ significantly from those of an air-cooled machine lying on a rack after being submerged in a fluid-filled tank. It is not essential to clean for dirt and dust. The hardware’s fans have been removed. Noise levels reduce dramatically (about 80 dB for an air-cooled machine). Furthermore, miners can safely overclock a system.

Immersion cooling systems are not a new technology; they were originally presented in late 2012, but specialized bitcoin mining processing hardware is only a decade old. Hardcore Computer and Green Revolution Cooling pioneered the modern kind of immersion-cooled computing gear some years after the turn of the century. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, however, various patents and breakthrough milestones for early versions of these systems were recorded.

IMMERSION IS A BET BY PUBLIC BITCOIN MINING COMPANIES

Bitcoin mining businesses that are publicly traded are a big part of the recent trend toward immersion cooling since they have a lot of money, a lot of hash rate, and a big market presence. Riot Blockchain, for example, one of the largest public miners, has announced plans for a massive 1 gigawatt mining facility in Navarro County, Texas, which will include at least four buildings dedicated to immersion mining in addition to the immersion-cooled systems it already has at its Whinstone, Texas facility.

CleanSpark also revealed plans for a 20 MW immersion-cooled facility in Norcross, Georgia. According to public documents, Argo Blockchain wants to deploy 200 MW of immersion-cooled mining hardware.

However, not every large, publicly traded mining firm needs to construct immersion-cooled facilities. In some cases, an air-cooling system isn’t even required. The outside air is so cold at some Bitfarms-owned mining farms in Quebec, for example, that it naturally counteracts the heat output from the mining machines due to the local environment. Immersion cooling for Bitcoin mining

However, the proportion of Bitcoin’s hash rate that comes from submerged hardware appears to be unstoppable. “Sooner or later, all big miners will be undertaking large-scale immersion mining,” said veteran bitcoin mining expert Nishant Sharma in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

RETAIL BITCOIN MINERS, TOO, ARE IMMERSING THEIR MACHINES

Large institutional miners aren’t the only ones who choose air-cooled rigs to immersion. Immersion is also popular among small-scale, at-home miners, who use a variety of immersion systems, ranging from professionally constructed units to do-it-yourself experimental ventures.

Photo and video documentation of inventive at-home immersion cooled installations abound on Twitter. For example, Arizona miner Gian Mendoza published photographs of a 10-gallon fish tank filled with 6.5 gallons of mineral oil cooling an Antminer S9. Another at-home immersion setup with a fish take was shared by a member of the Start9 Labs team. Immersion cooling for Bitcoin mining