Innovation

Research, prototypes and pilots

University and lab results, prototypes and pilots in data centre cooling, power, IT and energy. Each item gives its maturity, the original source and the dates it was published and checked, with links to the related technology and supplier categories on this site.

Maturity is the stage the source describes: research (lab or model), prototype (built and tested hardware), pilot (running at a real site for a set period) or commercial (offered for sale). Figures are as reported by the source and not independently verified. Inclusion is not an endorsement.

PilotPower 24 Aug 2026

UC San Diego to field test medium-voltage solid-state transformers feeding 800 V DC AI compute (original source, opens in a new tab)

A California Energy Commission funded project will install two Alderbuck solid-state transformers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, taking the campus 12 kV supply to 800 V DC for two megawatts of AI compute with grid-responsive operation. Hardware-in-the-loop tests come first. Savings in the announcement are projections, not results.

Who: UC San Diego, San Diego Supercomputer Center, Alderbuck Energy, California Energy Commission

Source: San Diego Supercomputer Center (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 24 Aug 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

PrototypePower 18 Aug 2026

NC State tests a 1 MW solid-state transformer on a live distribution feeder (original source, opens in a new tab)

With the New York Power Authority and EPRI, the university demonstrated its prototype at EPRI's Lenox laboratory and describes it as the first independently verified megawatt-class SST validated on a live feeder. The team compares about 2% conversion loss with about 4% for a conventional transformer plus rectifier.

Who: NC State University, New York Power Authority, EPRI

Source: NC State Electrical and Computer Engineering (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 18 Aug 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

ResearchIT 16 Jul 2026

University of Ottawa photonic chip targets lower-power AI convolution (original source, opens in a new tab)

A PhD project designed a photonic integrated convolutional accelerator, fabricated by Advanced Micro Foundry in Singapore. The researcher reports doubled AI efficiency on convolution and hundreds of billions of operations per second at under a watt. These are early lab results for one type of AI calculation.

Who: University of Ottawa

Source: University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 16 Jul 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

Related: IT equipment

PrototypeIT 7 Jul 2026

Binghamton researchers prototype a single-stage 48 V to 1 V converter for GPUs (original source, opens in a new tab)

Point-of-load converters that step 48 V down to GPU core voltage usually use several stages. The lab prototype does it in one stage and is reported to reach 10 to 12% higher efficiency across load conditions with double the slew rate. Less conversion loss also means less heat at the board.

Who: Binghamton University

Source: Newswise (Binghamton University) (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 7 Jul 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

ResearchCooling 22 May 2026

UC Davis models a chiller-less liquid-cooled edge data centre (original source, opens in a new tab)

Western Cooling Efficiency Center researchers combine a single glycol loop, an additively manufactured pin fin cold plate and a polymer microchannel dry cooler. At 40 °C outdoors the baseline model puts cooling power at 2.1% of compute power for a 75 °C GPU case temperature. This is a modelled result backed by component tests.

Who: UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center

Source: ASME Journal of Electronic Packaging (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 22 May 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

ResearchPower 19 May 2026

NLR opens Agora, a grid integration test bed for large loads such as data centres (original source, opens in a new tab)

The National Laboratory of the Rockies unveiled a test bed funded by the DOE Office of Electricity and industry partners. It replicates the technical complexity of a large data centre interconnection so flexible operation can be tested before it reaches a real grid.

Who: National Laboratory of the Rockies, US DOE Office of Electricity

Source: National Laboratory of the Rockies news release (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 19 May 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

ResearchCooling 1 May 2026

UC Berkeley builds a 140-zone thermal test vehicle for air and liquid cooling tests (original source, opens in a new tab)

An EECS technical report describes a test vehicle built from an array of power transistors with 140 independently controlled heating zones. It stands in for costly production processors so forced-air and liquid cooling can be measured under uniform and localised heat loads.

Who: UC Berkeley

Source: UC Berkeley EECS technical report (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 1 May 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

PilotCooling 20 Apr 2026

Keppel and Shell test gas-to-liquids immersion fluid in an operating data centre (original source, opens in a new tab)

Shell's GTL-based immersion fluid will run in a server tank at one of Keppel's operational data centres, expected to start by May 2026 and run for 12 months. The efficiency and cost figures in the announcement are Shell's own benchmarks against air cooling, not results from this pilot.

Who: Keppel, Shell Singapore

Source: Keppel media release (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 20 Apr 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

PrototypePower 4 Mar 2026

EPFL and Navitas show a 250 kW solid-state transformer from 3.3 kV AC to 800 V DC (original source, opens in a new tab)

The demonstrator from EPFL's Power Electronics Laboratory uses a single-stage modular topology with silicon carbide devices and was exhibited at APEC 2026. It was built under the HeatingBits project for deployment inside EPFL's own data centre.

Who: EPFL Power Electronics Laboratory, Navitas Semiconductor

Source: Navitas Semiconductor and EPFL announcement (GlobeNewswire) (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 4 Mar 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

ResearchEnergy 18 Feb 2026

NLR simulation pairs batteries and fuel cells with turbines to follow data centre load swings (original source, opens in a new tab)

Using its ARIES platform and load measurements from a large US data services provider, the lab found that faster resources handled rapid load swings while turbines supplied steady baseload. The aim is less torsional strain and wear on on-site turbines.

Who: National Laboratory of the Rockies

Source: National Laboratory of the Rockies (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 18 Feb 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

PilotEnergy 6 Jan 2026

Canaan starts a 3 MW compute heat recovery proof of concept at a Manitoba greenhouse (original source, opens in a new tab)

For an initial 24 months, 360 liquid-cooled Avalon servers hosted by Bitforest will preheat boiler intake water through a closed loop. Canaan estimates about 90% of server electricity can be captured as heat and says actual figures will be confirmed once the system is running. The servers are crypto mining hardware, not a general purpose data hall.

Who: Canaan, Bitforest Investment

Source: Canaan Inc. press release (original source, opens in a new tab) (published 6 Jan 2026, accessed 18 Oct 2026)

Updated 18 Oct 2026. Something missing or wrong? Report a correction.