EAGER: Characterization and Modeling for Architectural Thermal Energy Harvesting

EAGER：建筑热能收集的表征和建模

• 批准号: 1358805
• 负责人: Carole-Jean Wu
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1358805&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Characterization; Modeling; Architectural; Thermal

To reduce the ever-increasing power dissipation caused by high temperature in computing systems, current approaches seek to apply cooling mechanisms to remove heat aggressively, as well as devising management techniques to avoid thermal emergencies by slowing down heat generation. Complementary to existing techniques, this proposal attempts to address the heat management problem using a fundamentally different approach -- rather than removing the heat or slowing down heat generation, we transform this heat into reusable energy by using thermoelectric materials. A Thermal Energy Harvesting (TEHar) framework is proposed here that will allow heat energy generated by computing devices to be recovered, transformed, and harvested efficiently, to achieve better energy efficiency. TEHar is based on the interesting implication of thermal energy distribution of computing platforms: the temperature differences between the hottest and the coldest components can be more than tens of degrees, creating a steep spatial thermal gradient. We discover that, by leveraging the thermoelectric effects at the architectural level, the varying spatial thermal gradients created as a result of computations can be exploited to transform heat into reusable energy. Therefore, the heat generated by the circuitry of the computing devices is not wasted but is rather harvested for reuse. This research explores possibilities in thermal energy harvesting techniques at the architectural level. Overall, this proposal explores the potential for energy harvestability, particularly in the steep thermal gradients commonly observed in computing systems, while also investigating applications that can reuse this recovered energy.The TEHar solution proposed here is anticipated to not only reduce cooling expenses and ambient temperatures, but also increase energy utilization, device lifetime, and physical space utilization. The TEHar technology developed here can be applied to a broad range of computing devices, large or small. If the research is successful, it has the potential of having a significant economic benefit as well as a significant, positive impact on the environment. Furthermore, this energy harvesting research requires cross-disciplinary engagement in areas such as material engineering, VLSI architecture, system architecture, and mechanical engineering and will attract a diverse set of student researchers. Overall, the engineering and scientific contributions will also have important societal impacts, including the broadening of ASU's engineering curriculum, the engagement of graduate as well as undergraduate research activities, the potential of creating high-school or middle-school scientific projects, and the increased representation of target underrepresented minorities in science and engineering.

为了减少计算系统中因高温而导致的不断增加的功耗，当前的方法寻求应用冷却机制来积极地消除热量，以及设计管理技术来通过减慢热量的产生来避免热紧急情况。作为对现有技术的补充，该提案试图使用一种根本不同的方法来解决热管理问题——我们不是消除热量或减缓热量的产生，而是通过使用热电材料将热量转化为可重复使用的能源。这里提出了热能收集（TEHar）框架，该框架将允许计算设备产生的热能被有效地回收、转换和收集，以实现更好的能源效率。 TEHar 基于计算平台热能分布的有趣含义：最热和最冷组件之间的温差可能超过数十度，形成陡峭的空间热梯度。我们发现，通过利用建筑层面的热电效应，可以利用计算结果产生的变化的空间热梯度将热量转化为可重复使用的能量。因此，计算设备的电路产生的热量没有被浪费，而是被收集以供再利用。这项研究探索了建筑层面热能收集技术的可能性。总体而言，该提案探讨了能量收集的潜力，特别是在计算系统中常见的陡峭热梯度中，同时还研究了可以重复利用这些回收能量的应用。这里提出的 TEHar 解决方案预计不仅可以降低冷却费用和环境温度，而且还能提高能源利用率、设备寿命和物理空间利用率。这里开发的 TEHar 技术可应用于各种大小的计算设备。如果研究成功，它有可能产生显着的经济效益，并对环境产生重大的积极影响。此外，这项能量收集研究需要材料工程、超大规模集成电路架构、系统架构和机械工程等领域的跨学科参与，并将吸引各种各样的学生研究人员。总体而言，工程和科学贡献也将产生重要的社会影响，包括扩大亚利桑那州立大学的工程课程、研究生和本科生研究活动的参与、创建高中或初中科学项目的潜力以及增加科学和工程领域代表性不足的目标少数群体的代表性。