UW-Stout students helped test and develop a new liquid cooling system for data centers through internships with nVent, a global company with corporate offices in Minnesota.
Easton Sailer and Evan Pettit, seniors in the university’s computer and electrical engineering program, worked with nVent teams this summer to develop new “high density liquid cooling” products, or HDLC.
By using a liquid material to reduce heat buildup within data center servers, this technology offers a “more efficient and sustainable alternative” to air-cooling methods, supporting a greater density of computing power within a given location, according to the university’s release.
Sailer, who hails from Pound, Wis. in Marinette County, began a seven-month internship with nVent in January. Pettit, from Rosemount, Minn., began shadowing Sailer in May as a mentee, and the two students worked together on the HDLC projects.
Their work involved collecting and analyzing data and troubleshooting machines at the company’s facility in Anoka, Minn., as well as creating software code and using a variety of physical and electronic tools.
Sailer said he “gained a new perspective” through the internship on the engineering principles he learned at UW-Stout and had a great time working with Pettit on various projects. He’s set to graduate in December 2025.
“Water cooling units for data center servers are a relatively new concept in the field,” he said in the release. “While I was offered opportunities with other companies, I found this to be the most interesting because it reminded me of water-cooled gaming PCs but on a larger scale.”
Meanwhile, Pettit says he “quickly acclimated” to the professional environment thanks to the support he got from Sailer and others at nVent. He plans to graduate in May 2025.
At least 60 UW-Stout students have worked at nVent over the past 10 years, UW-Stout Career Services Director Bryan Barts said in the release. The $3.3 billion company, which has more than 11,000 employees worldwide, makes products for industrial automation, utilities, energy storage, commercial buildings, data centers and more.
“As a company that is truly focused on sustainability, they have been able to attract and engage with several UW-Stout programs, including engineering, management and industrial technology across their company and brands,” Barts said in the release.
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